Oatmeal CookieBlog

2008: The Year in Cookies

Oh, BR's Pizza, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways...

1. Perfect crust: light, buttery, and almost pastry-like
2. Perfect sauce: not too acidic, not too sweet, and not too herby
3. Perfect cheese: tangy, chewy, and not too greasy or salty

Whenever Jon and I head north to Massachusetts to visit Mumma, getting pizza from BR's is at the top of our to-do list. Soooo good! Why can't we find pizza this good in New York? I think one of my New Year's resolutions should be to figure out how to replicate this pizza at home.

Rock & Ravioli Roller

Every family has its holiday food traditions. Some people have ham on Christmas. Some people have turkey. My family has...ravioli. (And a small turkey breast for post-holiday gobblers.)

My grandparents used to make our Christmas ravs by hand, and my grandmother would make her special loaded-with-meat sauce from scratch. No, this wasn't her everyday sauce. This was authentic grandma sauce made specifically for Christmas.

My dad used to cook the ravs in the "padella," a pot the size of a cauldron. The padella was so big that he had to take it outside, set it on a specially made steel stand, and then use a propane tank with a heater/torch attachment for the flame. "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble," indeed.

This year, Mumma made some killer homemade meatballs, but we used store-bought frozen ravs and jarred sauce. Sure, the sauce was Rao's, but madone! Tony Soprano would call us something that started with Wonder Bread and ended with a word that rhymed with mops. Though grandma, grandpa, and dad aren't with us anymore, we kept up the family tradition, and we still have the heirloom ravioli roller. Maybe next year I'll put that old thing to use again.

U.S. Cookie = U.K. Biscuit XV

Another biscuit-related clip from the U.K. version of Big Brother.

Egg-celent Eggnog Cookies

April, a reader and real-life cookie taster and recipe user, made my Eggnog Cookies for her family when she was home for Christmas. This is what she had to say:

“Happy Holidays!! The eggnog cookies were a HUGE hit!! Yummy!! You are now pretty much a god in my family.”

Thanks, April! I'm sooo glad you and your family liked these cookies.  :-)

"He Sees You When You're Sleeping..."

Mumma said her new 5'-tall Santa is "cute." His eyes follow you, so I covered his head with a napkin. I said that when all the lights are out and everyone's asleep, this thing steps down from his stand, walks around, and makes some devilish plans. What do you think? Is this Santa cute or creepy?

Online Surveys & Market Research

The List...Updated

Here’s the most up-to-date list.

S’mores Cherry-Vanilla Crispies Chocolate Malted Good Ol’ Peanut Butter White Chocolate Macaroons Dark Earl Grey Caramel-Espresso Eleven Madison Hawaii Cookies Coffee Cake Fourth of July Grasshopper Elvis Dulce de Leche Chocolate & Salted Caramel Shirley Temple Golden Girls Juliana Skiffle PB & J(onnie) Mocha Mint Rosh Hashanah ChocAlmScotch

Sweater Weather Peanut Butter Cup Hot(ter) Chocolate Almond Brickle Fluffernutter XXX Cranberry Almond Joy Mulled Apple Cider Yuletides (Peppermint Bark) Eggnog Cookies Sin-a-Buns Lime in the Coconut Fake-Out-Eos Raspberry-Chocolate Fondue The Girl Scouts Are...Jealous Heeeere's Johnnycake! Do You Like Pina Coladas? Va-Va-Vanilla Rocky Road Hazelnut Coffee Florida Cookies German Chocolate Cake

California Cookies Raspberry Graham...Crunch Scarborough Fair Better...Oatmeal Raisin Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cups Apple Jack Cookies Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies Raspberry in the Coconut Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies Chocolate & Chipotle Cookies Orange in the Coconut Chocolate & Sea Salt Cookies Lavender & Lemon Lovelies Redheads Chocolate Orange...Coconut Cranberry Crunch Cookies Cranberry in the Coconut Pumpkin & Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies Boston Cream Pie Cookies Toffee Figgy Pudding Cookies

Happy Holidays!

I went up to my roof and took these pics of the Empire State Building lit up for the holidays. The east and west faces are blue and white for Hanukkah, and the north and south faces are red and green for Christmas. Kind of like home with me and Jon.

Happy Holidays, everybody.

Picturing Toffee Figgy Pudding Cookies

Here's the recipe for my Toffee Figgy Pudding Cookies in process.

Chop the dried figs and then soak them in warm water to enplumpen 'em.

Cream the creamables.

Combine the wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the creamables.

Drain the figs and add them to the creamables.

Combine the dry ingredients and add them to the combined wet ingredients and creamables.

Scoop, bake, and enjoy. For flatter cookie, smoosh the dough balls a little about halfway through baking.

Alton Brown's in My Back Yard!

Hey, look! On last night's episode of Good Eats, Alton Brown was in my hometown of Carver, Massachusetts, visiting the Decas Cranberry Company. It's a good thing I had my camera ready...and my DVR.

Toffee Figgy Pudding Cookies

Or should they be called Figgy Toffee Pudding Cookies? Or am I thinking of sticky toffee pudding? One thing's for sure, though: These guys are a tastier, chewier, homemade version of Fig Newtons. (Incidentally, I learned in Francine Segan's cookie talk at the 92nd St. Y that Fig Newtons were named for the town Newton in Massachusetts, not for Sir Isaac of apple/gravity fame.)

Figgy pudding is a traditional English Christmastime treat. In the U.K., a "pudding" can be anything from a steamed cake to a sausage. I know...wacky, right? (I have a feeling Jell-O won't be making Blood Pudding Pops anytime soon.)

I got the idea for this cookie from an episode of Nigella Lawson's show on Food Network. She made a chocolate fig cake for her Christmas episode. It was so English-y! Scenes from Love Actually and all my favorite Britcoms ran through my head. And so I started researching figgy pudding and how to turn it into a cookie.

Traditional figgy pudding has four main components: figs, spice, citrus, and a sweet, creamy topping. To incorporate all those flavors into a cookie, I used plumped-up dried figs, two kinds of ginger, cinnamon, and orange and lemon zests. To duplicate the sweetness of the pudding's creamy topping, I used toffee bits.

This is the second version of the recipe. In the first, I used fig preserves as the main wet ingredient. The taste was there, but the cookies were hard as a rock when they cooled. To correct that, I eliminated the fig preserves and decided to reconstitute the dried figs in warm water to plump them up and to add some more moisture to the dough. Success! (If you enjoy a little nip now and then, try reconstituting the dried figs in some booze. A mixture of 2/3 cup rum and 1/3 cup water would be brilliant!)

One bite of these cookies will have you saying "God bless us, every one." Happy Christmas!

The baked cookies don't spread or flatten much because the figs are so thick. For a flatter cookie, smoosh the dough balls a little with a spatula about halfway through baking.

Makes 3 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Toffee Figgy Pudding Cookies.)

Creamables	1 stick butter 1 cup dark brown sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg 2 tablespoons milk 2 teaspoons orange zest 2 teaspoons lemon zest 2 teaspoons microplaned fresh ginger 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 cup chopped dried figs, soaked and strained
Dry Ingredients	2 1/2 cups oatmeal 1 1/2 cups flour 3/4 cup toffee bits 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Roughly chop the dried figs and soak in 1 cup warm water to plump for 15-20 minutes.
   
2. Preheat oven to 350º.
3. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
4. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together until smooth.
5. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
6. Strain the figs, discarding the remaining water. Add the plumped figs to the combined wet ingredients and creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
   
7. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
8. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
9. Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
10. Place the  dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
11. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool. (For a flatter cookie, smoosh the dough balls a little with a spatula about halfway through baking.)

Mad About Cranberry Crunch Cookies III

Carol found my blog through Anna over at Cookie Madness and has become a reader and a real-life recipe user. (Hi, Carol!)

She's made my Cranberry Crunch Cookies a few times and has had awesome results:

“Man, these are good. I just made them again, this time with the slivered almonds. I took a plateful into my hair salon, and the stylists were literally fighting over them. Too funny! In other words, they were a big hit. Thanks again for creating a new favorite recipe!”

Thanks so much, Carol! 

Internet Way-Back Machine Double Take: Dorothy Zbornak on Tatooine?

I was searching YouTube for clips from Christmas in the Stars, the (believe it or not) Star Wars-themed Christmas album, and came upon this gem. A scene from a Star Wars TV Christmas special with Bea Arthur as the cantina barmaid. What the...? Does anybody remember this?

"They Are Not Only Delicious They Are Really Pretty Too!"

The other night I dropped off some of my Yuletide (A.K.A. Peppermint Bark) Cookies for my neighbors and real-life cookie tasters Laura and Chris. They loved the cookies! Here's what Laura had to say:

“Wow are these delicious! I happen to love mint and chocolate so there was a great likelihood that I would like them and yummmmm, they are great. Chris, who claims he does not like mint and chocolate, actually grabbed the one I was eating out of my hand and shoved it in his mouth. 'I thought you don't like mint and chocolate?' He shrugged his shoulders, smiled and walked away. Unbelievable. Anyway I think they are excellent, they are not only delicious they are really pretty too! :~) And I think the blue ones are wintergreen right? I never knew they had wintergreen mints like that. So cool. They are the best of peppermint bark attached to a delicious cookie. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Thanks, Laura and Chris! This recipe is definitely a keeper, one that I'm sure I'll be using a lot during this and future holidays.

Reader Query: Baking Time for a Mini Cookie?

A reader named Kenneth emailed me to ask a question about baking times for mini versions of my cookies. Here's what he had to say:

“I was browsing across your oatmeal cookie blog and I think the recipes are wonderful. However, most of your recipes make big sized cookies (tablespoon sized drops) and I prefer mine to be small bite sizes (3/4 teaspn size). How much time should I scale down from each recipe to accommodate to the size change?”

Thanks so much for writing in, Kenneth. Wow...3/4 teaspoon really is bite sized.

Ovens can be funny things. Some run hot and bake really quickly; some run cool and bake really, really slowly.

I think the best way to determine the perfect baking time for a smaller version of the cookies is to experiment. Let a batch bake for five minutes, then take out the cookie sheet to see how the cookies are progressing.

If the cookies are dark brown and hard, they're overdone. Try baking another batch for three minutes. That should be the perfect amount of time in the oven. Leave the cookies on the sheet for about a minute and then remove to a cooling rack.

If the bottoms are brown and the edges are firming up, I'd say they're just right. Leave the cookies on the sheet for about a minute and then remove to a cooling rack.

(Technically, the cookies are still a little underdone at this point, but they'll finish baking on the hot cookie sheet. This is called carry-over cooking. If you were to put the cookies back in the oven until they were completely firm all the way through, you'd end up with really hard, dry, overbaked cookies.)

If the bottoms of the cookies are still pale and the edges are still soft, put them back in the oven for another two minutes. Repeat this process to determine the best baking time.

I hope this helps!

Picturing Yuletide (A.K.A. Peppermint Bark) Cookies

Here's the recipe for my Yuletide (A.K.A. Peppermint Bark) Cookies in process. (For a Christmas version of this cookie, use red or green candy canes. For a Hanukkah version, use blue starlight mints.)

Cream the creamables. One stick of butter and one cup of white sugar. Easy peasy. In essence, this is an oatmeal sugar cookie recipe.

Combine the wet ingredients. Who could complain with an egg and some vanilla?

Add the wet ingredients to the creamables.

Combine the dry ingredients. Make sure you grind the oatmeal before you measure.

Add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. This dough tastes way better than regular sugar cookie dough. But I am the Oatmeal Cookie Guy...

Chill the dough for 20-30 minutes so that it's easy to roll out. I used chopsticks on either side of the dough to make sure I had a uniform 1/8" thickness. Cut out the cookies and bake. While the cookies are in the oven, shatter your candy canes and mints and place in a shallow bowl or on a plate.

To melt the chocolate chips, I used a really simple double boiler: a bowl sitting atop a pan with simmering water. Dip the cookies, top-sides down, into the chocolate. Then dip them into the candy pieces.

Place the chocolate-dipped, candy-adorned cookies back on the baking sheet and put in the fridge to harden up. These are sooo good. It's like eating a crunchy Thin Mint!

"Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding and a Cup of Good Cheer..."

Here's a tiny hint for tonight's cookie recipe:

OK, that probably totally gave it away. But I must tell you that I hate surprises. Just ask Jon. When we were in college, I'd always give away the endings of the novels we were reading. For example: "Are you at the part where she gets paid to throw oranges grapefruit at the guy?" But I digress...

More specifically, I hate surprise presents. I think I get it from my brother. Just ask Mumma. One year, my parents locked all our Christmas presents in a cabinet in my dad's workshop. They didn't know that my brother, the future engineer, would be smart enough to take the cabinet's doors of their hinges. Who needs a key when you can use a screwdriver. Christmas was almost canceled that year, but my dad--the big softy--gave in.

Long story short: I don't like suprises. So stay tuned for a certain classic English Christmas dessert turned into a cookie. That's all I'm saying. Really. That's it!

Oh, Village Yokocho, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways...

1. spicy tuna
2. octopus balls
3. crispy squid tentacles

It's a good thing Village Yokocho doesn't deliver. If it did, I'd eat so much spicy tuna and tentacles that I'd likely grow gills. Or suction cups.

Thank you so much, Pam and In-Young, for bringing me here!

Yuletide (A.K.A. Peppermint Bark) Cookies

Here it is: my new and improved Yuletide Cookie!

In version 1.0 of this cookie, I used ground-up candy canes as the sugar. But that didn't work out so well.

For version 2.0, I decided to put shattered candy canes on the outside and to use chocolate as the glue to hold them in place. To add to the spectrum of colors and flavors, I used three kinds of candies: red peppermint candy canes, green spearmint candy canes, and blue wintergreen starlight mints.

This is the  first non-"drop" cookie I've made, so I was a little nervous. (My cookie scoop is my security blanket for creating perfectly round, perfectly uniform cookies every time.) But it was really easy-peasy. I used chopsticks as thickness guides as I rolled out the dough, and I used a biscuit cutter to cut out perfectly round dough circles.

I used melted semi-sweet chocolate chips as the glue on these cookies because that's what I had on hand, but white chocolate, milk chocolate, and even dark chocolate would work.

I put each kind of candy in its own plastic bag and than tap-tap-tapped each one with a hammer to shatter the candy into nibble-sized pieces. This is a really good way to exorcise your holiday angst. If you're feeling less violent, you could always just drop the still-wrapped candy canes on the floor a couple times.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Yuletide [A.K.A. Peppermint Bark] Cookies.)

Creamables	1 stick butter 1 cup white sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla
Dry Ingredients	1 1/4 cups finely ground oatmeal 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping	1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, melted 10-12 candy canes, crushed

1. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
2. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together until smooth.
3. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
4. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
6. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 20-30 mintutes.
7. Preheat oven to 350º.
8. Roll the cookie dough into a sheet about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Use a round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out the individual cookies.
   
9. Place the cookie cutouts about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
10. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.
11. While the cookies are baking, shatter the candy canes and place the pieces in a shallow bowl or on a plate.
    
12. Melt 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips in the microwave or over a double boiler. Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the chocolate and then into the crushed candy canes.
    
13. Return the cookies to the baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes so that the chocolate cools and solidifies.
    

Oatmeal Cookie Guy Joins Operation Baking GALS VI

Operation Baking GALS organizes bakers and food bloggers into groups of volunteers who send soldiers in Iraq cookie-stuffed care packages every month.

For round #5, I made my Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. Four dozen of them! I thought about sending Christmas cookies, but I figured that chocolate chip was more homey.

If you've got the time, think about sending some love to someone you don't know. Round #6 will start up in mid-January.

Winter Weather Widget (Weekend) Wonderland

When the weather outside is frightful, and your weather widget is all covered in snow, what should you do?

Go home and make cookies, of course!

I've made a list of cookie recipes--and checked it twice--now I've just got to find the time to spread my sugar and spice.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie dough, made with care, rests soundly, sweetly in my Frigidaire. Because, as my taste test showed, rested cookie dough tastes best. (These cookies are for this month's Baking GALS shipment to a soldier in Iraq.)

Then I've got a bunch of new recipes to bake and photograph. And, oh yeah, eat. No wonder people call this time of year "Stressmas." Ba-dum dum.

The Colors of the Season

I plan on making a bunch of new cookies in the next few days. Ideally, I'd like to get to all the requests and suggestions people have sent in. I'll get there. I promise...to try!

The first of these by-request cookies will fulfill the cookie dreams of two readers: Lorraine, who loves candy canes, and Amelia, who said that peppermint bark was one of her favorite holiday treats.

And so I present to you the new and improved Yuletide Cookie (recipe TK), which will capture the colors of the season in all their minty, crunch glory.

Red candy canes are peppermint, blue starlight mints are wintergreen, and green candy canes are spearmint. These are the perfect toppings for Christmas or Hanukkah cookies.

Buttah, Schmuttah II

My friend Elissa sent me a link to a New York Times article on butter and cookies. Thanks, Elissa! Nothing brightens the Oatmeal Cookie Guy's day like an article about cookies.

The stuff about the best temperature for creaming butter and American vs. European butter is really interesting, but I thought this was the key nubbin of info (emphasis mine):

“Salted butter was long disparaged by American epicures, but the French, the global butter authorities, welcome salt. ‘Salt makes food taste better,’ said Robert Bradley, emeritus professor of dairy science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. ‘Why not butter?’”

Yeah...why not salted butter, my fellow bakers?

I've written on the topic of salted butter in baking before, but this might be a good time for a recap. In short, I prefer salted butter over unsalted butter in my cookies because salted butter just plain tastes better than unsalted butter. (Pardon the pun.)

Here are a few other important nubbins (emphasis mine):

“Shortening behaves well at most temperatures and makes crumbly, tender doughs, but has no flavor of its own.”

And...

“‘I can tell a margarine cookie as soon as I bite into it,’ she [Robin Olson, cookie-swap maven] said. “And then I put it right down.’”

So, to recap, make sure you use butter--yes, salted is much better than OK--and stay away from shortening or margarine.

Hmmm...all this butter talk has me thinking about doing another taste test/experiment.

Sugar Is as Sugar Does

Take a close look at The List, and you'll see an entry for "Yuletide Cookies." These are obviously a Christmas cookie, but I've been reluctant to make them again because the original recipe wasn't bring-in-able. In other words, I oopsed!

I think the concept was good, but it just didn't work. Take it from me: If your planning on using ground-up candy canes to replace all the sugar in your cookie recipe, you'll get super-minty, dangerously crunchy cookies.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...indeed.

Mad About Cranberry Crunch Cookies II

JaySpice, a reader, real-life recipe user, and fellow food blogger, tried my Cranberry Crunch Cookies and had this to say:

“I made these 2 times over the last 4 days! They are freaking AWESOME. I brought them into work and got some very good reviews. I will be making them a third time to be used as Christmas gifts for some of my co-workers. I have some of your recipes bookmarked to try. Those Boston Cream Cookies are calling my name!”

Thanks, JaySpice! These are among my most popular cookies. (Pat on the back time: This is an award-winning recipe.) I hope you like my Boston Cream Pie Cookies just as much!  :-)

Autumn Saturday X: Big Eats in Little Yorkville

Between Thursday's Turkish dinner and Saturday's German lunch and snacks, Jon and I are turning Manhattan into our very own Epcot Center. Who needs a passport when sneakers will do?

First stop: Glaser's Bake Shop, which--as Jon and I learned from Francine Segan's talk on the history of cookies--claims to have invented the black & white cookie like 100 years ago. As I've said before, I'm no fan of the b & w. Jon is, though, and he says this is the best b & w cookie he's ever had. We also picked up some Christmas and Hanukkah cookies. 'Tis the season, you know!

Jon's like my grandfather John: each could strike up a conversation with anybody--and talk for hours. Add puppies to the mix and forget about it. As we we're leaving Glasers, Jon and a woman who lived on the block started talking as they played with a pair of terriers parked outside the bakery. The woman said that only Glaser's and two other establishments remain from when Yorkville was a German neighborhood. So that did it. We had our theme for Saturday's walk. Next stop: Heidelberg for some schnitzel, spaetzle, and--for me--nonalcholic beer. (Query: Who would drink beer for the taste alone?)

Final stop: Schaller & Weber for some pretzels, chocolates, and marzipan pigs. Yeah...I'm not a fan of the marzipan. I should have gotten two packs of pretzels. Or some sausages!

Picturing Eggnog French Toast

Don't know what to do with leftover eggnog? You could always make my Eggnog Cookies. Or you could bust out the bread and make yourself some eggnog French toast. Two yummy solutions.

We used challah, but you can use whatever bread you've got. Soak the slices in eggnog that you've accented with whatever complementary flavors you have on hand. For example, add a splash of vanilla extract, a few teaspoons of cinnamon or nutmeg, or maybe even a dash of ginger or pumpkin pie spice.

Fry the soaked bread slices in butter until the bread warms all the way through and is brown and toasty--about 2-3 minutes on each side. Top with maple syrup and a big, honkin' dollop of butter. (Paul Deen...paging Paula Deen!) It's the holidays on a plate.

Update: This was Jon's creation. He's the breakfast maven around here.

Thursday Night Dinner: Istanbul, Not Constantinople

On Thursday night, Jon and I went to a really fun and interesting talk on the history of cookies at the 92nd Street Y. (More info on that to come.) But before dessert, you've got to have dinner, so we ducked into a cozy little place called Peri Ela for some really tasty Turkish food.

Sorry...I couldn't help but make the They Might Be Giants reference.

Zucchini pancakes with dill and garlic yogurt sauce. Smooth and spicy red lentil soup.

Grilled, Turkish-spiced lamb with potatoes, rice, and peppers. Beef dumplings topped with garlic yogurt sauce. Crispy, flaky, tasty baklava.

What a perfect meal for a cold and rainy New York night!

Picturing Boston Cream Pie Cookies

Here's the recipe for my Boston Cream Pie Cookies in process.

Make the pudding for the thumbprint filling. I used 1/2 cup less milk than the directions called for, and I added a teaspoon of vanilla. Place the mixture in the fridge to firm up.

Cream the creamables. Butter and good-old white sugar. Yup...this has an oatmeal sugar cookie base.

Combine the wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the creamables.

Combine the dry ingredients. Make sure you grind the oatmeal before you measure.

Add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients.

Scoop, thumbprint, and fill the dough balls with about 1/2 teaspoon of the thickened instant vanilla pudding mixture.

Bake, cool, and glaze. To melt the chocolate chips, I used a really simple double boiler: a bowl sitting atop a pan with simmering water. Dip the cookies, top-sides down, into the chocolate.

Cool the chocolate-topped cookies on wire racks. Dunkin' Donuts ain't got nuthin' on me!

The List...Updated

Here’s the most up-to-date list.

S’mores Cherry-Vanilla Crispies Chocolate Malted Good Ol’ Peanut Butter White Chocolate Macaroons Dark Earl Grey Caramel-Espresso Eleven Madison Hawaii Cookies Coffee Cake Fourth of July Grasshopper Elvis Dulce de Leche Chocolate & Salted Caramel Shirley Temple Golden Girls Juliana Skiffle PB & J(onnie) Mocha Mint Rosh Hashanah ChocAlmScotch

Sweater Weather Peanut Butter Cup Hot(ter) Chocolate Almond Brickle Fluffernutter XXX Cranberry Almond Joy Mulled Apple Cider Yuletides Eggnog Cookies Sin-a-Buns Lime in the Coconut Fake-Out-Eos Raspberry-Chocolate Fondue The Girl Scouts Are...Jealous Heeeere's Johnnycake! Do You Like Pina Coladas? Va-Va-Vanilla Rocky Road Hazelnut Coffee Florida Cookies German Chocolate Cake

California Cookies Raspberry Graham...Crunch Scarborough Fair Better...Oatmeal Raisin Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cups Apple Jack Cookies Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies Raspberry in the Coconut Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies Chocolate & Chipotle Cookies Orange in the Coconut Chocolate & Sea Salt Cookies Lavender & Lemon Lovelies Redheads Chocolate Orange...Coconut Cranberry Crunch Cookies Cranberry in the Coconut Pumpkin & Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies Boston Cream Pie Cookies

U.S. Cookie = U.K. Biscuit XIV

This time from British comedy duo Ant and Dec.

Boston Cream Pie Cookies

These cookies are for Em, who challenged me to come up with a Boston cream pie cookie. Ta-dah...I did it!

When I wrote this recipe, I thought a lot about Boston cream doughnuts. The doughnutty part is airy and chewy, but its flavor is pretty light because the doughnut itself is really just a delivery system for the custard filling and chocolate glaze. Simple enough, right?

So I got to work on a cookie base that would have a good texture and a yummy flavor but that wouldn't steal the show from the headlining duo. The solution? An oatmeal sugar cookie as the delivery system. (Stay tuned for more holiday-themed creations that use my oatmeal sugar cookie recipe as a base.)

Real Boston cream pie is filled with custard, but I used store-bought instant vanilla pudding instead because I wasn't sure if real custard would be stable enough--or thick enough--to hold up in the oven. (And because I've only made custard once or twice before and didn't want to risk it.) I also used 1/2 cup less milk than the package instructions called for so that the pudding would be thick and sturdy. (There's nothing worse than a filled/stuffed cookie whose filling/stuffing "bleeds out" in the oven.) Though I made a thickened pudding mixture, I wasn't convinced that it would hold up as the center of a stuffed cookie. So I decided to use the pudding as the filling for a thumbprint cookie instead.

A Boston cream pie wouldn't be Boston cream pie without the chocolate topping, of course. I decided to use semisweet chocolate chips that I melted over a double boiler. I then dipped the baked, cooled cookies, top-sides down, in the chocolate.

Makes 21 cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Boston Cream Pie Cookies.)

Thumbprint Filling

1 pack (1 ounce) instant vanilla pudding 1 1/2 cups milk 1 teaspoon vanilla

Creamables	1 stick butter 1 cup white sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla
Dry Ingredients	1 1/4 cups finely ground oatmeal 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt
Glaze	1 1/4 cups chocolate chips, melted

1. In a small bowl, make the pudding. Use 1/2 cup less milk than the box instruction call for, and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Put the pudding in the refrigerator to cool until Step 10.
2. Preheat oven to 350º.
3. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
4. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together until smooth.
5. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
6. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
7. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
8. Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
9. Place the  dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
10. Use your thumb to make an indentation in each dough ball. Fill each indentation with about 1/2 teaspoon of the thumbprint filling.
11. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.
12. Melt 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips in the microwave or over a double boiler. Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the chocolate. Return the cookies to the wire racks so that the chocolate cools and solidifies.
    

Eggnog Flavoring...They Ought to Bottle the Stuff

Readers Diana and Em pointed me to the King Arthur Flour online store, where you can buy eggnog flavoring. Thanks, Diana and Em!

Adding some of this stuff to an eggnog-inspired recipe, I'm sure, will really pump up the flavor. Try adding a teaspoon or so to my Eggnog Cookies to really drive home the eggnogginess.

Picturing Eggnog Cookies

Here's the recipe for my Eggnog Cookies in process.

Melt the butterscotch chips and combine with the eggnog. Set aside to cool.

Cream the creamables. Butter, dark brown sugar, and white sugar.

Combine the wet ingredients. Add the rum and vanilla extracts, nutmeg, and egg yolk to the cooled butterscotch-eggnog mixture.

Add the wet ingredients to the creamables.

Grind the Nilla Wafers and combine the dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients.

Scoop, glaze, and bake the cookies. Fa-la-la-la!

Reader Query: Gingerbread-Eggnog Cookies?

On my Poll Roundup XIII post, Mandy asked the following question:

Any chance of a combination eggnog and gingerbread [cookie]?

What a great question, Mandy. And what a great way to combine two popular Christmastime flavors!

At first I wasn't sure if spicy ginger and rich eggnog could work together in harmony. And then I saw gingerbread eggnog at my grocery store. Whodathunkit? (Hello...peace on Earth!)

So if you're looking for a truly unique Christmas cookie, try swapping out the standard store-bought eggnog in my Eggnog Cookies with some flavored eggnog. It looks like there are quite a few varieties out there.