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

The brand new edition of 1000 Places to See Before You Die makes great reading any time of year, but during the holiday season, there’s the added magic of imagining all the places around the world where you could be celebrating Christmas.  Here are five destinations from the book where you might be especially excited to find yourself on December 25th:

1. You could journey to Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finland the gateway to Finnish Lapland and the closest a kid can get to the North Pole he or she’s always pictured.  Marvel at the elves’ toy factory and the 700,000 or so letters from children that wind up here each year.
2. All over Germany and Austria, Christkindlmarkts host carolers, baked goods, and old-fashioned (as in, Medieval) Christmas spirit.  Nuremberg and Dresden’s markets are the oldest in Germany, while Munich’s is one of the largest.
3. For the diehards, don’t rule out a pilgrimage to Bethlehem in the Palestinian territories, where a 15-point star in the Grotto of the Nativity marks what is thought to be the site of Jesus’s birth.
4. Stateside, Christmas in New York City wouldn’t be complete without the gigantic tree in Rockefeller Center, twinkling beside (and towering above) a small ice rink where you can rent skates.
5. Like the Rockefellers with Rockefeller Center, we have the Vanderbilt family’s largesse to thank for The Biltmore, an Asheville, North Carolina estate (built in 1895 and still the largest private residence ever built in the country!) that now houses an inn as well as extensive holiday festivities, including visiting choirs, candlelight tours, and crackling fireplaces.

Read about all these destinations, along with hundreds more for the other 364 days of the year, in Patricia Schultz’s book, now in a full-color second edition.

I’m very lucky–other family members host our big gatherings, so when it comes to holiday cooking, all I have to make is dessert.

In researching options for this holiday season, a recipe for Pumpkin Cobbler caught my eye on KitchenScoop.com, the website of Desperation Dinners authors Alicia Ross and Beverly Mills. I decided to make it this past Thanksgiving.

The now-famous "magical cobbler"

While assembling the cobbler according to the recipe instructions, I was very confused. Why did the recipe say to place the crust mixture on the bottom, then read “The crust will not cover cobbler completely, but this is fine.” How would it cover the top at all if it was on the bottom?

The short answer? Because it’s magical! During the baking process, I peeked into the oven to discover the crust wrapped around the edges of the dish to envelop the top AND the bottom of the pumpkin mixture in a delicious, buttery crust!

The dish was a hit at Thanksgiving dinner. Now my whole family is calling it the “magical crust dessert,” and everyone wants to help bake it so they can see the “magic.” A holiday dish everyone is fighting to help make? That is definitely something to be thankful for!

Click here for the Pumpkin Cobbler recipe on KitchenScoop.com

This was to be my first time decorating the Workman Christmas tree. I’ve only been a part of the Workman family for less than two months, but already I had heard tales of the Christmas tree and its grandeur. By the end of November we were fielding regular inquiries as to when it was going up, and the box of ornaments under my desk was starting to burn a hole in my pocket, so to speak. My boss, or “Mr. Christmas,” as he’s known in the Sales Department, had been playing Christmas music at his desk since before Thanksgiving.

Finally, on the designated day, a handful of us from Sales, Marketing, and Promotions gathered together to decorate the tree. James serenaded us with his holiday iTunes playlist, and Danielle and Jenny brought eggnog and tins of Christmas cookies. After assembling the tree (no easy feat—that thing is heavy!), we finally began to trim the tree.

There were little papertoy monsters (loving assembled by our colleagues), candy canes, tap dancing Boynton rhinos, bright, shiny globes, and my favorite—books from The Story of Christmas: Story Book Set & Advent Calendar. My family owned the Nutcracker version growing up, and every year I couldn’t wait to take the cardboard books (by that time worn and frayed about the edges), out of their respective slots each day during Advent to read the next part of the story. When our tree was finally lit, my sisters and I would dance around the living room to Tchaikovsky’s ballet and hang the bits of the story on the tree. (I, for one, am especially excited that it’s coming back in print in time for next Christmas—I can finally replace a few of the books that have gone missing!)

Sad face!

Even though I was warned to tie the ornaments on tightly, I still managed to let one slip and shatter. Apparently, at least one gets broken every year. (I guess if someone has to do it, it may as well be the new girl!)

The tree actually serves a greater purpose than merely providing holiday cheer: each year, we have a toy drive for the children of Goddard Riverside’s Head Start Programs and Day Care Centers, an organization that provides care, education, recreation, and arts activities to more than 300 children, ages 2-5, year-round. This year, through the generosity of our colleagues, we raised almost $700 in cash donations, which Workman will match—in addition to all the toys already accumulating under the tree. We used the money to place a large online toy order, and pretty soon that corner will be overflowing with toys!

But it all starts with one afternoon, when we get to take a break and stand around the tree, admiring our work.

As Nick put it: “It’s the best day of the year.”

Happy Holidays!

Your friends in Sales and Promotions

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.

Those with gluten intolerance can enjoy the cinnamon goodness of Snickerdoodles too with Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free.  Try this easy-to-follow recipe:

Snickerdoodle Cookies (Gluten Free)
From The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free by Anne Byrn

1 package (15 ounces) yellow gluten-free cake mix
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoons
1 large egg
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (see below)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375˚F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets.

2. Place the cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse once to combine. Add the butter to the processor and pulse until the mixture is crumbly, 15 to 20 pulses. Add the egg and vanilla and pulse until the dough comes together in a large ball, 10 pulses.

3. Scoop the cookie dough into 1-inch balls and arrange 12 balls on each baking sheet, 2 to 3 inches apart. Sprinkle the top of each ball of dough with a little of the cinnamon sugar. If you want crisp 3-inch cookies, press down on the balls with the bottom of a small glass to flatten them. If you prefer chewy 2 1/2-inch cookies, do not flatten the balls of dough.

4. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the cookies until golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Using a metal spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely, 15 minutes.

Keep it fresh! Store the cookies in a cookie jar or tin at room temperature for up to a week. Freeze the cookies, wrapped in aluminum foil or in a resealable plastic bag for one month. Let the cookies thaw on the kitchen counter overnight before serving.

Cinnamon Sugar:

To make your own cinnamon sugar, stir 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon into 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.  Spoon the mixture into a clean spice jar with a shaker lid and store it with your spices.

For more cake and cookie recipes this holiday season, visit CakeMixDoctor.com.

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.

In Jessica Harper’s newest video, she sends her “less crabby second cousins” on a mission to find the perfect cookie recipe for her annual cookie swap. The result: Almond Yule Logs. Cookie crisis solved!

Visit Jessica Harper’s website at thecrabbycook.com

I may be the only person in America who doesn’t break into hives at the sight of Christmas decorations immediately following Halloween. While most rational shoppers are shoving their noise-canceling earbuds further in as Mariah Carey belts “All I Want For Christmas Is You” on repeat, I’m singing along like a five-year-old.

Call it commercialized, call it overdone, call it whatever you want—I LOVE the holiday season, and it can’t get here soon enough.

Naturally, I love anything that counts down to Christmas, which is why I love advent calendars. As a kid, they were a big deal in my house: a daily reminder that Christmas was coming, a little daily treat that made the anticipation more bearable, a daily moment to sit with family and reflect on what the holiday really meant (of course I didn’t appreciate that last one nearly enough at the time).

Through the years, we had advent calendars of all kinds—ones with chocolates or gifts behind each window, glittered antique-style ones, handmade felt ones with pockets. But by far the coolest advent calendar I’ve ever seen is the Story of Christmas storybook set and calendar. When I recently stumbled across it in the office, I was hit with a wave of crazy childlike joy. For each day of the advent, from December 1st through the 24th, there’s a mini-book telling a part of the Christmas story. And each little book doubles as an ornament—with a loop for hanging on the tree after it’s read.

A look inside The Story of Christmas advent calendar

I can’t wait to give it to my family for Christmas, and I know it’ll become a tradition in my own home—something I’ll bring out year after year along with the stockings and lights and vintage reindeer statuettes… even as my neighbors are hosting their end-of-summer barbecues.

’Twas 10 nights before Christmas, and all through the (publishing) house, many creatures were stirring, yes, even a… OK, I’ll stop. Our annual holiday party and 2^nd annual cookie swap offered so many ways to make merry: caroling, carousing, delicious food, Raising the Bar’s irresistible Whiskey and Ginger Punch—and an interdepartmental smackdown. The adversaries: Suzie (Editorial) and Angela (Sales). The challenge: Bourbon Balls. The prize: Bragging rights—and an excuse to eat booze-infused cookies.

Angela brought the heat with Sheila Lukins’s decadent Kentucky Bourbon Balls (from Celebrate!), rich with pecans, cocoa, and plump golden raisins. Suzie threw down with a recipe from Lauren Chattman’s upcoming Cookie Swap Cookbook (fall 2010), in which buttery shortbread meets melted chocolate and mingles over a drink of Kentucky’s finest.

The winner? Luckily for all, it was a draw. As someone in the Art department remarked (on condition of anonymity), “It’s really hard to choose; partially because they’re both delicious—and also because now I’m a little tipsy.”

Dancing, dining, singing, cookie swapping (and just a hint of bourbon)—’twas very merry, indeed!

Angela's Kentucky Bourbon Balls from Celebrate!