Christmas Cookies: Recipes, Bakeries and Mail Order

Christmas cookies. Photo by By seelensturm via flickr.

I use to bake Christmas cookies when my daughter was young. Then I got out of the habit. But maybe this year, I’ll make some. There are so many great sources for recipes that it’s hard not to find something that will wow your family and friends.

And there are even online helpers like expert baker and cookbook author Nick Malgieri, who offers tips for making perfect–ok, almost-perfect–cookies. Make sure, for example, that you have all the ingredients before you start. Duh! But who hasn’t taken a quick look at their jar of cinnamon only to discover that it actually contains only one micro-gram of the stuff. Panic ensues. Not good for the cookies. Or for the holiday spirit.

Here are some recipe sites. If you prefer to let a local baker make your cookies for you, check out my post from last year about Upper West Side bakeries and their offerings. And, then, of course, there’s mail order. There’s lots of choices there too. But hurry. Christmas is coming soon!

Have favorite Christmas cookie sources of your own? Let me know what they are and I’ll post them.

Christmas/Holiday Cookie Recipes:

• Epicurious

• Martha Stewart

• Good Housekeeping

• Ina Garten

• Cooks Illustrated

• Rose Birnbaum

Tips for Baking Great Holiday Cookies

• Nick Malgieri

Order Your Christmas Cookies Online

• Cooks Illustrated has compiled a list of about a dozen mail order sources, including Harry and David and Dean and Deluca.  Click here for the entire list.

• With New Yorkers in the midst of an infatuation with southern cooking, why not order from “Bon Appetit, Y’all” cookbook author and chef Virginia Willis’ Southern Pantry. She’s got pecan brownies. And you can always order some grits, too.Order  at www.virginiawillis.com

• Do you have fruitcake fans you need to satisfy? Beekman1802 in the Hudson Valley supplies the Christmas staple.