The only holiday cookie recipes you’ll need this year ...Middle East

By Vaughn Vreeland, The New York Times

Sweet but not cloying, tender but not without bite, cookies are the holidays’ greatest gift — and what better time to celebrate them than Cookie Week, New York Times Cooking’s annual tradition, in which we create seven dazzling, delicious recipes. This year’s batch harnesses all of the season’s colors and flavors, like boozy almond, spicy ginger, buttery peppermint, but with a few surprises — lemony turmeric crinkles, gumdrop-studded fudge. Make one or all, but do get going. You’ve got some baking to do!

Flavored with peppermint extract, Melissa Clark’s zingy treats — part black and white cookie, part candy cane — melt, then pop on the tongue, with their bright, buttery flavor echoed in the icing. Feel free to play with different colors or even leave them plain. They’ll still shine.

Claire Saffitz’s rugelach-inspired Yule logs pack the visual punch of their bigger brethren but are far easier to share. Crunchy cacao nibs and coarse sugar finish the outside to give these tiny, tender treats a little bit of crunch.

Full of turmeric’s warmth and lemon’s brightness, these golden crinkled cookies from Eric Kim feel (and look) like sunbeams breaking through clouds. But don’t restrict their bright, sunny disposition to a specific time of day. Pair them with a glass of milk or a cup of herbal tea and enjoy as an afternoon pick-me-up or a not-too-sweet finish to any meal.

For her Cookie Week contribution, Sohla El-Waylly looked to Australia and Britain, where rocky road is closer to a fudgelike candy than ice cream. Packed with lots of holiday-evoking add-ins, like speculoos cookies, spice drops and pumpkin pie spice, these stunning no-bake treats welcome all sorts of bits and bobs — even gingerbread house leftovers.

Samantha Seneviratne’s humble cookies have some cheeky secrets: a hidden layer of cream cheese and three types of ginger (ground, fresh and crystallized) that make every bite blissfully sweet-tart. Skip the crystallized ginger, if you like, but it really makes them sparkle, as does a finishing roll in white sugar.

Toasty black sesame and bittersweet matcha doughs are pressed and rolled together in Sue Li’s impressive, colorful slice-and-bake shortbread. They’re a cinch to prepare ahead: Make and freeze the logs whenever you like in advance of the holidays, then simply thaw and bake for effortless hosting.

Vaughn Vreeland’s nutty, lightly boozy treats recall pillowy Italian pignoli cookies but are made even richer with two brushes of buttered rum — once before baking and another round when they’re hot from the oven, which imbues them with even more richness.

Iced Peppermint Cookies

By Melissa Clark

Flavored with peppermint extract, these zingy shortbread rounds — a visual riff on black and white cookies — have an especially bright, buttery flavor that’s echoed in the icing. The red and white glaze recalls candy canes and Starlight mints, but feel free to play with different colors when decorating these. Or skip the glaze entirely for an easy-to-make minty cookie with a more classic appearance.

Yield: 24 to 32 cookies

Total time: 2 3/4 hours

Ingredients

For the Dough:

For the Royal Icing:

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder.

2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until fluffy and lightened in color, 2 to 4 minutes. Beat in egg yolk and peppermint extract. With mixer set on low, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed.

3. Gather dough into a ball and press it into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The dough can be made up to 5 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator, or frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge.)

4. When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

5. Unwrap the disk of dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper and place another parchment sheet over the top. Roll the dough until it’s 1/4-inch thick then remove the top parchment. Use a floured 2-inch-round cookie cutter to stamp out the cookies, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 1/2 inch apart. Reroll the scraps as needed, creating more cookies.

6. Bake until the cookie edges and bottoms are brown, rotating the pan once halfway through baking, 13 to 17 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

7. Make the royal icing: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the powdered sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, salt and peppermint extract. Whisk on high until stiff and glossy, adding water if needed so that the icing runs off a spoon. Taste and add a little more peppermint if needed. It should be deeply flavored. (The peppermint flavor of these cookies fades over a few days. So if you plan on keeping them for more than a day or two, use a greater amount of peppermint extract.)

8. To tint, divide the icing into two small bowls. Cover the contents of one bowl — you’ll leave it white — with plastic wrap, as it’ll dry out very quickly. Use a rubber spatula to stir in red coloring into the other until it’s vibrant. Tap the bottoms of the bowls to remove any air bubbles.

9. Working one at a time, spoon the red icing on one half of the cookie, aiming for a straight line through the center of the circle. Once the icing is dry, spoon the white icing on the blank side of the cookie and let sit to set.

Tips: These are best eaten within a week of baking. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.

Bûche de Noël Cookies

By Claire Saffitz

These rolled cookies are inspired by chocolate rugelach but are sliced to look like mini Yule logs. Cacao nibs and coarse sugar finish the outside to give these tender treats a little bit of crunch. A dusting with powdered sugar is optional but makes them look extra festive, like part of a snowy scene.

Yield: 36 cookies

Total time: 3 1/2 hours

Ingredients

For the Coating:

For the Dough:

For Filling and Assembly:

Preparation

1. Make the coating: Combine the cacao nibs, Demerara sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse for several seconds at a time until the mixture is the consistency of very coarse sand. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and set aside. (Keep the food processor out for the next step; there’s no need to wash it.)

2. Make the dough: Add the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt to the food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Add the butter pieces and process in long pulses until the butter breaks down into very fine bits. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream and vanilla until smooth, then remove the lid and sprinkle the mixture over the flour mixture. Replace the lid and process until a smooth dough forms a ball around the blade.

3. Chill the dough: Scrape the dough onto a clean work surface, then cut into 3 equal pieces (each portion should be about 230 grams). Roll each portion into a 9-inch-long log, then place each log on a long piece of plastic wrap. With your hands, flatten and press each portion into an 11-by-3-inch rectangle. Wrap in the plastic, taking care to form squared-off packets with no (or few) air pockets, then roll the packets with a rolling pin to create neat rectangles of even thickness. Transfer the packets to the refrigerator in a single layer and chill for at least 1 hour (and up to 2 days).

4. Make the filling: Bring an inch of water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Combine the chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl and set over the saucepan. Reduce the heat to low and stir the chocolate mixture occasionally until completely melted. Remove the bowl from the saucepan (carefully, as it’s hot) and let cool for a minute, then add the powdered sugar, flour, egg yolk and vanilla, and whisk until completely smooth. Set aside, stirring occasionally until the mixture is cooled and the consistency of loose peanut butter.

5. Roll out the dough and fill: Remove a piece of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap and place on a long piece of lightly floured parchment ...

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