Category Archives: Favorite Cookie Recipes

Tea Time with Slice-and-Bake Matcha Cookies

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Keep a stash of this slice-and-bake dough handy in the freezer and a fresh-baked matcha cookie can be had anytime.
Keep a stash of this slice-and-bake dough handy in the freezer and a fresh-baked matcha cookie can be had anytime.

Have we reached peak matcha point yet?

I hope not, because this ancient powdered green tea offers a taste of history, culture, healthfulness, and grassy deliciousness along with its distinctive, vibrant color.

Did you know matcha actually originated in China in the 7th century? A Zen Buddhist monk apparently brought the tea back from his studies in China to Japan, where it was initially prepared by whisking to a froth in hot water in a reverential ceremony.

Nowadays, of course, it can be found in most anything and everything.

I love it in desserts, such as these fragrant “Slice-and-Bake Matcha Cookies.”

This recipe is from “Love Japan” (Ten Speed Press, 2023). The cookbook was written by Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel, the married couple who are owners of the singular Shalom Japan, a Brooklyn restaurant that melds their respective Japanese and Jewish heritages. It was co-written with New York Times Style writer Gabriella Gershenson.

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These Cookies Get A Little Bling

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Cookie stamps give these cookies a showy appearance. But you can also flatten the dough balls with the bottom of a drinking glass.
Cookie stamps give these cookies a showy appearance. But you can also flatten the dough balls with the bottom of a drinking glass.

“I Want to Eat Cookies.”

That’s the title of this cookbook (Hardie Grant, 2025), of which I received a review copy.

But it could just as easily be my daily mantra.

Because left to my own devices, I would eat cookies every day — morning, noon and night.

Good thing this purse-sized book has more than 90 recipes to tempt should I ever make good on that.

The cookbook is by Ellen Morrissey, a New York City-based writer and editor who is a former editorial director for special projects for Martha Stewart Living.

You’re sure to find just the cookie to satisfy your sweet tooth from a collection that includes “Brown Butter and Toffee Chip Cookies,” “Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Meringues,” “Whisky Currant Shortbread,” “Sugar-Spiced Grahams,” and “Yo Yos with Berry Buttercream.”

With a half-full bag of masa harina in the freezer, I couldn’t help but want to give “Glazed Masa Harina Cookies” a try.

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Rapturous Strawberries ‘N’ Cream Cookies

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Made with freeze-dried strawberries and velvety white chocolate.
Made with freeze-dried strawberries and velvety white chocolate.

There are cookbooks that offer up small snippets here and there of the author’s life.

And there are culinary memoirs of lengthy prose that are rather miserly when it comes to including but a few recipes.

“Will This Make You Happy” (Chronicle Books), of which I received an early review copy, is a welcome hybrid that debuts in March, and is already available for pre-order.

It brims with more than 50 recipes But more so, it warms the heart as it demonstrates how the simple act of baking can be so profoundly transformative.

The book was written by Tanya Bush, a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and baker, who co-founded the publication Cake Zine. She is the pastry chef at Little Egg in Brooklyn, where her crullers have won a devoted following. No slouch in the writing department, she earned an MFA in creative writing from Hunter College in New York City.

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Christmas Pistachio and Orange Cookies

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Pistachios, orange zest, and glace cherries make for a delicious holiday cookie.
Pistachios, orange zest, and glace cherries make for a delicious holiday cookie.

The palest green with hits of bright red peeking out here and there, these cookies have Christmas written all over them.

For extra holiday bling, I added shiny, sticky, lipstick-hued glace cherries to these “Pistachio and Orange Cookies.”

The recipe is from “The German Christmas Cookbook” (Weldon Owen), of which I received a review copy. It was written by Jurgen Krauss, a 2021 “Great British Bake-Off” contestant.

A native of the Black Forest in Germany, he moved to the United Kingdom in 2003. His passion for baking was kick-started when he couldn’t find any traditional German bread to his liking in his new home country, so he tried his hand at baking his own.

In this collection of recipes, you’ll find both sweet and savory treats for the holiday season, including — yes — his recipe for “Crusty Black Forest Loaf.” Other temptations include “Mulled Wine Cake,” “Chocolate Waffles with Kirsch Cream,” “Semolina Dumpling Soup,” and “Smoked Fish Canapes.”

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Saba Jam Will Definitely Be Your Jam

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Saba Jam's Fig Ume Plum Jam stars in these bar cookies.
Saba Jam’s Fig Ume Plum Jam stars in these bar cookies.

Imagine jam that tastes as if peak ripe fruit were picked off the tree, then immediately cooked down before a luscious spoonful made it into your mouth a mere moment after cooling.

I think that’s the highest compliment I can give San Francisco’s Saba Jam, which tastes so clear and vivid, and comes in such inspired flavors as Blueberry Verjus, Bosenberry Beet, and Persian Lime Juniper Berry.

They’re the handiwork of Saba Parsa, an Iranian American who is a former chemical engineer-turned extraordinary jam maker.

She scours local farmers markets for the best fruit in season to make her small-batch jams using a minimum of sugar. She drops new ones only four times per year. They’re so highly regarded that they’ve racked up multiple Good Food Awards.

I had an opportunity to try samples of two of her jams: Nectarine Ginger, and Fig Ume Plum (8-ounce jars for $19.95 each).

Saba Jams made in small batches with seasonal, local fruit.
Saba Jams made in small batches with seasonal, local fruit.

The former is slightly chunky with bits of candied ginger, adding a subtle warmth. It tastes very much like a nectarine crumble. It would be wonderful on so many breakfast staples — be it oatmeal, plain yogurt, toast, scone or bagel. Or even drizzled over roasted squash.

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