Christmas Cookies, Ranked In Order From Worst To Best

Huffpost ^ | 12/3/24 | Julie R. Thomson

[DallasBiff]

We're grateful for any gift we receive -- especially when it's edible. Come the holidays, that happens more and more and it is grand (because it almost always means COOKIES).

While most Christmas cookies are 100 percent awesome, they aren't all created equal. Some are better than others. And actually some, some are just downright bad. We ranked them in order from best to worst because, well, someone had to. If you're planning on doing any holiday baking, this list may be a helpful guide as to which cookies you should bake and which you need to steer clear of -- especially if you're planning on sending any those cookies our way.

[rlmorel]

My mother...how I miss her. She's been gone near twenty years, but...I miss her most around this time. So this is my tribute: I love you, Mom!

Every year she had two types of cookies she made:

Rosettes (Italian Fried Cookies)
My gosh, how we all loved these. My mom made them every year...mixed the batter, heated up a large frying pan with oil, dipped the iron into the batter, and put the iron in the oil. The cookie would separate from the iron, and when it was done, she pulled them out one by one to drain on paper towels. Then, she would give them a light dusting of confectionary powdered sugar, and they were heaven. All six of us kids would be salivating at the smell of the frying cookies, and my mother would let us eat one or two after she dusted them with the sweet, white powder.

But the ones I loved the most were the Date Pinwheels:

I made sure before she passed on that she showed me how to make these. They are a bit of a challenge because of the fragile dough that has brown sugar in it.

Heh, my mother was well known for leaving out key parts of recipes...not intentionally, but...she had a knack for it. So I spent an evening with her and I wrote down everything.

First, you have to make the date/walnut filling, simmering until it is thick, but not so thick you cannot spread it without tearing the dough apart.

Then you have to make that terribly fragile dough, which is a nightmare for people like me who tend to be a perfectionist as I cook, since it just cracks and breaks as you go. My mother, watching me fuss at it and seeing my frustration said "You can let the dough crack, fall apart, and break. Makes no difference. Just go with it."

She laid down the dough, and showed me how to get it into a rectangle for spreading the warm date-walnut filling on.
Then, using the dough scraper as an aid, started at one end (the short side) she stuck the scraper under the dough and turned about an inch onto the rectangle...moving up, she scraped another inch or so up until she had the beginning of a roll. It broke and cracked at every single manipulation so the date filling was sloppily showing and oozing at every crack and gap-looking totally imperfect-and she said "That's just fine. Now do it again and roll a little more.

Soon, we had a tube of raw dough with the date-walnut mixture in it. She barrel-rolled it (because if she tried to pick it up, it would have broken apart) onto a piece of wax paper, then encased it and rolled it into the wax paper, sealing the ends. Now, we had a nice tube of uncut cookie-roll, and she put it in the freezer.

"Leave it in there a few hours, let it get nice and solid in the freezer."

An hour or two later, we pulled a half dozen semi-frozen tubes of un-sliced cookie out, and then, laying them on a cutting board, sliced them into1/4 - 3/8" thick slices:

You grease a cookie sheet with shortening, and lay them out. Cook them at 400 degrees for 8-15 minutes, but about 12 minutes is optimal. I like to cook them to the point the bottoms on the pan turn a dark brown, but you absolutely do not want to over cook them and make them crunch.

No Bueno.

If you cook them just right, it caramelizes the date-walnut filling, and renders the cookies wonderfully chewy, with the marvelous taste of the caramelization! If you undercook them, they are more cake-like or doughy, and nowhere as nearly as delicious. But if you do it right...cook them just long enough, they are wholly addictive.

I thank my wonderful mother and the memory of her this Christmas for showing me the way:

And here is the Recipe, for those who want to try them:

[skr]

All baked cookies should have slightly browned edges. And I’ll take care of the darker browned edged ones. :)

[DesertRhino]

New Mexico Biscochito, lard, anise, cinnamon, and brandy. NOt only should it be on the list, it should be at the very top. New Mexico screws up a lot of things... but this cookie is perfect, light, perfect taste and texture.

If you haven’t had one with some coffee, you have missed out.

[skr]

My father made the divinity, I made the fudge and the snowball and spritz cookies, and my mom made the cutout spice cookies and the peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s kiss in the middle.

[yldstrk]

Rosettes (Italian Fried Cookies)
*********
My Russian Auntie made these also.

[rlmorel]

I don’t think I have had one for many years...I can almost smell them cooking!

[FoxInSocks]

LOL I know of what you speak.

[lee martell]

Thanks for breaking this recipe for down step by step.
Your Mother’s advice with the careful handling was a special bonus.

[NEMDF]

Yes, my mom also made divinity and fudge. And fried rosette cookies. This year I made peanut butter cookies, coconut macaroons, cutout sugar cookies, and some 3-layer chocolate mint candy. I just use white frosting and some sugary sprinkles on the sugar cookies, which I roll a little to the thin side. I might still make some rosette cookies.

I gave trays to my hairdresser, my chiropractor, the best next-door neighbors with 4 young sons (they got a BIG tray), and the parents of my son-in-law.

I always wanted to do holiday baking, and now that I am retired, actually have time to do some.

[NEMDF]

Rosettes are exactly as we made them as kids, and I have made them, mostly in recent (retirement) years. But I have used a deeper saucepan, where I can see from your post that using a skillet would allow for more to fry at one time. The date pinwheels also look scrumptious!

I have made rolled, cutout sugar cookies the past few years, and have found that using the rolling pin, dusting everything with flour.... brings back such vivid memories of my mother. She even had a wood framed rolling/cutting board covered with fabric, to make rolling and cutting the dough easier. She would scrub it down after each holiday.

Thank you for sharing about your lovely mother!

[metmom]

Do you have a a recipe for the rosettes?

[rlmorel]

Heh, I don’t think I could have done it the first time on my own...I would have probably scraped the entire thing up and thrown it in the trash (kind of like when I screw up an omelette and it turns into scrambled eggs!)

But she said “Not a big deal. That’s how it is!”

[rlmorel]

I never got that recipe for the rosettes from her...or her Crown Roast recipe either, and I wish I had done that. I know she used to cut a lot of the fat off, threw it in a food processor, mixed in garlic and rosemary, then plastered the outside of the roast with the goo, but...I have never successfully replicated it!

[dakine]

My Mom made Russian Tea Balls... The best..

[Jane Long]

Just finished making 5 doz Mexican Wedding Cookies.

Also made cracker candy. Well, we call it Crack Candy.

(It’s more like toffee.)

[combat_boots]

Thanks

[combat_boots]

Bourbon balls
Thumbprints
Iced sugar cookies
Pfefferjeuse

[rlmorel]

My mom was amazing. As a Navy wife, she could easily go between entertaining five people to 30 people at the drop of a hat! After my dad retired, My family would meet at my parents house (those close enough) and no matter if it was five of us or fifteen, she always seemed to have enough!

And she was a great cook, though she did make mistakes...:)

She and my dad were having a major, major fight. It was pretty grim. There were ill feelings in the air, not really a pleasant environment. My dad was an alcoholic who had not yet recovered in those days, he was French, Irish and Scottish ancestry, a very quiet drunk.

My mom was Italian and Armenian. VERY loud, vocal, emotional and hot tempered, putting up with my dad’s alcoholism. Two polar opposites. So the arguments were pretty much one way, with my dad just sipping his drink...

Anyway, my mom is making the dinner, angrily banging the crap out of the pots and pans, making spinach and rice, a family favorite. Very tasty, rice and spinach sauteed together in garlic and olive oil.

She is still steaming, and me and a few of my brothers, sisters and my dad (eight of us total, but I recall there were only four or five of us there that night) are sitting around the table when she comes over with the tureen of spinach and rice and slams it down on the table. We all help ourselves and as I take my very first bite...

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

This is completely disgusting. The food has sand in it. I look up, and all my brothers and sisters have momentarly paused after crunching on the sand. We all look at each other, not moving, and my father is still slowly chewing with an audible crunching sound.

My mom had been so upset she forgot to wash the spinach, and boy, was it dirty!

She looked at all of us and said “What? EAT! YOU HEARD ME! EAT!”

So we all took another mouthful...Crunch...Crunch...Crunch....you could actually HEAR it.

She sat down, took a mouthful, and...Crunch...

She looked up at everyone who was just meekly looking back at her, and said “OH FOR GOD’S SAKE!” And jumped up, grabbed the tureen and threw the whole thing, tureen and all in the trash.

Then, while her back was turned to us as she looked in the trash, I saw her shoulders shaking a little, then we heard a giggle which turned into a roaring laugh, after which we were all laughing, even my dad...:)

The infamous Spinach and Rice Dinner...

[Tom Tetroxide]

Is there such a thing as a fruitcake cookie? If so, that would be the worst!

[rlmorel]

You are most welcome...:)

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, combat_boots!