Planning a Holiday Cookie Party

A few years ago I read an article about a great pre-school in NYC that found a solution to the dilemma of planning a holiday party that did not offend anyone. Some brilliant person there realized that every ethnic and religious group of people celebrate their holiday with a confection of some sort, be it cookie, candy or cake. What a revelation! Upon reading this article I suggested it for our pre-school holiday party. Each child brought in a cookie and a recipe that was special to their family at the holidays. It was a ton of fun, even the parents enjoyed sharing a bit of their family traditions and recipes with others. It also gave the children one more way to view each other as the same and special.

Here are the basics. If you start with this basic cookie recipe and basic frosting you can make almost any cookie.

Must Have Cookie Baking Essentials
Best Ever Hot Chocolate

Cookie Dough: 
makes 5 dozen 2 inch cookies, do the math for bigger cookies.
Ingredients:

  • 1 pound butter at room temperature (if you prefer to bake with unsalted butter, add ½ salt to the recipe)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (for sugar free dough, use 3/4 cup honey or agave syrup.)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 5 cups of unbleached all purpose flour (to up the health and whole grain count, sub at least ½ the white flour for white wheat flour)

Directions:

  1. In the bowl of a large standing mixer (or just a large bowl if using a hand mixer), cream together the butter and sugar.
  2. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Add the vanilla.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, if using. Use a whisk to aerate or sift the dry ingredients together.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs in three parts, mixing well between each addition.
  5. Divide the dough into 4 even portions and shape into a disc. Wrap each separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using. You can also freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
To use: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper of a baking mat.
Roll the dough on a lightly floured board to the thickness of 1/8 inch. Using floured cookie cutters of your choice cut the cookies and transfers them to the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookies sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

Basic Vanilla Frosting
Note/Suggestions: You can change the flavor of the extract for a different taste sensation, or add coloring to match the decorations you choose. You can also experiment with adding coco powder.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup butter at room temperature (unsalted is best, but not critical)
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 3 ½ cups (1 pound) sifted confectioner’s sugar
  • 3-4 Tbsp cold milk

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed. Beat until the butter turns light and fluffy.
  2. Add the confectioner’s sugar in 3 parts, mixing well between each addition.
  3. Once the butter and sugar mixture is again smooth, add 3Tbsp of milk and beat until a smooth and shiny consistency. If the frosting seems too thick to spread, add the remaining milk 1 tsp at a time until you get the consistency you want.
Using the above recipes as is, cut the shapes into simple snowflake or snowman or mitten and decorate with the white frosting as is. Then embellish with coconut flakes, silvery sprinkles or pieces of candy for a great basic holiday cookie (or anytime of the year cookie).

More Holiday Cookie Recipes