I Spent 100 Hours Making These 6 Holiday Cookies

Hello and welcome back! It has been a while since I last made a holiday cookie box. It's actually been I think around four years? But I guess I was once again possessed by the holiday spirit this past week where I spent a hundred hours making six different types of holiday cookies. There's a peppermint mocha double chocolate chip in there, a strawberry matcha crinkle cookie, even a sticky toffee pudding situation. It's a lot of fun. I spent a couple weeks developing these recipes and you'll see but each of these cookies are actually inspired by a few of my favorite things. I'm very excited to finally share these delicious treats with you so just gonna get right into it. Starting with my peppermint mocha double chocolate chip cookie. So this cookie is inspired by my favorite holiday drink of all time, a peppermint mocha. I simply must get one every year. I feel like it's a personal tradition at this point. I just love it's minty, it's chocolatey with just like a hint of coffee. So that's kind of the flavor profile I wanted to preserve. But to give it even more of those warm toasty undertones, I was thinking adding some brown butter could be a nice touch which is usually something I do when I want to add in a little bit of richness, a little bit of nuttiness. So that's what I'm prepping right here. The ice cube is just to cool back down and to add some of that moisture back but you know it's perfect when you smell those like caramel nutty notes. The base of the cookie though is very much like our favorite standard double chocolate chip cookie where I definitely want that like rich chocolatey flavor to come through. And the thing about espresso powder is that it's a really great addition to any chocolate dessert. Something about adding coffee flavors to chocolate somehow brings out the chocolate flavor even more. For this time though since I wanted to taste more like a mocha than a hot cocoa, I am being a little more generous with the espresso powder. The brown butter goes in with the sugars and for this recipe I'm also adding in one whole egg and one egg yolk because again I want the cookie to be on the richer denser like fudgier side. It's the holidays, we're looking for decadence. And because the last time I ended up playing with peppermint extract, I ended up making my treats taste a little too much like toothpaste. I am being a lot more cautious. Just a hint of peppermint this time. Pretty important not to over mix here or else it's going to lose that softness we're looking for. So then right when it's just combined, that's when I'm adding in, yes, more chocolate. It is a double chocolate chip after all. And honestly you can add as much as you want. I feel like that's true for every chocolate chip cookie recipe. Then off it goes into the fridge and here it is again the next day. Totally rock hard. It does need a while to soften up on the counter so took a little longer in the New York cold but eventually we got there. Now it's scoopable with an ice cream scoop which I think is the best way to portion your cookies out. The good thing too is that they won't spread like crazy so I'm just adding a little more in here on the tray. And while it's baking I'm just preparing a few more things. The toppings, the mix-ins. Because I'm a sucker for when a hot chocolate is served with a toasted marshmallow half melted on top. So that's an experience that I wanted to recreate with this cookie. I almost want them to look like a bird's eye view of a warm mug of hot cocoa with the marshmallow in the middle. So then just before the cookie's finished baking I'm adding a marshmallow half right in the center of each cookie and just pressing a little to glue it in before popping them back in the oven. To make sure they really get that nice golden color though I like to just pop them under the broiler for a minute or two. Then I'm adding on a sprinkle of chocolate shavings and for festive purposes as well as a little more of that minty freshness I'm also adding in some crushed candy canes that I bashed earlier. Stress relief. And there it is the peppermint mocha double chocolate chip cookie. Highly highly recommend toasting the marshmallow just before serving because then it gets extra ooey gooey and it really gives that satisfaction of drinking a creamy cup of hot mocha. I just toasted this one again and you can see how the marshmallow kind of just oozes out. It kind of just melts right into the chocolate. Super creamy, super fudgy. You can definitely taste the peppermint in here and I'll say this again but serve it warm because it really does taste like a warm cup of hot mocha. This next one is my lemony ginger gingerbread cookie. Inspired by one my love for chewy molasses gingerbread cookies and two the many honey lemon ginger drinks that I've been having all season. I've been having them warm but today I'm having them cold and fizzy. I feel like every holiday box must have a spiced cookie or a gingerbread cookie maybe because it is the flavor that I associate the most with the holiday cheer even if I'm using pumpkin spice because it conveniently has all the spices I need for this recipe. But I really do love a molasses forward gingerbread treat. The base of which I'm making right here. It's sweet, it's smoky, it's spicy and it pairs so well with the caramel notes of brown sugar. It also gives the cookie dough a really nice color too though to be honest I could probably just eat this as is as a very decadent butter on bread. I'm going for extra richness so just using one egg yolk to keep everything together with a little bit of vanilla to just balance everything out. For spices though I'm using pumpkin spice but also adding in some extra ginger powder. Also a little bit of cocoa to help boost the caramel flavors and I'm also adding in some freshly ground black pepper. I know it sounds kind of crazy but it really works. It does add a little bit of that extra kick and I think it's a lovely addition. Then it's just a matter of combining everything together again making sure to stop once it's just combined and now it's pretty easy to shape into a dough ball. I'm just kneading it a little bit to make it smoother and then flattening it out to make it easier for me to roll out tomorrow after resting in the fridge overnight. You can work with it right away but I find it much easier to work with once it's firmed up a little bit in the fridge especially because we're going to be stamping our cookies out. For those of you who watched the holiday cookie box four years ago you might recognize these cookie stamps. They're from Nordic Ware and they have served me so well so here they are again. Three different patterns and they are all gorgeous. For maximum success too I did also put these stamps in the fridge just before using just to keep them cool and this way they won't stick to the dough and it really does work beautifully. Though I did have to go in with a knife to help get the cookies out mostly because I didn't want to risk tearing them apart but also to give them a neater trim around the edges. The patterns came out so well. Also as a safety precaution I did chill the cookies in the freezer for around 10 to 15 minutes before baking just all the things to make sure the pattern actually stays in place and doesn't melt away. And then while the cookies are baking this is usually when I get started on the glaze. And here's the thing the trick to really getting that lemony ginger cake is to use freshly grated ginger and lemon zest. I tried using powder but the real deal here really makes a huge difference. And remember to be generous with it. I actually usually like to add a little bit more zest after tasting because I find that it really does complement the gingerbread flavor so well. I'll say another important thing too is to brush on the glaze while the cookies are still warm because this is what helps create an even layer across the surface and it makes sure that the glaze is really getting into all those little crevices in the patterns that we just created. The nice thing too is that the glaze sets pretty quickly and I actually really love how the cookies end up looking almost snow kissed like these frosted windows with little specks of yellow for merriment. They almost look like a Christmas tree ornament at this point. Now I don't want to pick favorites but if I did this would be one of them. I was already winching on this one while I was recording. Even with the first bite alone you can immediately taste the brightness and freshness of the ginger and lemon on top but it's quickly followed by the warmth and spice of the gingerbread underneath so that pairing together just makes this very hard to resist. Next up we have the passion fruit banana dark chocolate sandwich cookie who is maybe the fanciest of the bunch. I know I already have a peppermint mocha cookie but as a dark chocolate lover I just wanted something even more intense that almost feels like I'm eating a dark chocolate truffle. So that's how this cookie came about. The sandwich cookies are essentially chocolate sugar cookies with a bit more of a buttery note though I did replace some butter with oil just to help give it a softer texture. Since they're meant to be cut out cookies though and I'm really looking for a nice clean shape the main thing for me throughout this whole process is to make sure that they will not be spreading during the bake. So making sure not to incorporate too much air when I'm combining ingredients remembering not to overwork the dough. You'll notice too that there's actually no baking powder or baking soda in this recipe because I'm looking for the cookie to stay flat no rising. I also swapped out some flour for corn starch which is something I actually learned from the bakeries in Hong Kong something they do to recreate that melt in your mouth texture in their buttery cookies. So I'm just wrapping it up tight and snug and letting this rest in the fridge for the night. Like the cookie doughs earlier it does need some time on the counter to become pliable again but I actually feel like this one was pretty easy to work with. I didn't even really need to dust it with any more flour even as I was rolling this out. And then when I was looking through cookie cutters I wanted to find a shape that felt festive but would also complement the others in the box. So I eventually landed on this small flower shaped one which I actually think came out really nice. The chilled dough does make it so much easier to work with that the rinse and repeat process actually ended up feeling very therapeutic. Also very nice bonus to see how neatly they all came out. Again just to be risk adverse though and to make sure they don't spread in the oven I did also give these some time in the freezer before baking and they came out so perfect. There was zero spread there's this nice firmness around the edges and most importantly they stayed looking almost exactly the same as when they were freshly cut out from the dough. So I was very relieved. And then once they're totally cool and firmed up that's when I'm going in with the decorations. Since there's a lot of dark colors here I decided to go in with a white chocolate drizzle just to lighten things up a little bit. And because it's a season of glittery and shiny presents I thought a little dusting of chocolate gold flakes would be a nice seasonal touch. Also adds a little contrast a little glam and just makes it look a lot fancier all of a sudden. And then while I'm waiting for the chocolate to set now the time I work on the filling. So I wanted to stick with the super chocolatey theme but I was a little worried that a basic chocolate ganache would be too one-dimensional so I was looking around for inspiration on YouTube. I also watched some GBBO but then I actually found this idea from Chef Dominique Ancel's class on Masterclass on French pastry fundamentals. He was making a flavored filling for his chocolate bonbons and I learned that passion fruit and banana apparently go really well together even in chocolate. Something about how passion fruit gives banana like a brighter more floral flavor and I just felt like that would be such a good fit for this cookie. So of course I had to try it out. I had some ripe bananas at home so I just blended it up to make some fresh banana puree and then for passion fruit I found these frozen passion fruit puree cubes that I just melted in the microwave with a little bit of sugar. So then both of these I just heated up gently in the cream before pouring it into my chocolate until everything's melted and looking like a dream. It's a little bit lumpy though because my homemade banana puree wasn't totally perfect but once the chocolate's cooled a little I'm just adding in some butter and blending it in. Another tip that I learned from Masterclass and you can already see how silky and shiny it is. It's deeply chocolatey but with like a very nice hint of fruitiness which is exactly what I was looking for. So before I continue I do just want to say a quick thank you to Masterclass. I started watching a couple of their cooking courses since last month and I feel like every time I sign on I'm learning something new or getting some kind of inspiration. So I would highly highly recommend checking out Masterclass today where you can turn your professional aspirations into achievements. You can click the link in the description box below or use the QR code right here to get started today for a 15% off. Did I mention they also have bread courses? All right now back to the ganache. I'm just pouring it into a piping bag to make it easier for me to pipe onto the cookie shells that I've already laid out on a baking tray. And while it's still soft I'm also going in and putting on the other half of the sandwich, the cookies we decorated earlier. And they really are the prettiest of the cookie gang. I feel like they would make the perfect petit four. Look at it. So pretty. Probably also a great Valentine's Day gift. It almost feels like eating a very rich dark chocolate gelato with like a bit of fruitiness in there. Mmm buttery too. Just feels very luxurious. Now changing things up with our next cookie, a very nutty oatmeal cookie. This one is probably the simplest to make but arguably the most densely packed one. So the main flavors of this cookie was inspired by the hot like freshly roasted nuts that you see street vendors selling on either the streets of New York City or Taiwan. Something again that I very much associate with the wintertime, the holidays. But at the same time I wanted something that had the texture of a Christmas pudding. Something that has a lot of mix-ins, a lot of fun textures. So that's how this came about. For even more nuttiness though I'm using both all-purpose flour and rye flour with quick oats to give it like that extra chew. But the core flavor of this dough does come from the nut butter of choice because with the amount of pudding here this is what really determines what the final product tastes like. I'm using an unsweetened almond butter that I've just melted a little bit for ease of mixing. And then for sweetness I'm using maple syrup which I think goes really well with almonds. This addition is optional but I found these canned chestnut pastes in Paris over the summer. Truth is I always found them too precious to use but it's a time of celebration and chestnuts just feel so quintessentially Christmas. So I decided to add it in and after combining the very nutty paste with the flours this is the fun part. The mix-ins. I had a lot of fun with this one. There's dried cranberries, there's candied pecans, black sesame seeds, candied orange peel, and chocolate chips. Honestly with the amount of protein and nutrients in here it's actually a very good treat to bring with you on a holiday hike. But this cookie dough is much firmer than all the other ones I've made so far so I did have to really use my hands to shape each dough ball mostly to make sure too that the mix-ins actually stayed in place. So I just had to compress them a little more sometimes. The nice thing too is that they keep their shape quite well and I like how they crack a little bit on top. It gives it a more rustic touch. Smells very nutty, very almondy. Flavor-wise I do taste both the almonds and the chestnut. You can see all the ingredients we packed in there. The texture is very dense, very chewy, almost like a granola bar. Definitely a fun one. On to the next one. Some of you know that I got to stop by London earlier this year and I brought a few things home from Marks & Spencer to try. One of them being this sticky talkie pudding that was so good I still think about to this day. So this cookie is inspired by that. This is the sticky toffee pudding cookie. Now I've never made sticky toffee pudding before so I had to refer to a bunch of recipes online and kind of adapt from there. One thing I learned though from the official GBBO website is that sometimes dates are actually soaked in hot tea to absorb some of those flavors before being put into the cake batter. I thought that extra flavor would be really lovely so that's what I'm doing here. Starting with chopping up the dates into small bite-sized pieces. And for the tea I felt that it was only proper I go with English tea so I'm using two earl greys and one English breakfast. Letting that soak for a little longer in the hopes that it'll give me stronger tea flavor. And to this I'm adding in my chopped dates. I was curious to know just how much of that tea flavor the dates would absorb and the answer is actually quite a lot. The dates really absorbed a lot of that liquid so I had to strain them a few times just to make sure they don't add too much moisture to the cookies later. And the thing is I was going to toss out the leftover tea but then I gave it a taste and I realized how delicious it is. At this point it just tasted like sweetened black tea and I felt like we could save this to use in the toffee sauce so I ended up just putting that to a side for now. The base cookie dough though is pretty straightforward. I'm just creaming together the butter and sugars with a bit of vanilla very much sticking to the cake flavors of the original sticky toffee pudding until the mixture is looking very creamy. That's when I'm adding in the flour until just combined and finally the tea soaked dates. They were actually very easy to fold in with how soft they already are at this point. And this time I'm scooping them out into individual portions first before putting them in the fridge to let it firm up overnight. And then just before baking the next day this is when I'm making the toffee sauce. Just brown sugar, butter, and the leftover date tea heated over the stovetop until it gets to this thicker almost syrupy consistency. Noting too that it will become even more viscous once it's cooled down a little bit. These cookies do spread a little more though so I'm just spacing them out and I just want to say while these cookies were baking I could very clearly smell those butterscotch notes. In another world maybe these would have been butterbeer cookies. Once they're out from the oven while they're still hot I'm just going in with a fork to poke a few holes into each cookie. This is so that when I finally spoon the toffee sauce in it can really seep into the dough almost like infusing it with even more of that warm sticky toffee flavor. I'm just sprinkling on some flaky sea salt before letting them cool to the side on a rack and then also to add some color as well as a bit of brightness to all these rich flavors I also ended up zesting on some orange. And the orange actually works really well with the buttery toffee notes. And here it is the sticky toffee pudding cookie pie. You can see very clearly now that the toffee sauce has kind of set into the cookie. I try not to be super aggressive with the poking but there is a decent amount of toffee sauce on this one. You definitely get those like decadent caramel flavors and it has this like tender chewiness that I feel like is even better enjoyed if it's warm. Maybe if I toast this a little bit it'll taste almost exactly like the freshly microwaved Marks and Spencer sticky toffee Finally I may have saved the best for last because these strawberry matcha crinkle cookies are some of the best cookies I've had in a while. I am saying this though as someone who really enjoys matcha lattes especially iced strawberry matcha lattes even in the dead of winter. So that is how this cookie came to be. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted a matcha cookie in this holiday box especially since I just brought back this matcha powder from Japan. The trick really was to figure out a way to best incorporate the strawberries into the matcha. I wanted to go with a crinkle cookie because I really love how the white of the powdered sugar contrasts with the green of the cookie dough and I thought the sweetness of the sugar coating on the outside would kind of balance out the more bittersweet earthy tones of matcha on the inside. With this matcha powder too you can already see how vibrant the green color is even when it's folded into the rest of the ingredients. It still retains that highly pigmented color so definitely go with a high quality matcha with this one. You want the green to pop. Similar to the rest of the recipes I also let this one chill in the fridge overnight to make shaping easier the next day but the difference with this one is that it's still very pliable even straight from the fridge. It's almost exactly like scooping ice cream. Now for the coating part I was trying to figure out what the best way was for both presentation and for flavor. I wanted it to taste like a strawberry matcha latte but I also wanted it to visually represent all of those flavors. I got these freeze-dried strawberries that I tried putting into the powdered sugar but the dough had a hard time picking any of it up so as a last resort I just aggressively pushed some in at the very top. A second option was to put some strawberries into the granulated sugar where the dough did do a better job of picking up some fruit pieces but the powdered sugar layer basically covered everything up in white so you don't really see any red at all. As a quick test though I'm baking both of the ones above and seeing where it takes us. The one on the left with berries placed on top is much prettier but it has very little strawberry flavor while the one on the right doesn't look quite as nice but it does have more strawberry flavors coming through. So then it got me thinking what if I made the freeze-dried strawberries into powder form so I can better mix it in with the powdered sugar. I don't have a spice blender at home but I do have this retired coffee bean grinder that I'm using to grind down my freeze-dried strawberries and it actually ended up working surprisingly well. I ended up with this bright pinkish red dust that smells and tastes very intensely of strawberry which is exactly what I needed. The next thing is to blend it in with the sugar and so the ratio I decided to go with is about a half a cup of powdered sugar to one and a half tablespoons of strawberry powder. This actually ends up giving it a very light pinkish hue and when you taste it it kind of reminded me of strawberry milk candy. Very very pleasant and I think it would actually make such good frosting but now as I'm going through all the steps again the strawberry flavor really clings onto the dough and I'm just combining all the bits I liked from the tests before like the little strawberries on top that make it look like a mochi and that dusting of pink around it right now I think really does just add such a nice touch and once it's baked now you can really see all of those colors come through. The brightness of the green from the matcha cookie dough, the pinkish white of the strawberry powdered sugar, and the red of the dried strawberries on top. It almost looks like a holiday wreath of sorts and just such a delight both to look at and to consume. Now with each bite there's both strawberry and matcha and because the dough is a little more like creamy and soft it almost makes me feel like I'm drinking a creamy strawberry matcha latte. I'm really really happy with how this cookie turned out. Probably the first recipe of the bunch that I will be releasing but honestly I'm really happy with how all of these cookies came out. It was a lot of work putting this little box together. It took many many hours but it also represents some of my most favorite things in the food world and some of my favorite holiday memories so I hope you enjoyed and that it gives you some sort of inspiration. I will be enjoying a lot of these cookies the next couple of days but also going to take the rest of the year to just wind down a little bit for now. Enjoy yourselves this season, happy holidays, and I will see you very soon. Bye!