It’s that time of year again—time to break out the tinsel and the holiday sweaters and, of course, the cookies! Yesterday was the Workman holiday party, and we really pulled out the stops. In addition to gifts under the tree, a rockin’ holiday band, and a record-breaking dance number (more details soon…!), the party also saw the return of a favorite holiday tradition: the annual Workman cookie swap.

A very small sampling of the many desserts at the party

What is a cookie swap, you ask? It’s just that: a swapping of cookies. Partygoers whipped up a batch of their favorite cookies—often, you probably won’t be surprised to learn, out of a Workman cookbook—and then laid them out for display. Then everyone who brought in baked goods could put together a sampler of all the other cookies they wanted to take home. And even those of us who didn’t make anything were allowed to try a few—you know, in the generous holiday spirit and all.

This year the edible offerings were as great as ever, with cookies running the gamut from peanut butter thumbprints to chocolate whoopie pies. Among the many highlights were treats from two of our favorite cookie books: Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunch Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich and Lauren Chattman’s Cookie Swap! Below, check out (on the left) some Snickerdoodles from Chewy Gooey and (right) some Chocolate Peppermint Dirt Cookies from Cookie Swap!, lovingly baked by Workman employees.

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Gearing up for your own holiday party? Whip up a plate of delicious ginger cookies from Artisan’s spectacular Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy and you’re sure to wow all the holiday revelers you know; the recipe’s below. (And keep scrolling for a few choice shots from the party!)

Partygoers mingle and jingle.

Red-and-green peanut butter thumbprints (!!)

The Reprints---Nancy (at the back on the spoons), Erin, Liz, Bob, David, Jeanne, and Mike (below)---rock out.

No keyboard? There's an app for that.

Donated gifts under the tree---and Cheryl and Griffith Day of "The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook" on top!

Happy holidays, from our family to yours!
—Avery

These aren’t cookies you can bang out in an hour or two. They take the better part of a day (you may even want to make the dough the night before), a bit of patience, and some quality time with the rolling pin. But in the end, they are worth it: light and flaky, tangy from the cream cheese, crunchy from the caramelized sugar, and with a hint of exotic cardamom to put them over the top. They will make an elegant addition to a holiday cookie platter.

CARDAMOM CARAMEL PALMIERS

Photo by Sarah Kiino

From Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich

INGREDIENTS

For the Dough:
2 ½ cups (11.25 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
8 ounces cream cheese, cold

For the Filling:
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 pinches salt

EQUIPMENT
Cookie sheets, ungreased or lined with foil, dull side up
Stand mixer with paddle attachment or food processor

If Using a Stand Mixer to Make the Dough

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment, mix briefly to distribute the ingredients. Cut each stick of butter into eight pieces and add them to the bowl. Mix on low speed until most of the mixture resembles very coarse bread crumbs with a few larger pieces the size of hazelnuts. Cut the cream cheese into 1-inch cubes and add them to the bowl. Mix on medium-low speed until the mixture is damp and shaggy looking and holds together when pressed with your fingers, 30 to 60 seconds. Dump the dough onto the work surface, scraping the bowl. Knead two or three times to incorporate any loose pieces. There should be large streaks of cream cheese.

If Using a Food Processor to Make the Dough

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into ¾-inch cubes and add to the flour mixture. Pulse until the butter pieces range in size from coarse bread crumbs to hazelnuts. Cut the cream cheese into 1-inch cubes and add to the mixture. Pulse until the dough looks damp and shaggy and holds together when pressed with your fingers. Dump the dough onto the work surface, scraping the bowl. Knead two or three times to incorporate any loose pieces. There should be large streaks of cream cheese.

2. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a 4-by-5-inch rectangular patty about 1-inch thick. Wrap and chill the dough until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If necessary, let the dough sit at room temperature until pliable enough to roll, but not too soft.

To Make the Filling

Mix the sugar with the cardamom. Transfer 2 tablespoons of the mixture to a small cup and mix thoroughly with the salt. Set aside. Divide the remaining cardamom sugar equally between 2 bowls; you will use one bowl for each piece of dough you roll out.

To Make the Cookies

1. Sprinkle the work surface liberally with some of the cardamom sugar from one of the bowls. Set 1 piece of the dough on the sugared surface and sprinkle it with more cardamom sugar. Turn the dough frequently and resugar it and the work surface liberally as you roll the dough into a 24-by-8-inch rectangle that’s less than 1/8 inch thick. Use the cardamom sugar generously to prevent sticking and to ensure that the cookies will caramelize properly in the oven. Trim the edges of the rectangle evenly.

2. Mark the center of the dough with a small indentation. Starting at one short edge, fold about 2 ½ inches of dough almost one-third of the distance to the center mark. Without stretching or pulling, loosely fold the dough over two more times, leaving a scant ¼ -inch space at the center mark. Likewise, fold the other end of the dough toward the center 3 times, leaving a tiny space at the center. The dough should now resemble a tall, narrow open book. Fold one side of the dough over the other side, as if closing the book. You should have an 8-layer strip of dough about 2 ½ inches wide and 8 inches long.

3. Sprinkle the remaining cardamom sugar under and on top of the dough. Roll gently from one end of the dough to the other to compress the layers and lengthen the strip to about 9 inches. Wrap the dough loosely in wax paper (not plastic wrap, which might cause moisture to form on the outside of the dough and will dissolve the sugar). Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Meanwhile, repeat with the second piece of dough and the second bowl of cardamom sugar.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

5. Remove 1 piece of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and use a sharp knife to trim the ends evenly. Cut 1/3-inch slices (I mark the dough at 1-inch intervals and cut 3 slices from each inch) and arrange them 1 ½ inches apart on the ungreased or lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the undersides are deep golden brown. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.

6. Remove the pans from the oven. Turn the cookies over. Sprinkle each one with a pinch or two of the salted cardamom sugar, reserving half the sugar for the second round of baking. Return the sheets to the oven and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the cookies are deep golden brown. Rotate the pans and watch the cookies carefully at this stage to prevent burning. If the cookies brown at different rates, remove the dark ones and let the lighter ones continue to bake. For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks. Making sure the cookie sheets are completely cool, repeat with the second piece of dough. Cool the cookies completely before storing. May be kept in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Welcome to Part 2 of the 2010 Workman Holiday Gift Guide Extravaganzaaaa! If you missed Part 1: Kids and Kids-at-Heart, check it out here. Then see below for part 2 of the list: The Grown-Ups’ Table. What do you get for your parents, your aunts and uncles, and those other adult relatives who can be a little tricky to shop for? Here’s what Workman employees had to say…

The Grown-Ups’ Table:

• “My husband and I just had our first child, a daughter, so I will slip From Father to Daughter into his stocking.” —Selina
• “I’m giving The Crabby Cook Cookbook to my mother, who no longer has to worry about cooking for a family but will get such a kick out of remembering what it was like to put dinner on the table every night … though she will be sorry that she didn’t have those simple recipes back then when she needed them. For all the hypochondriacs in my family (and that would be everyone on one side of the family, though I can’t say which)—The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick. I think our phone calls may get more interesting when they realize there are concrete steps they can take to reduce their susceptibility to illness.” —Suzie
• “My parents are getting copies of Younger Next Year and Younger Next Year for Women, since they’re both recently retired and I want them to stay healthy and happy.” —Randall
• “I got the Islands Page-a-Day Gallery Calendar for my mom, because she loves tropical beach scenes.” —Claudia
• “Last year I gave my father-in-law The Miniature Book of Miniature Golf, which brought Christmas morning to a complete halt for a good hour, because he and my husband just had to play through the whole book (they’re very competitive, so it got a little intense)… He brought it to work and it is a huge hit in his office too. 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die was a huge hit with MY dad, who is a serious music buff. (Brought that gift-opening session to a standstill as well, as he became totally engrossed in the book!!)” —Melody
• “My step-dad is getting the Nuns Having Fun Calendar—perfect for an ex-Catholic School Boy who loves the Three Stooges. And I’ll probably give my mom a copy of The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free, in hopes that she’ll send some tasty treats this year that are suitable for my glutard self.” —Emily
• “Anything golf-related goes over well with my old man.” —Tom
• “I’m giving a copy of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies to my Aunt Betty. She’s an amazing baker, and the best part is that she always loads me up with baked goods whenever I see her (and my co-workers benefit because I bring them to the office).” —Laura
• “I’m going to give The Love That Dog Training Program to my mom, because she’s convinced that our old dog can’t learn new tricks.” —Avery
• “I got Cooking Jewish for my sister, who is constantly trying to expand her repertoire of Jewish recipes. Also, there’s a reason that Ad Hoc at Home comes wrapped in plastic. Do not open it! Or you will do what I did, which is decide that it was such a beautiful and enticing book, with such mouthwatering recipes, that, although my sister or father or best friend would have loved it, it was time I rewarded myself with a gift.” —Kathy

Hope that was helpful! And don’t forget to come back tomorrow morning for Part 3: Might-as-Well-Be-Family Friends.

The holiday season is here and for some that means intense cookie making.  Fortunately, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich has arrived and it’s one of those books that inspires you to go on a baking spree. It has everything from biscotti to macaroons to shortbread to classic chocolate chip cookies.  I already made the Snicker Doodles, which seem holiday-ish to me with the cinnamon sugar coating (which pairs rather nicely with eggnog).  And yes, they really were “melt-in-my-mouth” delicious…

Snicker Doodles

From Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich

(Makes about sixty 2 1/2-in. cookies)

3 cups (13.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (10.5 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

2. Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk or fork.

3. In a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter with the 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs just until blended. Add the flour mixture and stir or beat on low speed just until incorporated. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

4. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Form level tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and place 2 inches apart on the lined or greased cookie sheets.

5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies puff and begin to settle down. Rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks. Cool the cookies completely before stacking or storing. May be kept in an airtight container for several days.

Upgrades: For Nutmeg Snicker Doodles, substitute 1 teaspoon lightly packed freshly grated nutmeg for the cinnamon.