By Suzanne Corbett, STLSportsPage.com Food / Travel Editor
Bake cookies and enjoy ice cream inspired by holiday cookies.
The night before Christmas is looming and I have yet to bake a cookie. Well, I have been baking– but that was for my appearance at the U. S. Grant Historical Site Holiday gethering. If you want to see those treats, CLICK HERE.
But I have not made a single cookie for my family or friends. What a nightmare! A scenario almost as bad as when Jack Skeleton kidnapped Santa in Tim Burton’s film, Nightmare Before Christmas.
With no time to waste, it’s time to bake. To lighten the task, consider a cookie exchange, which is timely considering December 22 is National Cookie Exchange Day. The ultimate swap meet, cookie exchanges are a great party theme. Bake a few cookie batches and host an exchange party to swap cookies with friends. A fun concept that fills the cookie tray that is hardly new. Cookie exchanges/parties have a surprising history and date back hundreds of years.
Exchanging holiday cookies can be traced to medieval Europe when bakers created intricate sweet treats to share with friends and family. As immigrants came to Colonial America, they brought with them their baking traditions that included exchanging cookies.
One of the first “swaps” was recorded in 1703 by the Dutch in New Amsterdam (New York). Another account records a cookie party hosted by George Washington, where was served a variety of cookies.
By the 1930s baking and sharing cookies became an integral part of the Christmas season. The 1950s marked when the cookie exchange party began to gain popularity. Today, with the endless source of recipes via the internet and creative pastry chefs, cookies have become chic, especially with Santa and Clementine’s Ice Cream’s owner and Flavor Temptress, Tamara Keefe. In fact, is was the cookie exchange that became the catalyst that led Keefe to combine holiday cookies and ice cream exchange to create Clementine’s Holiday Exchange Flavors.
The cookies selected had to be unique. The cookies chosen were specialty cookies baked from recipes by six creative professional women pastry chefs: Anna Gordon who contributed her Cranberry Vanilla Linzer; Fany Gerson with Chipotle Cherry Rugelach; Justin Doriron with Sticky Toffee Pudding Cookie; Abi Balingit’s Pandan Polvoron Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie; Reine Keis vegan cookie offering, Thick Mint; and last but not least, Megan Garrelts’ classic 7 Layer Bar.
According to Keeefe, each woman brought her own traditions, flavors, and memories to the table, transforming a simple cookie into something magical. Together, they embody what Clementine’s stands for: community, artistry, and the joy of sharing something made with love. North Pole elves have leaked the intel that Clementine’s cookie exchange flavors have Santa’s approval. And like Santa himself Clementines Holiday Cookie Exchange Collection is only here for the holidays and will be available at Clementine’s Ice Cream parlors and online for nationwide shipping through Goldbelly.
While we all have our own family’s “must-bake” holiday cookies, it’s great to bake something new. Anna Gordon and Clemetine’s have shared the recipe for Vanilla Linzer Cookies. Give it a try, and don’t forget to bake a batch to share.
Anna Gordon’s Vanilla Linzer Cookies
3¾ cups (about 16 oz.) all-purpose flour
1¼ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. table salt
1¼ cups (10 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups (8 oz.) powdered sugar, sifted
1 cup raspberry or blackberry jam
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
- Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat together butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in eggs on medium speed, about 30 seconds. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating just until combined and stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a 6-inch disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
- Unwrap one dough disk, and place on a piece of floured parchment paper. Lightly flour dough; top with another piece of parchment paper. Roll dough to ⅛-inch thickness, lightly flouring as needed. Transfer dough and parchment to a baking sheet; chill while repeating with remaining dough disk.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Remove top parchment paper from one rolled disk; cut using a 3-inch round cutter, and place rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Repeat with remaining chilled dough. Cut out centers of half of the rounds using a 1¼-inch round cutter. Reroll and cut scraps as needed. Chill until ready to bake.
- Bake in oven until edges are lightly golden, 10 to 14 minutes. Let cool completely on pans on wire racks, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Place powdered sugar in a medium bowl; gradually whisk in 2 to 3 tablespoons water until smooth and desired consistency is reached. Spread a thin layer of icing on cookies with holes. Let stand on wire racks until set, 30 minutes.
- Stir together jam and vanilla until combined; divide and spread mixture over each “bottom” cookie. Top with glazed cookies. Serve or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Serves: 16
Editor’s note:
A really successful cookie exchange or “cookie swap” involves some planning ahead, so we are not sure why “National Cookie Exchange Day” would be on Dec. 22– just three days until Christmas.
While we love Suzanne Corbett’s recipe for “Anna Gordon’s Vanilla Linzer Cookies,” we realize you may not be able to find someone to do a cookie exchange on such late notice.
Cookie Exchanges are a lot of fun, and they provide you with a good assortmet of holiday treats to serve your guests or give away.
Hosting a cookie exchange is something that brings together friends and family and is worth thinking about to do next year.
Here’s an example of how it works: Invite eight people and each person brings eight dozen of one kind of cooie. So conceivably you would make Peanut Butter Kiss cookies– Bake eight dozen and place them on eight individual plates, boxes or whatever you want to display them in. At the party each person sets their cookies in an area of the room and everyone goes around taking one of each. This ensures you will get eight different types of co0kies.
You can either keep the eight cookie types separate or mix as shown in the photo. Take a group of your own containers and add cookies from all the groups for a beautiful assortment. If you have it early enough in the season you can freeze them and take out a plate for Thanksgiving and then you’ll have some for the December holidays.
