Category is... Holiday Cookies

This week on Hardcore Supper Club we're building a cookie box rather than a dinner party because, at this point in the calendar year, cookies are dinner.

This week on Hardcore Supper Club, we’re making the season bright with cookies. Lots of cookies! I know I usually show up here with a cocktail, starter, side dish, main course, and dessert. But today we’re just talking cookies. Four varieties of cookies, to be exact.

Sadly, there is no cocktail this week. I had an idea for an ill-fated cookie butter situation, but, erm, let’s not talk about it. Lol! Let’s talk about the cookies that did pan out. They are Preserved Lemon Poppyseed Cookies, Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, Manchego Red Currant Linzer Cookies, and Strawberries and Cream Whipped Shortbread. Make one or make them all; no matter what you choose, you will have a delectable treat on your hands. Gift them, share them, or quietly stash them away for yourself - there are no wrong answers here. So let’s get into it!

Preserved Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread Cookies

First up, we have these Preserved Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread Cookies, which you may have already met. But in case you missed them, these cookies feature buttery shortbread flecked with diced preserved lemon and poppyseeds. The cookies are finished with a very lemony glaze and a dusting of sumac sugar. You can find the full recipe for free here! These turned out to be my favorites, don’t tell the other cookies.

Chocolate Gingerbread Sprinkle Cookies

Next, we have these Chocolate Gingerbread Sprinkle Cookies. These are essentially chocolate crinkle cookies with the addition of gingerbread spice and a whole whack of pink, white, and red sprinkles. I also added a little sanding sugar for some extra sparkle. I thoroughly enjoyed these, but I will say: pay attention to the quality of your sprinkles. My sprinkles had been in my cupboard a little too long, so their flavour was a little, um, stale. Not ideal when sprinkles are such a big part of the show. So invest in fresh sprinkles, they’re worth it. I mean, you could omit sprinkles altogether and simply roll these beauties in powdered sugar before baking to highlight their cracks. But when there is a question between pink sprinkles and no pink sprinkles, I tend to err on the side of sprinkles.

Red Currant Manchego Linzer Cookies

Next up, we have the most labour-intensive ones of the bunch, these Red Currant Manchego Linzer Cookies. These beauties feature golden almond cookies laced with clementine zest, filled with a manchego-spiked buttercream, and red currant jelly. They are a little high-maintenance because they’re a little fiddly to cut, and they require a separate recipe for the filling. If you want to make it extra hard on yourself, you can make your own jelly. I don’t know why you would want that, but I’m not here to judge. My partner said these beauties were like “eating a cheeseboard” in a cookie format, and I have to agree.

Strawberries & Cream Whipped Shortbread

And finally, to round out the stack, we have these Strawberries and Cream Whipped Shortbread. These naturally pink pretties feature a traditional shortbread base flavoured with blitzed freeze-dried strawberries and a dollop of yogurt - full-fat, please and thank you. These are among the easiest cookies to make on this list, but they were the hardest to develop. Getting the right mix of yogurt, cornstarch, and butter was an absolute nightmare. The yogurt made them easier to pipe, but too much of it, and the cookies completely lost their shape in the oven. The cornstarch helped them maintain their beauty, but too much gave them a chalky mouthfeel.

There were other pitfalls, but I won’t bore you with the details. And because I went through them, you won’t have to. This recipe is perfectly balanced. But I do have a few tips when it comes to piping, because this dough is no picnic to work with. First, don’t overfill your piping bag. Halfway to the top is manageable; don’t get too big for your britches. And make your life easier by ensuring all the ingredients are at room temperature. The softer the dough, the easier it will be to pipe. And having said that, chill your dough after piping. Ensuring the cookies go into the oven cold will help them keep their shape throughout the baking process.