Christmas Cookies Are for Blogging

12 Easy Yet Impressive Recipes for Cookie Exchanges

Posted by & filed under Cookies, Entertaining.

For some of us, it’s a yearly conundrum: I’m invited to a cookie exchange party but I don’t have the time, or the talent, to make something IMPRESSIVE!  Or at least, I think I don’t! We’re showing these off, and giving them away, so we want them to be beautiful (and delicious)…but it all just seems so complicated and time-consuming!   Here are our top 15 recipes for cookies that are quick and easy to make, yet look like you slaved for hours in the kitchen.   Read more »

German Poppy Seed Cookies (Mohn)

German Poppy Seed Cookies

Posted by & filed under Cookies.

Have you ever wondered why Christmas baking makes such heavy use of spices? The answer is surprisingly simple: For centuries spices were one of the world’s most valued commodities – sometimes costlier than gold – so using them lavishly in holiday baking was a way of demonstrating religious devotion. For the less high-minded, it was also a way to demonstrate worldly wealth. Other ingredients followed the same sort of logic, including poppy seeds, which we use here for this very old recipe for Poppy Seed Cookies.

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