Good Eating’s Holiday Cookie Contest has been one of our most popular projects every year.
And now 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 publish a recipe from it each week leading up to the Dec. 1 announcement of this year’s contest winners. In 2010, the contest focused on chocolate, and this first place cookie delivered in a very big way.
Mrs. Levy’s giant chocolate chip cookies
Prep: 15 minutes
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Cook: 15 minutes per batch
Makes: 20 cookies
“These cookies are a massive chewy delight of chocolate and nuts,” Lynn Levy said about the winning recipe, developed by her mom. She’s not kidding. The Godzilla-size goodies teem with chocolate, walnuts, butter and brown sugar. Levy cautioned that, “Nobody eats an entire cookie for dessert.” But you can try.
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon each: salt, baking powder
4 cups chopped walnuts
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until lighter. Add flour, salt and baking powder; beat just until mixed. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.
2. Drop cookie mixture by 1/2 cup measure onto greased or parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving plenty of space between. Flatten each cookie slightly with the back of a fork. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool on sheet, 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely.
Nutrition information per cookie: 653 calories, 55 g fat, 26 g saturated fat, 107 mg cholesterol, 40 g carbohydrates, 8 g protein, 155 mg sodium, 3 g fiber