Photos: Chris Emeott
Get them out of storage, and get ready to fill those holiday-themed cookie jars that are hungry for some sweet (and sometimes savory) dough delights.
While recipe traditions rule this time of year, surprise the cookie eaters in your house with new recipes from two local bakers—who know a thing or two about sifting up a winning nibble.
Baking is about science—precise measurements of those critical ingredients add up to better results. Perhaps this is why former Shorewood resident Kylie White enjoys time in the kitchen around measuring vessels and baking compounds—she’s a sensory scientist at General Mills.
“Baking should be fun. Play around, make a mess and share what you make with others.”—Kylie White
“Baking is 100 percent a science. It’s chemistry,” White says. “Cooking is more of an art, but with baking, you have to get the ratios of ingredients right, or you’ll end up with something very different from what you were aiming for. I once managed to make a Cheesecake from a Lemon Bars recipe while playing around with ingredients—delicious but definitely not what I thought would be coming out of the oven.”
Recipe testing extends beyond White’s kitchen. “In my current role, my team takes a day each December to make a bunch of different cookie recipes, and everyone gets to take home a box at the end of the day,” she says.
Now, what’s a cookie conversation without a bit of “controversy”? Cookie exchanges—yay or nay? “I like cookie exchange parties,” White says. “It’s fun to get together with my friends or family … Going home with a sense of accomplishment and a box of new cookies to try is one of the best parts of the holidays.”
Ginger Bombs
“I love chewy Gingersnaps … I love this recipe because it is soft and chewy and packed with flavor. Be warned—it has a kick to it,” White says. “The candied ginger in the cookie adds a nice dual texture element.”
Ginger Bombs
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup butter
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 1 cup candied ginger, roughly chopped
- 1 cup candied orange peel, roughly chopped
- turbinado sugar
Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar and butter. Beat until uniform. Add in egg and molasses. Beat until uniform. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Whisk to combine. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in four parts, stirring to combine between each addition. Once flour mixture is fully incorporated, add in candied ginger and orange peel. Stir to combine.
Shape dough into rounded balls, about a teaspoon each. Roll each ball in turbinado sugar. Place dough balls onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving room for spreading. Bake for 10 minutes or until just set.
Notes:
These cookies are best enjoyed with coffee or black tea.
Feel free to experiment with the amount of each spice here. I like intensely flavored foods, so I tend to add more than most recipes call for when tinkering with a recipe until I find a ratio that works for me.
Candied orange peel can be difficult to find outside of the holiday baking season. Feel free to omit or substitute another similar ingredient as needed
Sesame Blossoms
“These cookies are best enjoyed with a strong cup of black tea or coffee,” White says. Her recipe includes coffee flour, produced from coffee bean husks. “It does not taste like coffee,” she says. “Instead, it has kind of a nice roasted floral flavor.”
Since Peanut Butter Blossoms are one of her favorite holiday cookies, White wanted to make a peanut-free version for larger gatherings. Knowing she needed an ingredient with a similar peanut butter texture, she incorporated tahini. “The tahini and cardamom together make this cookie stand out,” she says.
Sesame Blossoms
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup coffee flour (optional, see note. Substitute ¼ cup all-purpose flour if you don’t have or want to try or can’t find coffee flour)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. cardamom
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ cup tahini
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tsp. milk
- 1 ½ tsp. molasses
- sesame seeds, (brown is best, or white or black work, too)
- dark chocolate rounds (70 percent)
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat together brown sugar and melted butter for one minute. Add in egg, tahini, vanilla, milk and molasses. Beat until uniform. Add in flour, making sure to scrape the bowl between additions. Chill in the refrigerator for at least four hours, ideally overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Remove dough from the refrigerator. Form into small balls, and roll in the sesame seeds until coated. If desired, you can toast the sesame seeds before doing this, but make sure to let them cool before rolling. Arrange dough balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8 minutes or until the cookies have started to flatten out.
Remove from the oven. Quickly place two to three chocolate dollops in the center of each cookie. Return to the oven and bake for three to five more minutes or until the chocolate is melted. Remove from oven, and transfer to a cookie rack to cool.
Notes:
Tahini is sesame paste and can be found at most grocery stores. I prefer to purchase the kind in a wide mouth jar because it’s easier to get out! Make sure you stir it before measuring.
I use brown sesame seeds because they add a nice nutty flavor. I get them in the bulk section at Lakewinds or in a big container from Lunds and Byerlys or any Asian market. If you can’t find brown seeds, white works just fine.
If you can’t find coffee flour, try the J. Glover Mills brand from amazon.com.
Becky Brandt
Long Lake’s Becky Brandt regular lineup of holiday cookies includes Shortbread, Snowballs, Sugar and Turtles, but there’s always room for more. “I always try out new cookies—whatever is highlighted in social media, the newspaper or online that catches my eye,” she says. “I have folders of saved recipes.” (We recommend checking out lakeminnetonkamag.com for its collection of recipes!)
Many bakers learned alongside a family member, and Brandt is no exception. “My mom loved to bake and had a huge collection of cut outs for decorated Sugar Cookies,” she says. “I always baked with her, and then later, she baked with my kids. We made a family cookbook before she passed away, and baking with her is definitely a favorite memory.”
Along with her own oven-baked bounty, “I love when other people bake for me,” she says. “I know some really good, creative bakers.” As such, it’s no surprise that, like White, Brandt RSVPs “yes” to cookie exchange invites. “I love them,” she says. “I always love trying other people’s favorites.”
Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies
“These may not seem like a traditional holiday cookie, but I always crave something a little less sweet, and it has such a good citrus/herb flavor profile that it’s nice to have something a little different on the table,” Brandt says. “I have experimented with a lot of different shortbreads, but this is my favorite combination, and the rosemary makes it so pretty. Shortbread is flexible. You can make shapes, frost or glaze them, but I prefer them just with a dusting of sugar.”
Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. almond extract
- 2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- zest of one lemon
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ½ tsp. salt
Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract; mix. Add the rosemary, lemon zest, salt and flour; mix well. Using a small cookie scoop, place approximately 48 scoops on cookie sheets lined with parchment. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, and bake for 11-12 min at 375 F. until edges are just lightly browned.
Notes:
You can roll and cut out these cookies, but I prefer to scoop and press (easier!!). Sometimes, I’ll glaze [them] with a bit of powdered sugar and lemon juice.
Fresh rosemary makes all the difference, and don’t omit the lemon zest.
What should we know?
There are some lessons Becky Brandt and Kylie White have learned over the years, and not measuring ingredients is a big misstep. “I’m totally guilty of this …” Brandt says. “I love to just guestimate ingredients or use my own order, and I have definitely ruined recipes. Baking is so much more of a science versus cooking!”
“Don’t keep your herbs and spices out in the light or around the oven,” White says. “Light and heat can destroy the chemical compounds that give spices and herbs their flavor, so a dark place away from the oven is best. If you want them to last a really long time, keep your spices in the freezer. I also recommend buying whole nutmeg and grating it yourself. It tastes better that way.”
Where should we go?
“I love the Wayzata Lunds [& Byerlys],” Brandt says. “I always hit up their baking sale in the fall.”
“[Abundant Kitchen in Excelsior] usually has what I need, and if they don’t, they will point me in the direction of somewhere that does. I also like pining over the Le Creuset displays in the window when I walk by,” White says.
What should we give?
While bakers are busy placing their homemade treats around cookie platters, Brandt and White have some wishes of their own for around the Christmas tree. Their wish lists might inspire your gift-giving ideas for the bakers and cooks in your life!
“I always need better cookie sheets,” Brandt says. “I also wear out my cookie scoops—I use them for everything.”
White is hoping for a Le Creuset Dutch oven or bread oven in Caribbean blue. “The color just makes me happy,” she says. “I wouldn’t mind seeing the Handbook of Spices, Seasonings and Flavorings by Susheela Raghavan under the tree … The Flavor Thesaurus: More Flavors: Plant-Led Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for Cooks by Niki Segnit would be lovely as well.”
Becky Brandt and Kylie White are two of 95 bakers featured in Lee Svitak Dean and Rick Nelson’s The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book (University of Minnesota Press), released last month and covers 20 years of winning recipes from The Minnesota Star Tribune’s (previously known as the Star Tribune) holiday cookie contest. It has 102 cookie recipes and features 11 additional cookie recipes that are favorites of the co-authors. Find it at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, startribune.com and where books are sold.
