Cookie Season

It’s officially cookie-baking season—my favorite time of year to fill the house with butter, sugar, citrus, and joy.

One of my clearest childhood memories is coming home from school after my mom had spent the entire day baking. I’d walk through the door and the whole house smelled like sugar, butter, vanilla, and love. I’d sit at the little family room table—our spot—and tell her about my day. It wasn’t fancy, but it was holy. A small place where I felt known and safe. A reminder that joy can rise like dough in the middle of ordinary life.

Every November & December I return to a handful of tried-and-true recipes and flavors. I typically make cookies for my family every few weeks. But in November and December I like to have plenty on hand to give away to friends, church folks, and family. Here are a few of my favorites from this season’s baking adventures.

My Ride-or-Die Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am firmly team crispy/chewy when it comes to chocolate chip cookies. Soft and cakey? Not for me. Thin and brittle? Hard pass. These, though… these are my forever cookies. I found this recipe last year and never looked back.

Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

→ https://cookiesandcups.com/salted-brown-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/

What I love most is the nutty flavor from browning the butter—rich, toasty, deep—but without adding any actual nuts (which is key, because one of my kids is fully anti-nut in all baked goods). These are my oldest kids favorite cookie. I swap out the milk chocolate chips for low sugar dark chocolate chips. Sometimes I throw in festive seasonal m&ms. Perfect ratio of dough to chip. I’ve tried a million recipes, but I keep coming back to this one. It’s everything I want: crispy edges, chewy centers, a little salt, full of chocolate, and that incredible brown-butter aroma.

Cranberry + Orange: My Forever Holliday Flavor

If I could only bake one flavor from Thanksgiving to Christmas, it would be cranberry-orange every single time. Tangy, bright, sweet, wintry—chef’s kiss. I’ve made cranberry-orange baked goods in nearly every form: soft and fluffy with craisins, tender muffins, buttery shortbread… you name it. This year I tried a new recipe, and wow. WOW.

Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies

→ https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/cranberry-orange-shortbread-cookies-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-112160

Fresh orange zest plus fresh cranberries? Stunning. These cookies are buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, with bursts of tart cranberry and that bright citrus sparkle that just tastes like December. They’re absolutely staying in the rotation.

Cranberry Hand Pies

Near the end of this year’s baking marathon, I tried a last minute addition: cranberry hand pies.

Easy Cranberry Hand Pies

→ https://thymeforhoney.com/easy-cranberry-hand-pies/

I used two sleeves of refrigerated pie dough, doubled the sauce, and swapped in the juice from two fresh navel oranges instead of lemon. My only regret? Not adding more orange zest! But here’s the magic: the premade dough baked up beautifully crispy. I can never get premade crust to bake quite right in a full-size pie, but the hand-pie format worked perfectly. Flaky, golden, bright, delicious.

My Spouse’s Favorite: Sugar Cookies

My spouse loves a good sugar cookie, the classic kind that feels like home. For years, I had the perfect recipe—a soft, lightly citrusy cookie from the cookbook my mom gave me when I was younger. I treasured it… and then lost it in our 2018 move. I’ve been trying to recreate it ever since.

What made that old recipe special was a splash of orange juice instead of almond extract. (Confession: I cannot stand almond extract. I know some people love it, bless their hearts—but not for me.) Several years ago I found a winner:

Best Sugar Cookie Recipe (Two Sisters Crafting)

→ https://www.twosisterscrafting.com/best-sugar-cookie-recipe/#mv-creation-60-jtr

It’s a big-batch recipe, requires no chilling (a busy mama  miracle), and starts with salted butter—because honestly, who has time to keep two kinds of butter around in December? I add the zest of a fresh navel orange to give them that bright, nostalgic flavor that reminds me of my lost recipe. They bake up soft, sweet, and beautifully simple. I don’t even frost them most of the time! A family favorite!

Honorable Mentions: Oatmeal Rasin and Pear Butter (or Apple Butter) cookies.

One of my kiddos adores Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. It’s a classic, and I just use the recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Enevitablly one (or 40) parishoners will gift me with apples or pears every fall from their trees. I typically can apple or pear butter regularly in early October. So, I often will make Pear/Apple Butter cookies. I don’t know where I got the recipe, but it’s a quick batch to make!

Pear Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup pear/apple butter

2 cup sugar

2 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Cinnamon sugar

In a larger mixer bowl, beat the butter, pear butter, and sugar on medium until combined. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the cinnamon, flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls. Roll the balls of dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture, and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12-13 minutes, until set and beginning to brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

The season can be busy, heavy, or exhausting—but in the middle of it all, baking reminds me of the Spirit’s quiet work: warming, rising, restoring, filling the house with goodness.

If you try any of these recipes, I’d love to hear what memories they stir up for you.

Happy baking, and may your kitchen be full of sweetness and peace.