There could be worse quandaries than trying to successfully celebrate Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year on the exact same day this year.

But after much hunting, I think I’ve found the perfect cookie to sweeten both holidays memorably.

“Pinched Orange Macaroons” is from the December 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. These dainty, two-bite delights first caught my eye because they use my favorite ingredient of almond paste.

Egg whites lighten them, giving them a crunchy exterior that gives way to a very chewy center. Almond paste plus almond extract up the nutty factor. Fresh grated orange zest and a splash of Grand Marnier give them a perky, wake-me-up citrus jolt, even more so because I added some King Arthur Orange Emulsion that I happened to have on hand. The emulsion, of which I received a sample, is a concentrated orange flavoring stronger than regular extract.

What I especially love about these powdered sugar-dusted cookies is that they look like those fancy little mignardises that arrive at your table to soften the blow just before the check does at swank, white table-cloth restaurants.

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Coffee and oatmeal. Is that not a perfect way to start the day or what?

Me thinks it’s even better if you add a little chocolate — OK, a lot of chocolate — and a big ol’ heap of buttery macadamia nuts.

Maybe these “Espresso Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies” aren’t exactly as nutritious as a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with skim milk and raisins. But man, are these cookies loaded with chewy goodness.

For these cookies, I used a sample of a new product: Barry Callebaut Espresso Chocolate Chunks. No doubt you already know the Callebaut name as a maker of fine professional quality baking chocolate. Here, semisweet chocolate is mixed with vanilla and ground chocolate for rich, smooth tasting chunks that meld the complex bitterness of coffee with the more mellow, slightly sweet taste of chocolate.  A 16-ounce bag sells for $8.95 on the King Arthur Flour site.

In keeping with the theme, I adapted an oatmeal recipe from — where else? — the “King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion”Read the rest of this entry »

This cookie is nothing fancy to look at. But you just might want to brace yourself as its powerhouse of chocolate flavor is sure to floor you.

It’s hard to believe there are only three — yup, count ‘em — tablespoons of cocoa powder in the entire batch of cookies.

You’d swear with a chocolate taste this intense that I dumped the entire can of cocoa powder in there, and then some.

But nope, it’s just that little bit along with 1/4 cup of pulverized cocoa nibs that makes these treats taste like a deep, rich cup of hot cocoa in cookie form.

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The taste of these crisp yet tender cookies is a little elusive.

There’s a roasty flavor, almost of mocha or coffee.

There’s a whisper of boozy complexity.

And there’s a quick, very subtle hit of chocolate that comes and goes in a blink.

These Nibby Pecan Cookies are from “Bittersweet” (Artisan) by chocolate doyenne, Alice Medrich.

They get their distinctiveness from toasted pecans, a dash of real bourbon and a heap of cocoa nibs.

If you’re a newbie to nibs, they’re a fun ingredient worth exploring. Nibs are small broken shards of roasted, shelled and cracked cocoa beans before they fully become chocolate. They are unsweetened and very crunchy, with a pleasant bitterness like a fine Italian espresso. Sprinkle them on green salads for a new-wave topping. They’re great for baking, too, because they retain that appealing, teeth-grinding crunchiness.

For these cookies, I used a sample of Amano Artisan Chocolate’s Barlovento Roasted Cocoa Nibs (a 6-ounce bag is $10.95) Made of beans from the Barlovento region of Venezuela, the nibs are rich and nuanced.

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Still hunting for the perfect cookie to make all your friends and family members thoroughly worship the ground you walk on and the kitchen you bake in?

Look no further than today’s issue of East Bay Express, where you’ll find my story on holiday cookies.

I sweet-talked three well-known East Bay bakers into parting with their favorite holiday cookie recipes.

Learn how to make “Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels” from Oakland’s Montclair Baking; “Feisty Ginger Cookies” from Teacake Bake Shop of Emeryville, Lafayette and Corte Madera; and gluten-free ”Viennese Crescents” from Mariposa bakery in Oakland.

For good measure, I also included my own favorite Christmas cookie — “Italian Macaroons.”

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