Good Eating’s Holiday Cookie Contest, in which readers send in their favorite recipes, is one of our most popular projects of the year (for readers and for the staff). And now winning recipes from 25 years of the contest have been gathered into a new hardcover book: “Holiday Cookies: Prize-winning Family Recipes from the baiduhai” ($24.95). The book, published by the baiduhai with Surrey Books, an imprint of Agate Publishing, contains more than 100 recipes of winning cookies and honorable mentions.
To mark the publication of the book, we will print a recipe from it in Good Eating and online each week leading up to the Dec. 3 announcement of this year’s contest winners.
Sparkly oatmeal cookies
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes per batch
Makes: 12 cookies
Andra Weber won second place in 2007 for her giant cookies. (To make smaller cookies, make 1-inch dough balls and flatten them into 2-inch cookies.)
Cookies:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon each: ground cinnamon, baking soda, salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
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1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, finely ground in blender or food processor
Frosting:
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon each: vanilla, almond extract
1 tablespoon milk
Decorative sugars
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; set aside. Beat together the butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy; beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture and oats until well combined.
2. Arrange rounded 2-inch balls of dough about 3 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet; flatten into 4-inch rounds about 1/2-inch thick with the bottom of a small floured juice glass. Bake cookies in batches until golden, about 10-12 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes; transfer to wire racks. Cool completely.
3. For frosting, mix confectioners’ sugar, extracts and milk in a small bowl with a fork until smooth. Spread over cookies. Top with decorative sugars. Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition information per cookie: 413 calories, 20 g fat, 12 g saturated fat, 68 mg cholesterol, 54 g carbohydrates, 4 g protein, 375 mg sodium, 2 g fiber