Today you will get a “how to” article. The main question this article answers is how to bake many different cookies for a cookie box. The short answer is, best is if you have a large freezer. If you don’t, you will need a lot of cookie boxes to store them airtight. It also helps to pick cookie recipes that keep for a while. If you want to ship a cookie box, check out this article, but that aside, let’s get started.
Have you every tried to stamp your cookies or use fancy cookies cutters? I know that many don’t go through the hassle because it doesn’t work. But look no further, with below tips I am sure your cookies will look amazing. Pictured here are speculoos cookies, however, this is only one option. Below I give you the basic recipe that works really well for cookies with intricate designs, or a stamp. And as I have been asked, I got the cookie cutters from here. So let’s get started.
Some people don’t like mushrooms (who are you?), but I think you may enjoy these mushroom cookies. Emphasis on cookies. Think a melt-in-your mouth cookie with a nice vanilla flavor. If you like that kind of cookie, this one is for you. The awesome thing about these cookies is that a) they are a true showstoppers as they look so similar to real champignons, and b) that they taste delicious. So let’s get to it!
Do you remember the dog treats I posted here when we got Hazel as a pup? Those were homemade cookies with a lot of peanut butter. When she munched them away, we noticed that she got a weird rash on her belly, it looked very itchy. After consulting with the vet and testing, we realized, she apparently was allergic to peanut butter. Which is a shame since a lot of dogs are crazy about peanut butter. But alas, I couldn’t make any homemade treats containing peanut butter anymore. So I looked for an alternative. Almond butter seems to be doing the trick. However, almond butter contains more liquid so I had to adjust and tweak recipes accordingl. Below is a dog treat with no peanut butter, in case yours is allergic.
Wow, I believe I was naive. When I asked you if you would be interested in my Easter cookies, 82% of you replied postively when I asked you on Instagram. I honestly didn’t expect that. Unfortunately, cookies are usually only baked during the winter and Christmas season in Germany. We even have a special word for it “Plätzchen” instead of ‘Kekse.” I love cookies all year round and for that reason published a cookie recipe recently. In February I introduced you to chocolate chip cookies with whisky. But apparently Easter is the big exception and even Germans don’t mind a cookie during this season, so yay, cookie time it is. As is often the case, I also shipped some cookies to some friends of mine who can’t bake anymore or simply don’t have time. The ones pictured were shipped one way or another. Today I will introduce the three types of cookies you see pictured below. These are hazelnut cookies as rabbites, lemon cookies with lemon curd, also shown as rabbits, and lambs and Easter eggs, which are sugar cookies with royal icing. I made the hazelnut and lemon cookies as sandwich cookies, glued together with hazelnut cream or lemon curd. They are similar to Linzer cookies. Since I didn’t have the correct cookie cutters for Linzer, I cut out the hole with a nozzle.
Have you heard of Springerle cookies from Germany? Traditionally they are made with anise seed. However, I don’t really like that flavor and instead made them with orange zest and vanilla extract. If you want to do the traditional flavor, I have you covered as well. Springerle cookies are a cookie that needs to be made in advance. It takes three days until they are baked and will intesify in flavor over the course of weeks. For that reason I recommend making them already now if you want to try them for Christmas. If you believe Wikipedia, Springerle cookies were already made in the Middle Ages and served for a lot of festivities, including weddings. The cookie molds were made from pear trees and passed down from generation to generation. I found my cookie mold here in Munich at the store Holzstandl, you may also try Etsy.
Have you every heard of “alfajores”? These are sandwich cookies that are usually filled with the caramel cream called dulce de leche. They originally stem from Andalucia in Spain, but have become extremely popular in Uruguay and Argentina. Supposedly about 10 million (!) alfajores are sold each day in Argentina in 2023. The “original” is usually made with flour and cornstarch and creates this nice crunchy texture, however, my version below contains flour and almonds instead. The classic alfajor is usually rolled in coconut flakes, however, I will used chopped almonds for this version.
If it were for me, we could skip Halloween all together and dive right into Christmas season. Do you also feel that way? For me fall is perfect for a nice cookie, they are simply comfort food for me, cozy and simple. I remembered that I have a wonderful chocolate cookie on the blog with a caramel center. So I decided to revisit the recipe and tweak it a little bit. I mean, I originally published the recipe in 2017 and I do have a bit more baking experience under my belt. You won’t believe how many cookies I have baked in the last seven years as a pronounced cookie monster. The below recipe has a slightly lower amount of butter and chocolate chunks and I also decided to make them a bit smaller. Also, I decided to sprinkle the cookies with sea salt after baking. Seriously, it took nothing for the cookies to disappear and I need to make more again…
Finally the heat wave is gone, it is rainy and cold and I can turn on the oven again, yay! Finally! So I decided to give these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies another go. Cookies are the best example of “ROI”, return on investment, you have to invest very little time and money for a wonderful result, cookies have the best ROI in my opinion. This is the cookie monster speaking. Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, I did work in HR of a consulting company for a few years, I guess their lingo did rub off a little… So are you in for these simple and delicious cookies?
Every year I make a Christmas cookie plate with different cookies, usually with around 10+ cookies. I wanted to share my two plates with you for inspiration. How to ship cookies is explained in this blog article, another article looks at how to deal with sugar cookies. If you want to freeze egg whites, this article may be for you. So let’s start with the cookies I made in 2023 and 2022:
