Some of us have been itching for the holidays all year, clipping recipes and saving tempting reels in anticipation of what to bake. Others, meanwhile, are like deer in headlights, watching the year catch up and realizing that it’s time to break out the glitter sugar and get pre-heating.
Luckily, an abundance of new cookbooks is hitting the shelves to help with holiday cookie inspiration. From classic, no-fail techniques that will result in a perfect gingerbread person to mind-bending cookie chaos using ingredients you might have to google, these three new cookbooks won’t disappoint.
The Cookie Bible
Twelve-time author Rose Levy Beranbaum’s latest tome, “The Cookie Bible” (Harvest, $35), is a worthy follow-up to her best-selling “bibles” on baking, bread and cake. Beranbaum is a longtime go-to resource for all of our holiday cookie needs: Her holiday baking cred goes back to her 1991 James Beard award-winning classic, “Rose’s Christmas Cookies.”
The most recent book goes beyond the basics, though. Beranbaum features 150 delicious recipes, from simple drop cookies to elegant dipped and bedazzled, multi-step beauties. There are easy-to-follow instructions, close-up photos and Beranbaum’s “Baking Gem” tips and variations. For example, if you are making her roll-out Gingerbread Folks, you could follow her tip for making a thicker, softer cookie, or a variation for making dough sturdy enough for gingerbread houses.
Don’t miss the special section on toppings. “The Cookie Bible” offers dulce de leche, lemon curd and ganache how-tos to add extra pizazz to any number of cookie choices. And baking geeks will rejoice in the fact that Beranbaum, longtime advocate for using kitchen scales, has listed all the ingredients first by metric weight, followed by the expected American measurement.
The Bourbon Balls are a perfect standout for the holidays, invented after a Kentucky governor said there was no better thing than a bite of chocolate followed by a sip of bourbon. Beranbaum’s version uses chocolate wafers instead of the typical vanilla, which results in a bold, boozy chocolate bite.
All About Cookies
On the other side of the spectrum is pastry chef Christina Tosi’s new cookbook, “All About Cookies” (Clarkson Potter, $35), a wild ride into the world of the Milk Bar entrepreneur. As she reveals in the book, cookies were her invitation into the kitchen: “Cookies were the thing that inspired my first apron, my first step stool, my first mess and, of course, my first and perhaps greatest food obsession.”
The book and its 100-plus recipes encourage fun and experimentation, but also break down key tools, ingredients and a section of “Real Talk,” in which Tosi lays out “unbreakable rules of the road.” “As much as I want you to let your freak flag fly in the kitchen, there are a few lessons I’ve learned over the years that can save you a lot of heartache, as you find your voice.” Thanks, Christina.
Once you establish some confidence, the possibilities are endless. Tosi shows this with her playful recipes that veer away from the everyday. She offers up ideas on making your own “flour” out of whatever cereal and snacks you have lying around and using that to make delicious treats like PB Sandies with Rice Krispies powder or Potato Chip Shorties with ground potato chips.
You’ll also find a bevy of bars and those famous Milk Bar Corn Cookies that are unmatched. The Jelly Donut Cookie Sammies, perfectly wreath-shaped for the winter season, are made using a Donut Wafer dough that incorporates upcycled fryer oil in lieu of butter. If you forgot to strain and save your frying oil, don’t worry. It’s a great excuse to fry something up for dinner and then make these cookies for dessert once the oil has cooled.
Don’t skip reading about the annual Milk Bar cookie swap, now a 13-year tradition, for inspiration on keeping things creative at this time of year. As Tosi reflects, “We’re a group of bakers who have made the same recipe, by the tens of thousands, day in and day out, and no two cookies at the swap are ever the same.”
The King Arthur Baking School: Lessons and Recipes for Every Baker
Sure, we may dream of culinary school, but the emperor of essential baking ingredients, King Arthur, has come out with its first full-color baking collection with more than 100 recipes sourced from its baking school. Get ready to get schooled on everything from bread to laminated pastries, cakes and yes, cookies. The book is accessible and meant to build a deeper understanding about methods and techniques, so you can get to a point where you trust your own baking instincts.
Out since October and already a best seller, “The King Arthur Baking School: Lessons and Recipes for Every Baker (Countryman, $45) is the type of cookbook that will become a reference for years to come. It offers a great new blueprint for must-have classic cut-outs you just have to make, like Brown Sugar Snaps, which feature a richer flavor than the standard sugar cookies. They suggest playing around with spices, citrus zest, nuts or seeds as variations on the theme.
Regardless of what you mix in, these cookies will be the perfect base for all your sprinkles come Christmas time.
(Psst, about that baking school: King Arthur offers classes at The Bread Lab in Burlington, Washington — an hour north of Seattle, we looked it up — and in Norwich Vermont. And virtually, too. Find details at www.kingarthurbaking.com/baking-school.)
