More winning cookie recipes
Here are thewinning recipes from the five most recent Dayton Daily News holiday cookie contests.
TheDaytonDailyNews DAYTON— holiday cookie contestwouldhave celebrated its 30th year this year.
Unfortunately, the pandemic put a temporary halt to the contest in 2020. But we know great holiday recipes are timeless, so today, we share the contest’swinning recipes fromeach of the last five years.
We hope these recipes help stir your creative juices. Each of the five recipeswas judged to be the best from among dozens of entries. They are proven winners.
You and your family might just find a new favorite.
2019
WHITECHOCOLATE CRANBERRYPISTACHIO COOKIES
Submitted by Geni Thurin of Dayton
½ cupunsaltedbutter, softened (it’sessential that it’s softened) ½ cuppackedbrownsugar ½ cupwhitesugar ¼ teaspoonsalt
1egg
1 teaspoonvanillaextract 1½ cupsall-purposeflour ½ teaspoonbakingsoda 1cupwhitechocolatechips ½ cupchoppedshelled
pistachionuts 1cupdriedcranberries (ordried cherries)
*If using unsalted nuts, add an extra ¼ teaspoon salt to the flour
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butterand the sugars. Using an electric mixer, creamthe butterand sugars until fluffyand pale in color, 3-5 minutes. This step is important for ensuring soft, chewy cookies. Beat in the egg andvanilla extract.
3. In a separatebowl, combine
the flour, salt and baking soda. Using awooden spoon, carefully stir the flourmixture into the butter mixture, just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and pistachio nuts.
4. Drop heaping spoonfuls of thebatteronto the greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until they just begin to turn golden around the edges. Allowthe cookies to cool for2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferringthemto awire rack to cool completely.
Yield: About two dozen cookies
2018
WHITECHOCOLATE CARAMEL TOFFEE BLONDIE S
Submitted by Terry Rich of Dayton
2¼ cupsofflour 2teaspoonsofsalt 2 teaspoons baking powder ¾ cupofbutter 1½ cups of granulated sugar 1cupofbrownsugar
3eggs
2teaspoonsvanilla 1 12-ouncebagofwhite
chocolatechips 1 cup of Heath milk chocolate
toffeebits 111- ounce bag of caramel bits and 2 tablespoons milk
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13-by-9-inchpan
with foil. Spray foil with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Mix flour, salt and baking powder togetherand set aside.
3. Creambutterand both sugars togetheruntil mixedwell. Addeggs andvanilla and beat until fluffy.
4. Blend in flourmixture. Stir in half thebag ofwhite chocolate chips and the cup of toffee bits.
5. Spreadhalf the mixture into the preparedpan.
6. Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.
7. Place caramel bits and 2 tablespoons milk in a microwavesafe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stirand heat at intervals of30seconds until caramel is melted.
8. Pour caramel over thebaked layerand layer remaining white chocolate chips on top of caramel and then topwith remaining cookie dough. It is thick, so you can place in spoonsful across the chips and spreadslightly. The doughwill spreadwhile cooking.
9. Bake onmiddle rack for30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting or the topwill crack like a brownie. Once thebars are cooled completely, lift the slab fromthe pan using the foil. Place on a cutting boardand cut to the desired size.
Cut into 24bars.
2017
PEACHYPISTACHIO ICEBOXCOOKIES
Submitted by Roxanne Williams of Springboro
½ cupsaltedbutter,
softened 1cupgranulatedsugar 1 largeegg 1 teaspoonvanillaextract 13/4cupsall-purposeflour 1 teaspoonbakingpower ¼ teaspoonsalt ½ cuppeachpreserves ½ cupfinelychopped roastedsalted pistachios
1. Cutparchment paper into eight 12-by-6 inch rectangles.
2. Beat butterwith a heavy duty stand mixeronmedium speed until creamyforabout 2 minutes. Addsugarand beat until light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Addegg andvanilla and beat until combined.
3. Stir togetherflour, baking powderand salt in a small bowl.
4. Graduallyaddflour mixture to butter mixture, beating on lowspeed until blended.
5. Transferdough towork surface and divide into four equal portions. Place one dough portionbetween 2 parchment rectangles. Roll out dough to 9-by-3 inch rectangle about1/4inch thick. Repeat with remaining dough portions. Place on baking sheet and freeze30 minutes.
6. Pulsepeach preserves in a foodprocessor until large pieces are broken apart.
7. Remove dough from freezer. Remove toppieces ofparchmentfromthe dough rectangles. Spread about 21/2tablespoons of the preserves overone dough rectangle. Sprinkle with about8teaspoons of finely choppedpistachios. Top with one dough rectangle. Repeat layers with remaining preserves, pistachios and dough, leaving the top rectangle uncoated.
8. Trim dough stack to an8 1/2-by-31/4-inch brick. Wrap in plastic and freeze foran hour.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from freezerand slice into 1/4-inch thick rectangles. Place on parchmentpaper-lined baking sheets.
10. Bake inpreheated oven until lightlybrowned 13-15 minutes. Cool onbaking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer towire racks and cool completely for20minutes.
Makes 2dozen cookies
— This recipe originated from Southern Living magazine.
CHOCOLATEGINGER MOLASSESSANDWICH COOKIES
Submitted by Darrell Bickley of Centerville
3cupsflour 2teaspoonsground
cinnamon 2teaspoonsgroundginger
Thefirst-placewinner in the2016DaytonDailyNews Holiday Cookie contest were these Chocolate Ginger Molasses Sandwich Cookies, submitted by Darrell Bickley of Centerville.
1 teaspoongratednutmeg 2tablespoonsDutchprocesscocoapowder 2sticksunsaltedbutter,
roomtemperature 1cuppackeddarkbrown
sugar 1cupunsulfuredmolasses 2teaspoonsbakingsoda 1 tablespoonboilingwater 4tablespoonscrystalized
ginger, chopped ¼ cupgranulatedsugar Frosting ingredients: 28-ouncepackagescream
cheese
1 stickbutter, softened
slightly 1 teaspoonvanilla 5cupspowderedsugar Decorativegemsorsugar
1. Sift together the flour, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and cocoa. Separately, mix together orbeat with thepaddle attachment on a stand mixer 2 sticks ofbutter until light and fluffy(about 2 minutes). Addthe brown sugarand mix/beat until combined. Addthe molasses and mix/ beat until combined.
2. Dissolvethebakingsoda in the boilingwater. Mixhalfof the flour-spicemixtureinto the butter-sugarmixture.Add thebakingsodamixture, then theotherhalfoftheflourspicemixture. Mix/beat in betweeneachstep.
3. Stir the candied ginger inby hand, pat the mixture into a 1-inch thick square, wrap it in plasticwrap and refrigerate it fora fewhours orovernight.
4. Preheat the oven to
325 degrees. Cut the dough into48equal squares and roll these into48balls.
Roll the doughballs in the granulated sugarand place themabout 2 inches apart onparchment-paper lined baking sheets. Bake 18-22 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Bake until they start to crack.
5. Put the unbaked dough back into the refrigerator until it’s ready to go into the oven.
6. Baked cookies should cool for5 minutes before being transferredto a wire rack to fully cool.
7. While the cookies are baking, beat the cream cheese, remaining stickof butterandvanilla until fluffy. Addthe powdered sugar and mix until you have a nice, fluffyfrosting.
8. Whenthe cookies are completely cool, ice one side of half the batch and sandwich them. The cookies’ iced edges can be rolled in decorative gemsorsugar for amore festive look.
REDVELVETCANNOLI CREAMSANDWICH COOKIES
Submitted by Laura Haber of Miamisburg
FORCOOKIES: 2⅔ cupsall-purposeflour 4tablespoonscocoa
powder 2teaspoonsbaking
powder ½teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoonsalt
½ cupbutter,room
temperature 2cupssugar
4eggs 4 tablespoons butter milk 4teaspoonsapple cider
vinegar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 tablespoons red food
coloring FORCANNOLICREAM
FILLING: 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
cheese 8ouncesmascarpone
cheese ⅓ cuppowderedsugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cupmini semi-sweet
chocolatechips FORDRIZZLE: ½cup white chocolate chips
1. Preheatovento375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mixtogetherflour, cocoa powder, bakingpowder, baking soda and salt ina small bowl.
3.Creamtogetherthe butter and sugar until light andfluffy, about3minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Thenbeat inthebuttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and red food coloring. Oncecombined, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
4. Lineasheet traywith parchment paper. Using asmall icecreamscoop, form2-inch roundcircles. Recommendation: Usethe bottom of a glass dipped into sugartopress thedoughinto the2-inch circles.
5. Bakefor9-10minutes until baked through. Cookies shouldbecake-likeandlight. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Forthecannoli creamfilling, withamixer, combine the ricotta cheese, mascarponecheese, powdered sugar and vanilla untilsmooth. Stir inthemini chocolatechips.
7. Scoopthefilling intoa zipperbag. Cutthecorner and squeeze approximately 2 tablespoons onto the bottom of half of the cooled cookies. Top each with another cookie.
8. Forthedrizzle, melt the white chocolate chips inthemicrowave, stirring occasionally, thenputina smallzipperbag. Cutatiny hole in the corner to squeeze a swirl on the top of each cookie.
Makes20-24sandwich cookies.