Christmas Cookies!

Nothing gets me in the mood for the holidays more than listening to some god-awful Christmas music and baking. This year, I wanted to make lots of cookies to hand out to people I rarely have the opportunity to show my appreciation for: the doormen who greet me everyday (or at least some days) in my work building, the guys who clean all three steep stories in our apartment building, our lovely neighbor who never complains about our music or the many obstructions we put in our shared hallway.  I'd like to think that a little homemade pouch of assorted cookies can go a long way, as far as making people feel special or loved.

So I (perhaps unknowingly) embarked on a baking expedition of Herculean effort yesterday, churning out three different kinds of cookies: oatmeal cookies with cranberry and chocolate, chocolate crinkles, and of course, the classic chocolate chip. (I intended to maintain a semblance of variety, but it seems as though chocolate made its way into all three recipes.) And speaking of choosing, I got the first two recipes from a Serious Eats annual cookie swap (because I love the idea); and the last one from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion - a comprehensive cookie cookbook with helpful tips, pointers, variations, and lovely hand renderings of instructions.

After about 6 and half hours, I ended up with A LOT of cookies: and I'm happy to say it was well worth the effort.  You'll find recipes with my comments and pictures below.  And if you have a favorite holiday cookie recipe, please share!!

Double-Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

This was probably my favorite cookie out of the three. It's the quintessential oatmeal cookie: thin and airy, crunchy on the outer edges but soft and chewy in the middle; with sweet chocolate morsels and tart cranberries. A nice complementing of flavors, textures, and colors.  The only change I made was that I skipped the milk chocolate and used only semisweet baking chips.  The only change I would make if making these again (very likely chance) would be to cut the amount of chocolate chips in half.  It's not because I don't like a lot of chips in my cookies (I do); it's because  I ended up with too many for the amount of batter I had. It got to the point where I was just sticking the chocolate chips on any bare dough. Otherwise, these were practically perfect.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

- Ingredients -

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

 - Instructions - 

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl to blend. 
3. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture and oats and stir until blended. Stir in all chocolate chips and cranberries.
4. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are light brown, about 16 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes.
   
5. Transfer to rack; cool completely. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

Chocolate Crinkles

These cookies are light, soft, and chewy, with a mild chocolate flavor and a dusting of powdered sugar.  This recipe calls for vegetable oil, unlike some of the other recipes I've seen which calls for butter or half oil half butter. I haven't found a satisfactory explanation as to why one might use oil over butter, or visa versa, other than the fact that oil is pareve (does this imply that Jews only eat chocolate crinkles?) The dough can be made a day or two ahead of time and refrigerated.

Makes about 4 dozen

- Ingredients -

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup powdered sugar

 - Instructions - 

1. Mix sugar, oil, chocolate, and vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt
2. Cover and refrigerate at least three hours
3. Heat oven to 350°F
4. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat. Shape into balls. Place on greased cookie sheets, about two inches apart
5. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched (10 to 12 minutes)

The Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Like many, I'm always in search of the best chocolate chip cookie recipe.  And while I hold a deep appreciation for the crunchy variety, I think nailing the soft and chewy kind is more of a challenge, so I went for this recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion, which boasts "if you're a chewy chocolate chip cookie lover, it doesn't get any better than this." These cookies were amazing right out of the oven: warm, soft, and chewy; each bite producing a lava flow of melted chocolate.  Yet I was disappointed to discover they had hardened quite a bit just 24 hours later (I stored them in an airtight container).  Still, these had wonderful flavor (the recipe's secret ingredient is white vinegar, which "tempers the sweetness of the sugar and allows the chocolate and butter to shine through and reacts with the sodium bicarbonate in the leavener, giving the cookies a little extra lift in the oven"). Not perfect, but a solid chocolate chip cookie recipe, great with - you guessed it - a glass of ice cold milk.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

- Ingredients -

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips*

*Serious Eats recently did a taste test on the best chocolate chips for chocolate chip cookies.  I used Trader Joe's brand - they are excellent!

- Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, corn syrup, and vinegar, then beat in the eggs. Beat in the vanilla, salt, baking power, and baking soda. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips.
3. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, until they're just set; the centers may still look a bit underdone.  Remove them from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.