"CookieRecipes" news and stories

Every year, I find myself searching for that new cookie recipe, the one that will really wow my family, friends and co-workers. This year, Gourmet.com has made my search both easier and far more painful, all at the same time. Early last week, they posted a feature entitled "Gourmet's Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008" that chronicles their best cookie recipe from each year since the magazine's inception.

The piece features cookies like the more traditional Old-Fashioned Christmas Butter Cookies (1947) and Gingerbread Men (1959) to more obscure holiday goodies like "Shoe Sole" Cookies (1970) and Pistachio Tuiles (1988). It's also interesting because is shows how cookie trends have shifted and evolved over time. The World War II-era cookies are far more austere than the cookies of the booming 1980's. I'm planning on trying out the Fig Cookies (1964) and the Honey Refrigerator Cookies (1942) in the next week or two.

Which recipes call out to you? Do any of these recipes happen to be favorites in your family?

It's Christmas evening and I'm sitting around the fire at my parent's house with my favorite baking partners: my sister Abby and my babysitter Katie, a family friend. We're mulling over that question that irks every girl who got a couple of new baking toys and has a Costco bag of chocolate chips to use up: what, exactly, should I bake?

That's when I remembered Heidi's recipe for peppermint bark chocolate chip cookies. What a great way to use leftover Christmas candy! (Or, an excuse to hit those post-Christmas 50%-off sales.) You needn't stop at peppermint bark, either - try chopping up any number of leftover chocolate-based confections. We're planning on experimenting with the recipe over the next few days. Anyone else out there baking tonight?

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