3rd Day of Sock Yarn

On the Third Day of Sock Yarn, Simply Sock Yarn gave to me...

a $100 online gift certificate!

If you would love to opportunity to win a $100 gift certificate to use online for whatever you want, just answer the following question in the comments below:

What's your favorite cookie recipe? Is it a holiday one passed down from your grandmother? Or perhaps one you found on Pinterest and have been making for only a few years? Please do tell us in the comments below, leaving a link if you can (pretty please!). Commenters in the past have gone so far as to type out the recipe if it's something truly special. Thanks!

In my house, the tried-and-true Toll House cookie recipe is The Thing. I live in a household of males who love a simple treat, so nothing too complicated for them. In fact, I made them this week. The only thing I change is instead of putting in a whole bag of morsels, I do equal amounts of morsels PLUS MnM's. So a cup of each morsels and candy. And NO nuts.

Now, as far as for myself, I'm a Snickerdoodle kinda gal. 

Now go browse online for some of the awesome things we have in our big ol' shop if you win the Gift Certificate. I recommend sending the Gift Certificate link to anyone that gives you mediocre gifts so they know what you REALLY want this Christmas. Perhaps you want to stock up on the Mineville Wool Project yarn that's 45% off in the Sale Section. Or perhaps you haven't yet tried Swift Yarn or this great deal from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Make that list and check it twice!

Leave me one comment below before 8am tomorrow and you'll be entered to win in today's contest. Please be as specific as you like, as I know many of us find inspiration for our knitting and our lives in what you share. Want to know more about the 12 Days of Sock Yarn? See here.

Comments

[sharon hoyer]

my husband has to have oatmeal raisin all year long....nothing special,
just lots o raisins and sometimes I add dried cranberries...

[staci]

My grandma's gingerbread cookies! And peanut butter blossoms are in second place. When I was little, it was my job to press the kiss into the cookie.

[Janet Davis]

Cookie baking was not one of the usual things on either side of my family. My German grandmother made pies but not cookies. My Cajun grandmother did not bake cookies either. There is a community settled by Sicilians near my hometown and they make wonderful fig cookies. It is labor-intensive and usually done by a group of women. Every Christmas season one of the ladies who worked for my father would give him a gift box filled with Italian Fig Cookies. Yum.

[Bridget]

I used to make Anise Pizzelles every year for my family when I was a child. I went so far as to ask for Pizzelle Iron for a Christmas present when I was 10.
Lately our favorite cookie is a Ginger Molasses Cookie. I've made some variation of these my whole life but the best recipe I've come across recently that my whole family loves is this one from gimmesomeoven.com https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/chewy-ginger-molasses-cookies/
They are just the right amount of crispy and chewy!

[Michelle]

Gooey Butter, Shortbread, and just plain old sugar cookies!

[Monica]

We have a German spice cookie recipe that's been in my family for generations. It's the kind of cookie that you roll out, cut shapes out of, and decorate with sugar. My mother and I make them together every year- except for toys year, because I have a three-week-old baby and don't have a large enough chunk of time! I do look forward to making them in the future with my son, though, and passing the recipe down!

[Kirstin]

My favourite cookie is a sugar cookie with lots of frosting! I found the cookie recipe in an Amish cookbook many years ago. I think the recipe is unique because it contains both white sugar and brown sugar.

[Sarah Borer]

My Nana’s ‘pink cookies’. Cookies made with maraschino cherrys and almond extract. So wonderful!

[Lisa Tuggle]

My favorite are Bourbon Balls. They are best when they are allowed to marinate for several days. My children loved the Peanut Butter Balls dipped in Chocolate.

[June]

The family favorite is the tried and true tollhouse chocolate chip cookie. There is none other that can touch the hearts ♥️ in my family.

[Debra Davis]

Date balls, which we usually only make at Christmas-chopped dates, chopped pecans, vanilla heated to boiling and mixed with Rice Krispies, rolled into balls and then in powdered sugar and cooled. Yum!

[Margot]

Sugar cookies with lots of sugar on top and Mexican wedding cookies! YUM!

[Caitlin K.]

Oh, this is fun. My all time favorite Christmas cookie has to be Spritz. The first time I tried one was probably about 10 years ago when I celebrated my first Christmas with my partner's family. His mother makes a traditional spritz cookie but instead of vanilla she adds almond extract! This gives the cookies a cherry flavor which I loooove. They're super buttery and only take 4 minutes in the oven. WHO CAN SAY NO TO COOKIES THAT BAKE THAT FAST?!?! I was gifted my own antique cookie press by my Mother-in-love last year and plan on making my own batch for the first time this year. Just a week after our annual cookie baking day as I've eaten all of the spritz from that already...OOPS. :)
Thanks for this opportunity ladies! Hope your Christmas (or whatever holiday you may celebrate) is full of delicious treats!!

[Andrea]

My favorite is the Mexican wedding cakes, little balls of yum dusted with power sugar, my boys used to love decorating the sugar cookie cut outs though. Aways a good time.

[Michele Corbeil]

I make mountains of Ginger Spice cookies from an old Bon Appetit magazine. They stay soft and chewy and ship well. I usually test a warm one from each batch - yikes!

[Crystal Fulcher]

My go-to and it makes everyone in the house happy is the Chocolate Chip recipe on the back of Tollhouse chocolate chips - we omit the pecans and I make it with gluten-free flour as I have celiacs. But the kids and the husband gobble them up.

[Hilde]

I have two cookie recipes that I must have during the holidays, but one that stands out for sure is one my Mom brought with her from her childhood growing up in The Netherlands. They are Kletskopjes and now my son insists on making them every year with me. He's 18 now and I am glad to see he keeps this cookie tradition alive.
Kletskopjes are similar to Brandy Snaps, I think. They are made with butter, brown sugar, and a very small amount of flour. You use a small marble size amount of dough and as they cook, they almost melt into very thin, rather lacey cookies. You can almost see through the thinnest portions! They come out almost like a hard candy, but as they are so thin, they just snap into sugary bits of yum in your mouth. Delicious!!

[Stephanie Schenker]

Martha Stuart’s chocolate chip shortbread cookies!
https://www.marthastewart.com/326902/holiday-shortbread-cookies

[Becki]

I love the Tollhouse cookies! My Gramma used to always make snickerdoodles at Christmas, which were unbelievably yummy. :)

[Rachel]

My hack of Trader Joe's Triple Ginger snaps always get made at Christmas.
Warning - these are highly addictive.
Triple Ginger Cookies (snaps)
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar (or 1/2 cup white & 1/2 brown if you like crunchier cookies)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup candied ginger, chop into small dice
1/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger –can use more (This was about a 3 inch piece - I used a microplane grater. Needs to be fairly mushy not stringy)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon ground ginger (use more if old or you feel like it)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and ground ginger. Toss in the chopped candied ginger. Cream together sugar and butter, then add molasses and fresh ginger. Scrape down the bowl. Add flour mixture in three parts, scraping down the bowl between additions.
Divide the dough into 2 or 3 parts and roll into logs and refrigerate until firm. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice very thinly – the thinner the crisper (less then a 1/4 inch if possible) and bake for 10 min (until a medium brown) I bake cookies on parchment paper so that they can cool on the counter for a minute to firm up.

[Jana C.]

I've been making Alton Brown's "the Chewy" for over a decade. With a few tweaks to the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe, this version produces a thick, chewy cookie...my favorite! I can't help but make (and eat!) them year round. https://altonbrown.com/the-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/

[Matt]

From childhood, it would have to be my mother's million dollar cookies. Don't have the recipe since it's been lost for about 20 years. You'll have to trust me, they were amazing! Now, it's my peanut cookies that are from the America's test kitchen baking book. They have extra chopped peanuts in then

[D’Anna Coots]

My favorite cookie is my dark chocolate, craisin, oatmeal. Sooo good. It’s on foodnetwork.com it’s a Giada recipe so you know it rocks.

[Debbie Hammer]

Don’t know where it came from but my family has lived my chocolate chip cookies for years!

[Jessica]

Love reading the answers to this question! I'm now gluten free but lucky for me Blue Diamond Almond flour has a chocolate chip cookie recipe on the bag that is good enough to fool anyone into thinking it's a regular cookie.

[Pam Cronholm]

Frosted sugar cookies Grandma makes with colored sprinkles. Nothing like Grandma's cookies. YUM

[Terri]

For Christmas, I make a cookie called Santa's Secret surprise; the dough is like the peanut butter type of dough used in making the cookies with the Hersey's kiss on top, but instead you put a Snicker's bite in the middle and pull the dough around it. That is the surprise. Growing up myself and when my boys were growing up, Toll house cookies where made in abundance! I know the recipe by heart, lol.

[Beverly J. Killick]

I no longer bake Christmas cookies, but I have enough favorites in the Grocery Store.
I still enjoy Molasses cookies and of course
Chocolate Chips are always the best.

[Paulette McAuley]

Oh my, I do love a good cookie! Especially a peanut butter cookie. Therefore, I would say the Hershey kiss peanut butter cookie at Christmas calls me these days. However my grandmother made the best raisin stuffed cookie. Sadly none of us have been able to duplicate her cookie

[Lynn Tupper]

My all time favorite cookie is Mocha Pecan Balls from Epicurious.com. I’ve made them for years. Here’s the link http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mocha-Pecan-Balls-10964
They also freeze beautifully!

[Naomi]

Sour cream sugar cookies with pretty sprinkles - yummy!

[Elaine]

My dad’s favorite is pfeffernusse. I would make a batch just for him every year. He passed away in 2009, but I still make a batch every year. Luckily, my daughter and I love them!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/155182/pfeffernusse-cookies/

[Sandra Sprouse]

I love the peanut butter blossoms with the Hershey kiss in the middle... especially when they are warm!!

[Terrie]

Our family tradition is my moms Chocolate Fudge with walnuts and Peanut Butter Fudge with walnuts. I remember since I was little her making both for us and we fought over who got the spoon. Priceless memories

[Elizabeth]

Aunt Betty's sugar cookie recipe. The sheet of paper it is written on is stained and torn, but I still keep it.

[Andrea Mundt]

Shortbread. My grandmother made the most amazing shortbread cookies, I have her recipe and I've tried several times, but I can't get them like hers.

[Stephanie R Gordon]

My husband and daughter are gluten and dairy free. I must admit I have been lazy about finding my perfect recipe for them. My baking juju has diminished! I am feeling more inspired now!!!!!

[Skye Matlock]

Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies are the best! Sometimes I change things up by replacing the vanilla with Almond extract. These cookies are great out of the freezer or warm and goey. The perfect cookie.

[Sandra David]

Snickerdoodles were always a Christmas must, and I'm a huge fan of simple cookies. I used my mother-in-law's recipe, but it's been lost after many moves. It was, however, similar to this one at Allrecipes:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/240314/grandma-ruths-snickerdoodle-cookies/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=search%20results&clickId=cardslot%2010

[Bonnie Smith]

Our favorite are the pecan sandies or the Mexican wedding cookies with the powdered sugar, preferably small enough to pop in your mouth in one bite. I don’t keep sugar in the house anymore, so we must buy them.....

[Linda L]

My favorite cookie is a Snowball cookie, they melt in your mouth!

[Kenna Rogers]

I love Date Rollups! They have always been my favorite!

[Kim Denise]

"crack bars". We only discovered them a few years ago, but they've become a requirement. https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/04/chocolate-caramel-crackers/

[Kate]

My favorite (and my family's) cookies are oatmeal with cinnamon chips.

[Tracey Clement]

I always have extra almond paste and use it to make Almond Macaroons. They disappear quickly in my house.
https://www.marthastewart.com/351249/almond-macaroons

[Jenny]

Our family favourite is the "Fancy Spritz Cookies" recipe from the "Cookies for Christmas" book by Maria Robbins.They are so buttery and just melt in your mouth. Made with a cookie press, they are tiny so you can eat lots of them without feeling (too) guilty!

[Linda Hanford]

Our favourite cookie os one of my grandmother’s recipes. Called a “Rock Cookie” it is a drop cookie made from a batter with brown sugar, eggs, flour , cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mixed in are raisins, chopped dates and chopped walnuts.
Thank for the chance to win!

[Elizabeth Schooley]

I love date pinwheels partly because you make the logs of dough and freeze them to bake fresh later. And they taste great!

[Emily MacMichael]

A really spicy, snappy gingersnap. I like the Cook's Illustrated recipe for those.

[Nicole Doyal]

My mom's shortbread cookies are my favorite. Don't know the measurements but they are made from butter, flour and sugar. Second would be her snowball cookies.

[Joanna]

I love, love, love the peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses but haven't been able to eat them for the last few years because I developed and allergy to nuts. We're hoping to try them with sunbutter this year!

[Karen Caron]

My favorite cookie recipe is white chip chocolate cookies. Here is the link:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/25128/white-chip-chocolate-cookies/

They are yummy

[Faye J]

I just recently discovered "candied pecans". Tried my first batch and they were simply divine. More will be made & given to neighbors for this holiday season!

[Susan]

My favourite cookie would be my Auntie Bud’s Oat Cakes. She is 96 now, so my sister bakes them for our family. They bring back memories whenever we have them.

[Marianna]

Growing up in Canada we always made gingerbread men and hung them on the tree. When my parents moved to GA my Mom gave up that tradition because the humidity was so high.The thread that we hung them with would cut right through the cookies as they became soft. The dogs loved to hang out by the tree. She only made the cookies for a year or two down there.....

[Haleykae]

I started making these gingerbread cookies a couple of years ago and they are now our favorite to make for XMAS!

https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/12/spicy-gingerbread-cookies/

[Turner]

We always make classic cutout cookies, with tons of frosting and candy embellishments!

[Night]

I'm sure my kids have several favorite Christmas cookies, but you would have to ask my Mother-in-Law. I travel a different path, with different traditions.
For celebrations of any stripe, chocolate chip is always a winner; the softer, the better.
About half of us can agree on oatmeal cookies--my favorite variation is with cranberries. (Full disclosure: anything cranberry is a keeper to me.)
One cookie I wish I could recreate can be best described as a coconut haystack, but the store that sold them when I was a kid always called them Macaroons. They were not like French macaroons--at least not any I've seen as an adult. I don't live in that city any longer, so I have not been able to deconstruct them properly, only my memories of them.

[Sarah]

Shortbread, shortbread, shortbread!! I use several recipes...

[Gail McFarland]

My husband is the cookie maker in our house. The Toll House cookies have been adapted for our grandson with milk allergies. He uses Enjoy brand chocolate chips so our grandson can enjoy cookies also.

[Paula Vail]

Anything with peppermint. And peppermint + chocolate is even better!

[Eileen Tomaro]

Wow! after reading so many of these yummy cookie comments I feel the NEED to bake Good old toll hous chocolate chip at our house with nuts

[Julie Marshall]

Pecan sandies...my mom always made theses at Christmas & now ‘Nana’ and I make them with my kids. Recipe: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pecan-sandies-cookies. They should be light, crisp and just a touch dry. Omg so delicious with hot chocolate or hot tea!! My mom is an excellent baker & part of the magic of these cookies is her skill. 😀

[Joann]

My husband is a chocolate chip cookie fanatic. I prefer nut rolls which are way too much work. My sister-in-law makes the best nut rolls.

[Sally A. Gilbertson]

I love the old standard peanut butter star cookies. Today most people smash chocolate kisses in the middle instead of chocolate stars, but the stars are so much better!

[sharon]

We like the Tollhouse, but also like the nuts in them.

[Jeanne]

Pecan fingers. A variation on Mexican wedding cookies. Best line in the recipes is the instructions to made the cookie about the size of your little finger. Buttery, nutty, sprinkled with powered sugar, this is the holidays to me

[Deb Weaver]

Our family favorite is my mother's Sandwich Cookies. The cookie part is delicate and flaky (tough to roll out and handle) with a thin layer of icing between. Completely melts in your mouth!!

[Cris]

Meringue Kiss cookies.

[Diane Jespersen]

Pepoernidder. Danish cookie treats that taste like a cinnamon ginger snap. They are so delicious. It wouldn't be Christmas without them.

[Doris]

My favorite are molasses cookies but the kids love traditional chocolate chip!

[Ann Sinclair]

For my children, it wouldn’t be Christmas without my spicy ginger crisps. I have made these cookies every Christmas since I found the recipe in a magazine in the early eighties.

[Lisa Ruch]

My favorite — because it's easy and tastes so good — is the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe right from the package of Nestle Chocolate Chips. The only change I made was to use butter or margarine in place of the Crisco (or other brand of shortening).

I prefer softer cookies, and the butter/margarine gave me that result. When I was in college (40+ years ago), I often made a batch for my then-boyfriend. He was very appreciative.

[Tiffany]

I absolutely love the infamous NYT chocolate chip cookie recipe. Even though it's a two day process, it's worth it because it's both crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, the overall perfect cookie.

[Linda Hensens]

My favorite cookie is the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookie. They are delicious! My other favorite is something called nut sticks that my SIL makes every year for Christmas. It is a recipe handed down from her grandmother, and she will not share the recipe. So, I eagerly await my nut sticks every year. They are so good!

[carol goodwin]

The one cookie I must make each year for friends and family us a fruitcake cookie. The fruits must be well soaked in brandy for a couple of weeks. Old fashioned molasses is the sweetener. And pecans from our trees in Georgia. I can't make enough of them.

[Anna Hensley]

We have so many cookie recipes we love in our house, but I think our favorite to make this time of year is this wonderful ginger snaps recipe! https://lovelylittlekitchen.com/old-fashioned-ginger-snaps/

[Amy Hesting]

My mom is the best Christmas cookie maker and she goes ALL out to make intricate, diverse cookie trays for everyone in the world. So, I just eat her cookies. But, I started making Ginger-Molasses cookies from the Grocery Girls last Christmas season and I love them. They're a new favorite.

[Joan Seely]

My favorite cookie recipe was found in a cozy mystery book. Chocolate Comfort COOKIES HAVE A RICH CHOCOLE BASE with chocolate chips, hazelnuts and dried cranberries. I make them every Christmas!

[Sarah Mahoney]

Sandy’s sugar cookies are my favorite because I have kids that love to cut out and decorate cookies :)

[Martha]

I love my grandmother's Oatmeal Raisin cookies.

[Sarah]

My favorite Christmas "cookie" is what our family calls "Reindeer Balls"- more commonly known as buckeyes. They're peanut butter and powdered sugar rolled in milk chocolate with a little bit of wax to firm it up. SO delicious! Close second is probably oatmeal butterscotch cookies.

[Rebekah W]

My go-to recipe when I have to make a bunch of cookies is the Toll House recipe as well, but my mom used to make these delicious Pennsylvania Dutch sugar cookies that had sour cream in them (sounds weird, but they are SO GOOD). I need to find the recipe - I remember stashing it in a box one year because I could never make them as well as she could and I got frustrated. With or without the homemade icing they just remind me of home during this time of year.

[Mary Kay Ross]

My favorite cookies are the traditional Norwegian ones that my mother made only at Christmas time "Fattigmann" and "Krumkaker" Similar
Recipes can be found at Northwildkitchen.com. My mother was a fabulous baker and the envy of other farm wives. Her frosted sugar cookies were generously decorated. Her homemade fruit cake was beyond compare. She had lots of practice as she made bread every morning and a sweet treat for dessert at lunch and dinner. At harvest time neighboring farmers and their hired help throughly enjoyed the meals served at my mother's table. My daughter and granddaughter treasure the hand written recipes that she left us as part of her legacy in the kitchen.

[Jana]

Oatmeal chocolate chip...mmm

[Julie Branham]

In our house, its a decadent brown butter chocolate chunk cookie with a swirl of Nutella and a sprinkling of sea salt. They are a labor of love but every time I make them I get a hug from the 16 yr old son. That makes it work it. ;-)

[EMILY GARRISON]

My mom makes dark gingerbread cookies with molasses that are so good and just taste like Christmas. Yum!

[julie]

A family favorite for us is one that we call simply 'tarts', though I am sure they have another name also. They are a yeasted dough, rolled out in sugar and filled with jam before baking. My mother used to make many batches of these at the holidays!

[Holly]

A holiday tradition and favorite are Date and Nut bars. They are a bar type cookie, baked in a square pan, cooled, cut and rolled in confectioner sugar. The fussiest of kids in the family love them----but wont taste a date when offered. Another thing my grandmother did was put peanut butter in pitted dates and then roll them in granulated sugar. Delicious and kids can help in the prep--I end up making platters of them for holiday gatherings---Simple, Fast, and kid friendly!

[Martina]

Probably the most popular cookies I made on a regular basis were based on the standard Toll House Chocolate Chip recipe, except I used dark chocolate chips and added in toffee bits. I got the bags of toffee bits in the grocery store baking section as well as the dark chocolate chips. They were wonderful! Great flavor and some crunchy texture too. Yum....

[Hazel Blumberg-McKee]

It's a shortbread cookie recipe that also adds chocolate chips and a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. To die for!

[Nancy J]

I love the King Arthur Flour recipe for Holiday Butter Cookies. Tastes the best, easiest to roll out, and frosting recipe is included as well. Can be found online in recipe section of kingarthurflour.com. And thanks so much for your always prompt service...it helps so much.

[Susan James]

every Christmas my Mom would make Russian Tea Cakes. We LOVE them. She's gone now, but my brother and his family, and my family always bake them.

[Rosie-B]

When my girls were little one of the favorites was candy cane cookies. Most of the cookie recipes were from the Betty Crocker Cookie Cookbook.

[Susan]

My favorite Christmas cookie recipe is from my Mom. She always made the best mint sandwich cookies when I was a kid. They are a small burst of crispy minty goodness! They are a lot of work, make the dough, shape it into square logs, refrigerate overnight, thinly slice and bake. Once they cool you put together the mint sandwichs and they disappear quickly. I'll make these for my family this Christmas!

[Brenda J]

These orange slice cookies bring back many childhood memories -- they were my favorite cookies my Mother made during the holidays.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/orange-slice-cookies

[Jen Smith]

My mother-in-law makes sugar cookies with nutmeg, and they're awesome. One of my favorite parts of the holidays.

[Nicole W]

My great grandma had the BEST sugar cookie recipe! These cookies come out soft and fluffy, and stay that way for days! Now I combine that recipe with my husband’s grandma’s icing recipe, and there is now keeping our hands off of them!

[Peggy]

My favorite holiday cookies are Fruit Cake Cookies. The recipe has been handed down in my Mom's family.

[Marybeth]

My daughter and I have perfected Oreo dipped cookies! We used the Christmas flavored cookies and dipped them in chocolate, marshmallow, and caramel. A few sprinkles and you have a really yummy cookie.