Holiday cookies Showstopping recipes to sweeten the season

Seasonal favorites such as gingerbread cookies and icebox pinwheel cookies are just two classic standouts in this excellent holiday baking book. Holiday essential peppermint bark finds its home in "Holiday Confections," as does a sophisticated smoked almond and cacao nub brittle. Favorites spanning the globe-including Austrian linzer augen, South American alfajores, Hungarian kiffles, and Dutch speculaas-make up the "Around the World" chapter and include some time-saving modifications such as directions for making the speculaas sans cookie molds. Tips for cookie-exchange parties and recipes for gingerbread place-card cookies, 3-D Christmas trees, and stained-glass snowflakes all make for great holiday entertaining. Serving suggestions in headnotes-such as adding a scoop of ice cream and fudge sauce to chocolate-peanut-butter-brownie sandwich cookies-can make a cookie go from simple treat to full-on dessert. Full-page color photos display how great that cookie tray can really look this holiday season. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Growing up in Sweden, recipe developer and food stylist der Nederlanden established a lifelong passion for baking. Here, she shares 50 of her most-loved holiday cookies and confections, including red velvet crackle cookies, glazed eggnog madeleines, apple cider caramels, and smoked almond and cacao nib brittle. They're attractive and sophisticated, often with a touch of European flair. Home cooks determined to step up their cookie-making this holiday season will find many satisfying choices, along with useful decorating and packaging tips, and a few decorative projects (e.g., gingerbread house, cookie ornaments and place cards, 3-D Christmas trees). VERDICT Concise and balanced, this is an inviting collection with no throwaway recipes. Highly recommended. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

INTRODUCTION The aroma of baking that fills my home in December is unlike that of any other time of year and heightens my excitement for the approaching holidays. Thinking about what lies ahead conjures up memories of being a child, when early every moment of the holiday season seemed warm and festive. I was born and brought up in Sweden, where my parents built a house next door to my grandmother's home. The nearest town was six miles away, so my childhood was spent in the countryside. I learned to bake from a young age, and as a teenager I worked in a konditori (bakery) in that nearby small town. From the age of thirteen, children in Sweden can take two weeks every semester to do practical training at a local workplace, which is how I came to be at the Holgers Konditori. Opened in 1903, the bakery is located in the main square and is where everyone in town goes for special-occasion cakes, cookies, and buns. When I finished my training, Holgers offered me a summer job, and I worked there every summer. I loved every minute. That love of baking extended into my home life, particularly around the holidays. Once autumn arrived, which brought fewer daylight hours, inside activities like baking became the norm. Come winter, nighttime fell early, and any opportunity to celebrate and decorate--especially with lights--helped brighten the darkest time of year. In Sweden, holiday celebrations start early and include many festivities, such as the Advent season, which begins on the fourth Sunday preceding Christmas. One of my favorite celebrations is St. Lucia Day, in which girls dressed in white lead a candlelight procession, and everyone in the group sings and pepparkakor, a gingery cookie with plenty of snap (you'll find the recipe on page 88), is served. A lot of baking is done early in December, when breads, cakes, cookies, and confections are made and then stored for the upcoming celebrations. I remember eating many of these treats only during the holidays, so just making them would put you in the spirit of the season. Excerpted from Holiday Cookies: Showstopping Recipes to Sweeten the Season by Elisabet der Nederlanden All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.