Holiday Cookie Boxes

Every year for Christmas I bake holiday cookie for my friends. The first few times I would only make one type of cookie, but two years ago I started making several types of cookies to go into cookie boxes.

I love making cookies for Christmas gifts because they are something everyone likes. I enjoy trying new recipes and discovering new favorites. It is so much fun to hear back from my friends, they all have a different favorite cookie.

So here are the boxes I made on previous years:

2008: Butterscotch Cookies, Chocolate Cookies with White Chocolate Chips, Coconut Macaroons, and Apricot Walnut Thumbprints

2009: Cherry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Apricot Raisin & Walnut Rugelach, Coconut Macaroons Drizzled with Chocolate, Chocolate Walnut Cookies, Gingersnap Sparkle Cookies, Shortbread Drizzled with Chocolate

This year I planned to do my baking over one weekend. The trick is to be well organized. I make an excel spreadsheet calculating the total amount of ingredients I need for each recipe. That way there are no surprises and I don’t end up running out of sugar or butter. There is also an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the containers that I will need, which container goes to whom, and how many cookies need to go in each container.

Here is 2010’s cookie collection, with links to the recipes:
Italian Almond Macaroons via A Lifetime of Culinary Adventures
These really are the best almond cookies ever. They are soft, airy, and chewy. They only require 4 ingredients, and are easy to put together.
Blue Cheese Thins
I wanted to add something savory to the cookie medley. These are crumbly, savory, and cheesy. They are perfect to serve with cocktails.
Rugelash
The pastry for this cookie is soft and crumbly and delicious. You can pretty much fill them with your favorite fruit and nut combination.
Rugetella via Hungry Rabbit
When you make a nutella rugelach you get a rugetella. A nutella cookie bar: two thin layers of rugelach dough sandwich a filling of nutella and chopped hazelnuts. The dough for these has no sugar, so they are not overly sweet. If you prefer a sweeter pastry, then add 1/4 cup sugar to the dough ingredients.
Pistachio White Chocolate Cookies
Roasting the pistachios gives these cookies a deep nut flavor. I love the combination of pistachios and white chocolate chips.
Coconut Macaroons
I keep making these every year because it is the most requested by my friends. I almost cut them out this year, and my friend M. told me I absolutely had to make these because this is her favorite cookie. What am I to do?
Brookies
The brookies are a brownie in cookie form. They are chewy with a concentrated chocolate flavor, perfect for chocolate lovers.

My favorite part is when all the cookies are baked and ready to be put into containers. I tie festive ribbons around the containers and label each one with the name of the recipient.

Don’t forget to leave a plate of cookies out for Santa! ;O)