A Christmas Cookie Extravaganza

At Christmastime each year since I can remember, my mom makes at least a dozen varieties of cookies--some of them for eating and some of them for giving away. The tins she prepares as gifts are beautiful, with paper baking cups for each kind of cookie, and a printed label that says "Nancy's best homemade cookies."

Her recipes are mostly American and European, culled from sources like Bon Apetit, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, old coworkers with whom she used to conduct a cookie exchange, and friends and family. Some of these are quite old, as she started buying the December issues of women's magazines with recipes when she was in college in the '60s.

This year's cookies include Swedish Drommar (made with baker's ammonium carbonate for a light and airy texture), Spitzbuben (which means "little rascals" in German), Teebrot (chocolate and cinnamon, another German recipe), Butterballs, Tante Elsa's Almond Crescents (a family recipe), Lemon Stars, Cherry-Macadamia Triangles, Gingerbread from Colonial Williamsburg, French Palmiers, and more.

Traditional butter roll-out cookies are best as bite-sized trees and angels, decorated with sugars and sprinkles. She and my aunt used to paint them with colored egg yolk "paint."

A recipe adapted from Chez Panisse, these cookies contain dried cranberries and fresh orange peel.

Coconut buttons from Gourmet get brushed with dark chocolate.

For a great slide show of holiday cookies and recipes, see the New York Times.