The Great Big 2021 Holiday Baking – Cookie Roundup
November 24, 2021 by JennyOn Sunday, I shared my gift guide with ideas for the cooks and bakers in our lives. But not every gift needs to be purchased, we can bake something homemade for our friends and family.
Every year, I love to search out all the holiday cookie contests from newspapers around the globe. In my sleuthing, I’ve found some great unusual recipes. Today’s Great Big Roundup updates all previous cookie roundup posts. The links below have been checked, updated and those that are no longer active deleted. I have also shared “bits and pieces” of previous cookie/baking posts as well as added new information.
As I started to read over this huge roundup, my inner Chandler Bing was whispering in my ear “could this post BE ANY bigger?”
2021 Cookie Cookbooks
Craving Cookies by Helen S. Fletcher: Helen is a master pastry chef and a talented teacher. Helen provides clear, detailed, and down-to-earth instructions alongside over 200 color pictures. Each cookie recipe features a photograph and wherever necessary additional photos are also offered as a guide. She shares both new and classic recipes and techniques gathered from her years of professional and home baking experience.
Cookies: The New Classics by Jesse Szewczyk: The first thing popping through your head right now is “do we need another cookie cookbook?” The answer is a resounding YES! These are not your grandma’s cookies – not that there is anything wrong with grandma’s cookies – we love them and we love grandma; but these cookies are on steroids. Organized by flavor profile each chapter offers a kaleidoscope of textures and flavors. Filled with stunning photographs and reassuring guidance for make ahead, storing, and gifting, this book makes the ideal present for the cookie baker in your family (or yourself). Chocolate tahini bars, Black Forest “Salami” and Sweet Potato Snickerdoodles are examples of some of the recipes you will find here.
Creative Cookie Decorating for Everyone: Buttercream Frosting Recipes, Designs, and Tips for Every Occasion by Emily Hutchinson is the follow-up to the beloved Creative Cookie Decorating. In her new book, Emily takes you through decorating with buttercream, with hundreds of step-by-step photos. She covers each season and holiday with new ideas and designs for your cookies. But unique to this book are instructions for how to flood with buttercream. Emily shares twice as many (new!) delicious recipes while also including allergy-conscious cookies that everyone can enjoy. These recipes have been tested and perfected. Emily is a fantastic teacher and I recommend her books and attending her virtual classes. Events
King Arthur Baking Company: The Essential Cookie Companion by King Arthur Baking Company. From classic flavors to modern techniques, these 400 recipes will inspire and satisfy cookie lovers and bakers at every skill level. King Arthur Baking Company’s talented and trusted test kitchen experts provide an overview of essential cookie ingredients updated and revised along with step-by-step instructions and illustrations that result in visually impressive and incredible-tasting cookies. You can trust King Arthur for all your baking needs. Of note, earlier this year King Arthur released an update to their baker’s companion The All-Purpose Baker’s Companion (Revised and Updated).
Other holiday baking books from 2021:
- Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk – see promotion
- Baking for the Holidays: 52 Cozy, Seasonal Treats to Get You through the Winter by Sarah Kieffer – see preview post
- Celebrate with Kim-Joy by Kim-Joy – see Sept 21 UK
- Bake from Scratch Magazine Special Issue: Holiday Cookies (2021) and all their holiday issues – they are fantastic. If you have missed prior year’s editions – they have a great sale on right now.
Cookie cookbooks that I love:
- The Great Minnesota Cookie Book: Award-Winning Recipes from the Star Tribune’s Holiday Cookie Contest (review)
- Holiday Cookies: Prize-Winning Family Recipes from the Chicago Tribune for Cookies, Bars, Brownies and More
- Holiday Cookies: Showstopping Recipes to Sweeten the Season (review)
- Dorie’s Cookies (review)
- Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies
- 100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More (review)
- The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe from Each Year 1941-2009
- Cookie Love (author article, two recipes)
- Rose’s Christmas Cookies
Cookie Roundups
Our EYB Library has 12,175 online cookie recipes indexed and while I’m “at it” we have 384 online recipes for fudge because fudge always reminds me of the holidays.
Below is an updated listing of cookie/biscuit recipe roundups, contest winners and the like. Certain of these newspapers require a sign in and some are behind a pay wall but I wanted to provide you with what I found. A few papers have not published their 2021 winners and when they do I will provide those links.
- Christmas biscuit recipes
- The Guardian ginger treacle cookies
- Honey & Co. Food gift recipes
- Delish UK Best Christmas cookies
- Delish AU 35 Christmas cookie recipes
- Traditional Canadian Christmas cookies
- Reader’s Digest Canada – 60 greatest cookies
- 60 Cookie Recipes from Around the World
- 100 Most Popular Cookies in the World
- 17 Christmas Cookies from Around the World
- We-Energies – download pdfs of their yearly cookie cookbooks (2021 edition just added)
- Washington Post cookie generator
- Washington Post cookie article
- Los Angeles Times (2016) cookie contest (2020) (2019) (2018)
- The Denver Post cookie favorites
- Bob’s Red Mill United States of Cookies
- StarTribune (Minneapolis) and their The Great Minnesota Cookie Book is another must-have. 2019’s winners. 2020 winners.
- Journal Sentinel cookie contest
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2008-2018
- Ten best cookie recipes from the Dayton Daily News
- Baltimore Sun cookie contest
- Dallas News cookie contest (2016)
- Dallas News cookie contest (2019)
- Tulsa World (2019)
- Post Crescent cookie contest
- St. Cloud Times cookie contest
- The Coloradoan cookie contest
- Finger Lake Times cookie contest
- C and G Newspapers cookie contest
- The Denver Post cookie favorites
- StarTribune (Minneapolis)
- St. Louis 2020 winners
- Holiday Cookies: an EYB post that shares recipes from our members compiled last year
- Serious Eats: Best holiday cookie recipes (123)
- Delish: 50 easy holiday cookie recipes
- Good Housekeeping: 78 best holiday cookies
- Pillsbury: 50 easy holiday cookie recipes
- Taste of Home: tips, cookie recipes, and more
- Taste of Home: 150 best cookie recipes – 2021
- Country Living: cookies, tips, holiday eats
- Chatelaine: 30 of their most popular cookies
- Splendid Table’s Virtual Cookie Exchange
- Dallas’ News 2019 Winning Cookie Recipes
- Most popular Christmas cookies across the United States
- Download Home & Family cookbooks
- The British Royal Family’s cinnamon cookie
- Today’s 31 best cookie recipes – 2021
- Town & Country 90 Essential Cookie recipes – 2021
- Midwest Living 40 Christmas Cookies
- Wisconsin State Journal – Cook’s Exchange
- Family Favorite Recipes
- Holiday Cookie with a Retro Twist
- Two experts chime in on achieving the best Christmas cookie
Miscellaneous recipes, baking information and presentation ideas
Stella Parks’ fantastic article at Serious Eats and recipe for the best rolled sugar cookie will have you ditching your tried and true version and trying hers (and her pie crust piece is great, too!)
My favorite cookie is the Italian Rainbow Cookie. Some helpful links.
- How to make Italian rainbow cookies
- Italian rainbow cookie cheesecake (my recipe)
- The rainbow (cookie) connection
Helpful articles for any Bundt ® cakes you may be making this season
Embossed rolling pins, Springerle cookies
- Valek: Tips for using the embossed rolling pins
- House on the Hill: More tips
- Fantes: tips for Springerle
- King Arthur’s Springerle recipe
- The set of Springerle molds below are just beautiful.
Holiday cookie exchange
- Real Simple: Tips and timeline for throwing a cookie exchange
- Martha Stewart: How to host the perfect cookie swap
Organization ideas
The photo above is of a drying rack that you can purchase at Amazon. One of these resides on my baking island and houses my most used cookie cutters. I no longer have to go rummaging through my bins of cutters for my biscuit cutter or doughnut cutter. For the holidays, I might change out a few with holiday-themed cutters but my cookie cutter tree stays out all year. (A few members asked for a photo of the cookie cutter tree, so I have shared it below.)
During the holidays, I utilize two or three wire bins and fill one with decorating bags and tips, icing spatulas, etc.. I fill the second bin with sprinkles and cookie decorating candies, and the last bin has cookie packaging, ribbons, scissors, labels, and trimmings to wrap up small packages of cookies. When I need to, I can gather up the baskets and stow them in a closet or my office to clear up some space. Having all the tools I need to bake and decorate helps me stay on task.
Presentation
- How to make a cookie box from Displaced Housewife, her book The Cookie Book is one of my favorites! (Photo: Displaced Housewife). Rebecca’s new book will be (finally!) arriving Dec 7th – The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving. It’s a keeper.
- How to make the perfect cookie box (Denver post)
Most of us have tins in our stash of supplies or we can pick up some really cool ones from thrift stores. Lately, I’ve been on the hunt for the oval double handled tins like the one I photographed above. One of these or a regular tin, cleaned up, of course, and lined with a new holiday towel makes a great container to fill with cookies, fudge and even store bought candies to fill it out.
How about a new baking sheet pan along with a log of homemade slice and bake cookies along with a recipe card with instructions for someone you love. You could also make your favorite cookie recipe, freeze them in one of these nifty containers – pictured above – and wrap it in a beautiful towel along with a recipe card – including instructions on how to bake them off. Gifting cookies is great but gifting a busy family cookies to toss on a tray so they can bake themselves is special. The cookies make the house smell great and nothing is better than a warm cookie.
One last idea is to pick up vintage cake tins or even nice plastic cake keepers at the thrift store throughout the year. Clean them up, tie ribbons or decorate them if you are feeling so inclined and gift a Bundt cake or stack of brownies or bars in the container. Instead of buying more plastic or paper containers, re-cycle something vintage and reusable. I, also, try to pick up glass/tin/cermaic cake stands for next to nothing when I see them. These little touches make the baked gift just a bit more special. Recipes: Christmas cakes online recipes, Bundt cakes online recipes, brownie online recipes; and blondie online recipes.
Just a few baking articles:
- Ideas for wrapping edible gifts (Darcie)
- Tips for your improving your holiday cookie tray
- Best brownie recipes
- Yulelog and hot chocolate bombs
- The perfect sugar cookie
- Cookie/biscuit roundup
- Spice support: holiday baking spices
- Cookbooks for Holiday Cooking & Baking
- Fear of an empty pantry, part two – the baking edition
- The best of (baking) intentions
- This week: British biscuit/cookie recipes, cookbook previews and giveaways
- How to outfit your pantry like a GBBO baker
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