The Great Minnesota Cookie Book

Award-Winning Recipes from the Star Tribune’s Holiday Cookie Contest

2018
Authors:

Lee Svitak Dean and Rick Nelson
Photography by Tom Wallace

Eighty delicious, imaginative recipes from the Star Tribune’s beloved annual cookie contest, with mouth-watering pictures and bakers’ stories

A celebration of the rich traditions, creativity, and taste of the region, The Great Minnesota Cookie Book collects the best-loved recipes and baking lore from fifteen years of the Star Tribune’s popular holiday cookie contest. From French-Swiss butter cookies to cherry pinwheels, the recipes in this book recall memories of holidays past and inspire the promise of happy gatherings to come.

A great book to get a baker into the holiday spirit.

Publishers Weekly

It’s cold in Minnesota, especially around the holidays, and there’s nothing like baking a batch of cookies to warm the kitchen and the heart. A celebration of the rich traditions, creativity, and taste of the region, The Great Minnesota Cookie Book collects the best-loved recipes and baking lore from fifteen years of the Star Tribune’s popular holiday cookie contest.

Drop cookies and cutouts, refrigerator cookies and bars; Swedish shortbread, Viennese wafers, and French–Swiss butter cookies; almond palmiers; chai crescents and taffy treats; snowball clippers, cherry pinwheels, lime coolers, and chocolate-drizzled churros: a dizzying array and all delightful, the recipes in this book recall memories of holidays past and inspire the promise of happy gatherings to come.

These are winning cookies in every sense, the best of the best chosen by the contest’s judges, accompanied by beautiful photographs as instructive as they are enticing. A treat for any occasion, whether party, bake sale, or after-school snack, each time- and taste-tested recipe is perfect for starting a tradition of one’s own.

Lee Svitak Dean is the longtime food editor at the Star Tribune, where she has guided the Taste section to multiple James Beard Awards, an Emmy, and recognition as “Best Food Section.” She is author of Come One, Come All: Easy Entertaining with Seasonal Menus.

Minnesota native Rick Nelson has been writing about restaurants and food at the Star Tribune since 1998. He is a James Beard Award winner and his work has been featured in four editions of the annual Best Food Writing anthology, which highlights the best in American food journalism.

A great book to get a baker into the holiday spirit.

Publishers Weekly

The Cookie Book begins to answer the question, showing how the chassis of flour, butter, sugar and eggs can be customized in innumerable ways.

Shepherd Express

Introduction
Cookie Memories
Cookie Wisdom—Tips for Great Cookies
Drop Cookies
Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Decadence Cookies
Chocolate-Dipped Triple Coconut Haystacks
Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Devil’s Delight Cookies
Double-Chocolate Espresso Cherry Drops
Frosted Cashew Cookies
Orange Kisses
Peanut Stars Sandwich Cookies
Pumpkin Cookies
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
Ricotta Cheese Cookies
Snowball Clippers
Swedish Almond Chocolate Macaroons
Cutout Cookies
Alfajores
Almond Sandwiches
Apple Cardamom Pecan Star Cookies
Cherry Almond Turnovers
Cherry Pinwheels
Clare-oes
Cranberry Filled Cookies
Grandma Eva’s Ginger Cream Cookies
Kolaches
Lemon–Lime Christmas Trees
Orange Chocolate Cookies
Swedish Shortbread Cookies
Viennese Wafers with Lemon
Zazvorniky
Refrigerator Cookies
Almond Palmiers
Cappuccino Flats
Cinnamon Bun Cookies
Cranberry Pecan Swirls
Korova Cookies
Nancy’s Anise–Pecan Cookies
Pistachio Pine Cones
Tart and Sassy Cranberry Lemon Drops
Rolled Cookies
Acorn Cookies
Bacon Cornmeal Venetos
Brandy Cherry Cookies
Cardamom Cookies
Cardamom Crescents
Cardamom Orange Zest Sugar Cookies
Cashew Lemon Shortbread
Chai Crescents
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Cranberry Cat Kisses
Espresso–Hazelnut Truffle Cookies
French–Swiss Butter Cookies
Hot Cocoa Cookies
Hot and Sassy Peanut Butter Buds
Italian Almond Cookies
Lime Coolers
Limoncello Kisses
Mocha Cappuccino Cookies
Nut Goodie Thumbprints
Orange–Almond Melting Moments
Orange Ginger Drops
Persian Molasses Crinkles
Pistachio Orange Cookies
Sambuca Chocolate Crinkles
Strawberry Margarita Gems
Swiss Chocolate Buttersweets
Taffy Treats
Bar Cookies
Almond Ricotta Bars
Almond Triangles
Cardamom Shortbread Cookies
Kit Kat Christmas Bars
Kossuth Kifli
Other Cookies
Almond Spoons
Chocolate-Drizzled Churros
Cranberry Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies
Cranberry Pumpkin-Seed Biscotti
German Sour Cream Twists
Macadamia Nut Tarts
Nutmeg Sticks
Raspberry Truffle Tartlets
Royal Sweets with Chocolate–Balsamic Sauce
Acknowledgments
Cookies by Category
Cookies A–Z
Cookies by Contest Year