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Fuel

Andrew / December 1, 2006 10:36 AM

Christmas/Hanukkah/Eid ul-Fitr/Kwanzaa/assorted other holidays count here.

Mine's my mother's shortbread cookies, which always end up a little over-baked, just the way I like'em.

Hal / December 1, 2006 10:41 AM

Molasses cookies - recipe I found a few years ago (can't remember where from here in the office). To make them that much more awesome, I found some toffee-flavored "decorating" sugar for dusting them. It's actually a Wilton ice cream topping, but it's just about the same grain size as regular decorating sugar.

jen / December 1, 2006 10:58 AM

My favorite are "Waukon Cookies", so named after Waukon, Iowa where my grandmother is from. I suspect they are not actually indigenous to Waukon, but for some hilarious reason my grandma decided to make her hometown famous via Christmas cookies when she moved to Chicago. Who can blame her, they're delicious. They are made with sour cream.

Lody / December 1, 2006 11:12 AM

the creasent shaped butter cookies dipped in chocolate on both ends from Beil's bakery. I'm headed to Wisconsin tomorrow to pick my cookies up from them!!! Too bad they're not in Chicago anymore. :( It's a long trek from Iowa.

Y A J / December 1, 2006 11:25 AM

Hal, that's a great idea.

I pretty much looove all cookies. So much so that they are usually banished from the house. Otherwise I would eat cookies for breakfast every day.

My former sister in law makes chocolate meringue cookies and potato chip sugar cookies as presents for the holidays. Those are both my favorites.

TKO / December 1, 2006 11:25 AM

Snickerdoodles. Mmmm. Snickerdoodles.

Justin / December 1, 2006 11:37 AM

If the cookie lacks eggs, dairy, and honey, and does not taste like licorice, it is my favorite.

Erica / December 1, 2006 11:52 AM

I've always loved the wreaths. You use some sort of cornflake cereal mixed into melted marshamallows and green dye. Then you get all sticky by shaping clumps of the mix like a wreath. You can decorate them with red hots. They don't need to be baked. The easiest and yummiest cookie!

Erica / December 1, 2006 11:54 AM

Here's a recipe I found to go w/my post above:


1/2 cup butter
4 cups miniature marshmallows (40 large marshmallows)
1 teaspoon liquid green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups corn flakes
Red hot candies
In 2-quart saucepan melt butter and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Add and mix quickly the food coloring, almond and vanilla extracts, then corn flakes.
Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls on buttered waxed paper or aluminum foil. Quickly with buttered fingers, shape into wreaths and decorate with 3 red hot candies each at the top of the "wreath".
Cool completely. Store in sealed container in cool area.
Makes 3 dozen.

jasmine / December 1, 2006 12:07 PM

my mom's chocolate cherry drop cookies aren't necessarily holiday cookies, but she only makes them for christmas, so i associate them with christmas. they're small and cakelike with lots of cherries in them. i think i could probably wolf down an entire tin of them if allowed.

runners up:
- grandma's mincemeat pies
- peanut butter kisses
- sugar cookies

Jon / December 1, 2006 12:17 PM

I think they're called "Buckeyes" or something like that. Basically, they're just a blob of peanut butter and chocolate goo. Mmmmmm...goo

avantchicago / December 1, 2006 12:27 PM

Rum Cookies

Strawberry / December 1, 2006 12:29 PM

Those ones that have 7 layers of something-- basically consist of chocolate chips, caramel chips, coconut, and graham crack crust in a layer shape. YUM!

Carrie / December 1, 2006 12:31 PM

My mom and I made these cookies once that had a little bit of orange peel in them and then you dipped 1/2 in melted chocolate. Bad description, but they were the best. Of course we only made them one time because we lost the recipe.

Also, I could eat a whole bucket of the ones with the hershey's kiss in the middle. yummers.

dave / December 1, 2006 12:48 PM

I'm with Jasmine and Jon. Buckeyes and peanut butter Kisses are delicious. I'm vegan, so I have to improvise with the Kisses, but they're super good.

Oh, and I make one change to the Buckeye recipe. Rather than making the center with straight peanut butter, I mix crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar and peanut butter together and then coat them with dark chocolate.

jen / December 1, 2006 12:49 PM

easy:

my grandmother's butter/sugar cookies (in the shape of a christmas tree, wreath, or camel - hey, those are the discs we always used in the cookie press)

a close second, and whose recipe i now have, the "sour cream softies"... basically a super-moist chocolate chip-ish cookie (very pale/white in color, as opposed to the normal brown).

Robyn / December 1, 2006 12:56 PM

Pfeffernusse, y'all!

Baldeesh / December 1, 2006 1:29 PM

My mom sometimes makes these peanut butter cookies with the Hershey Kiss in the middle.

One time she made a batch when I was over, one of my sisters was home from college, and the youngest sisters were home for the evening. By 9 pm the entire batch was gone.

She was kind of pissed.

Allan / December 1, 2006 1:34 PM

Well... I usually start my holiday baking as early as possible to allow for the maximum amount of personal cookie consumption possible before Christmas morning. I prefer to never use any electronic mixing devices because I think they make the cookies taste cold and indifferent. I also feel it is best to only use ingredients available because experience has taught me that unavailable ingredients can be to hard to obtain. I also think it is important to remember that nothing says it's Holiday Time like rolling up your sleeves and repeatedly saying "Hey everybody it's Holiday Time". Now asking me (or anyone for that matter) to choose a favorite cookie would be like asking me to choose which cookie I like best, and you can see how that would present a problem. Especially during this special season when we all remember the the most important thing is to be as homogenous as possible as not to offend anyone, enjoying all cookies equally. Showing no distinction between chocolate macadamia or gingerbread, whether shaped like a rather lumpy "holiday" tree or a portly "snowperson". All cookies have the baked in right to be not be judged by their tastiness but rather by the integrity of their baker.

Leelah / December 1, 2006 1:42 PM

Next week is my annual cookie exchange, and I haven't quite decided what to make, so I welcome all delicious cookie recipes...

I'm a big fan of the sugar cookie with frosting.

p / December 1, 2006 2:00 PM

Hershey kiss cookie thing is great. I also like the ones that are squeezed out of the silver tube. Gingerbread and peppercocker can talk a walk though- straight gross. Like marzapann gross. Big-Ol soft sugar cookie hearts (or wreaths, shamrocks, or pumpkins, etc.)with some simple colored dusting really set off snack time as well. Also anything shaped like a train is usually delicious.

p / December 1, 2006 2:02 PM

Sorry, that's "take a walk". Take a walk peppercocker.

Dan / December 1, 2006 2:12 PM

Swedish Pepparkakor, a thin gingerbread cookie.

If I don't stop myself I can eat half a tin of them in a sitting.

geekgrrl / December 1, 2006 2:23 PM

i second the snickerdoodles. runner up is dansk butter cookies.

printdude / December 1, 2006 2:52 PM

My favorite holiday cookie is the one that is followed by a Caucasian (White Russian), my favorite holiday drink.

I am not a cookie guy.

Bill V / December 1, 2006 3:28 PM

Just give me chocolate chip. Shape it like a tree or whatever, I'll fit the whole damn thing in my mouth and wash it down with milk.

michele / December 1, 2006 3:36 PM

My grandmother makes chocolate covered peanut butter balls every Christmas. She hand dips them in three different kinds of chocolate and they are out of this world. I made the mistake of introducing them to the office and now she sends a box just for the office every year. They are usually gone in a day.

Spook / December 1, 2006 3:40 PM

Allan:

What the heck are you talking about? Where is the old Allan? I demand his immediate return!

Allan / December 1, 2006 4:00 PM

I don't eat cookies, but I still wanted to chime in.

fluffy / December 1, 2006 4:14 PM

I'm a total cookie monster! I will eat your cookies when you're not looking!
I love gingerbread cookies with some icing on them- not a lot, though. I don't like them super-sweet.

I also really like Potbelly's sugar cookies. Their oatmeal chocolate chip are also quite good.
Snickerdoodles used to be my faves, and we learned how to make them in Home Ec. in Middle School.

I used to make what are called "Mexican Wedding cookies", which are powdery and nutty. yum. Unfortunately, they contain a lot of butter and are fattening.

There's a Mexican cookie called Polvorones- they are similar to shortbread, but they have a hint of orange -simple and good.

I h-a-t-e the soft store-bought type of cookies.

That is all I have to say about cookies.

Virginia / December 1, 2006 4:57 PM

I hadn't eaten a Snickerdoodle in my life until last week, but now I'm definitely hooked. Eventually I'll make a batch of my own, but for now I'm eating the ones at Seattle's Best.

My "mother-in-law" makes these wonderful walnut crescents that are simply delightful. Mmmm.

kate / December 1, 2006 5:59 PM

I heart cookies sooo sooo very much.

Favorite xmas cookie is a sugar cookie with poppy seeds mixed in the dough and a couple chocolate chips stuck in the middle right when they come out of the oven.

Good god damn, they're awesome.

wackpuma / December 1, 2006 6:29 PM

My grandma's Lebkuchen. Yum

ellie / December 1, 2006 6:55 PM

Kringla and Spritz. I like my christmas cookies northern European.

Eamon / December 1, 2006 11:38 PM

Anything in arm's reach.

Wendy / December 2, 2006 8:13 AM

Don't eat too many of those cornflake wreath cookies. Your pee will turn green.

mike-ts / December 2, 2006 10:25 AM

When growing up, I had a neighbor across the street who baked up a storm every Christmas, and shared the wealth with us. We'd get a tin of everything from buckeyes, rum balls, peanut butter cookies with and without the Hershey kiss in the middle, biscotti like cookie tubes filled with confectionery icing, and the sugar sprinkled and the coated cookies, too.

She's long since died, and there's no cookie out there to compare. Sad. But I had them while she made them, so maybe not so sad.

michellemybelle / December 2, 2006 10:39 AM

Allan's first post about cookies, in conjunction with his previous posts, almost made me fall in love with him, but he broke my heart with the admission that he doesn't eat cookies. Love is cruel.

As for favorite cookie, if it's got chocolate in it or is an interesting shape, I'm down. I don't so much go for the walnut/anise/almond/butter cookies - I call them "Old People Cookies."

madachode / December 2, 2006 11:43 AM

one that involves a jelly donut, or a rusty trombone

Allan / December 2, 2006 12:16 PM

michellemybelle ,such odd logic. It would seem if you being a cookie lover found someone whom did not in fact share your passion for cookies. Would that not in effect leave more cookies for you yo love?

GooglyEye / December 2, 2006 3:57 PM

Any cookie that starts with C.

C is for cookie, thats good enough for me
C is for cookie, thats good enough for me
Ohhh Cookie Cookie Cookie
Starts with C.

ken / December 2, 2006 4:02 PM

Perfect for any Pagan celebration including the winter solstice -

The Classic Chocolate Chip

also the Oatmeal Scotchie
(oatmeal and butterscotch chips)

Oh yeah and those cookies from the Big Island - Macaroons.

amanda / December 2, 2006 11:45 PM

The cornflake wreaths turned my clear braces green in 8th grade.

I love buckeyes (made with paraffin wax--weird, eh?), mexican wedding cakes, and my mom's english toffee. I also enjoy spritz cookies and sugar cookies.

but most of all, I love the 3rd place winner from the 2004 tribune cookie contest.

Hazelnut coffee-oatmeal cookies.

go and make them. now.

paul / December 3, 2006 9:55 AM

There just isn't enough lovc here for the gingerbread man.

I make 'em with twice the amount of ginger and allspice to make 'em really spicy.

They dont stop me from eating all the other ones like springerle, lebkuchen, those white or green icing christmas trees and wreathswith the little silver sugar balls that break your teeth...

amanda / December 3, 2006 2:17 PM

uh, oops. link is a little wrong. it should be like this:

Hazelnut coffee-oatmeal cookies

emdub / December 3, 2006 3:05 PM

I like rum balls. mmmm, balls of rum.

Anyone know about/remember some cookie made with Jello powder, that is squirted out into a star or tree shape? They are bright pastel colors and kind of fruity and tart but like sugar cookies. Somebody's mom made them when I was a kid, and I always eat random cookies that LOOK like they might be them, but they are just food coloring and I'm sorely dissapointed.

emdub / December 3, 2006 3:09 PM

mmm.. found them here

Spook / December 4, 2006 12:08 AM

Why Oatmeal, but only in the form of Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout!

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