“I enjoy baking with my teenage daughter,” Tatar said. “She found this giant cinnamon cookie recipe and we have modified the original recipe to suit our tastes.”
Their holiday cookies are stuffed with cookie butter, topped with Teddy Grahams and rolled in sprinkles. Tatar described it as the perfect celebration cookie. Prior to the cookie contest, Tatar and her 15-year-old daughter, Scarlett, made these cookies as a graduation gift.
The duo enjoys spending time together in the kitchen — so much so that Scarlett is thinking about becoming a baker as she grows up.
The second-place winner of our holiday cookie contest was Rebekah Lermond of Union with her recipe for Peanut Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies. Lermond’s recipe is her take on your typical peanut butter cookies.
“I was making them one day and thought about how a favorite breakfast of my brother, sister and mine growing up was peanut butter toast with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top,” Lermond said. “I decided to try instead of rolling the cookies in sugar to try it like a snickerdoodle. They were a huge hit and something not hard to make.”
This was not Lermond’s first time placing in our holiday cookie contest. In 2018, she placed second with her Chocolate Chip Turtle Cookie Bars.
The third-place winner of our holiday cookie contest was Jelena Staub of Oakwood with her recipe for Brown Butter Espresso Chip Cookies.
“This cookie reminds me of a cup of hot coffee on Christmas morning, watching the snow gently blanket the trees while sharing gifts and memories with loved ones,” Staub said.
This recipe is her husband’s favorite. She was hoping to share the happiness and joy it brings to her family with others by submitting it.
Staub is an avid baker who enjoys baking holiday treats that have a complex flavor profile. She said she recently started getting into the area of gourmet cookies.
The Dayton Daily News has held a holiday cookie contest since 1990. This year the contest was brought back with a twist by having our staff bake the cookies instead of having contestants bring a dozen cookies to our office due to post-COVID and security precautions. The top three winners, selected by a panel of judges from our staff, each received a Kroger gift card.
Here are the winning recipes:
Festive Stuffed Cookie Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cubed
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup crushed Speculoos or Biscoff cookies
- 90-110 mini cinnamon Teddy Grahams for topping
- ½ cup holiday sprinkles mix (red/white/green)
- 1 cup cookie butter (Speculoos or Biscoff)
Directions:
First, prepare the cookie butter filling. Take a spoonful of cookie butter and drop it onto parchment paper for a total of 18 dollops. Place them in the freezer while you prepare the cookie dough.
In a mixing bowl, using a handheld or standing mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until well combined. Add vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds.
In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Sift the dry ingredients into the butter-egg mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the crushed cookies.
Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Take about ¼ cup dough and roll it into a ball. Use your palm to flatten the dough. Place the frozen cookie butter dollop onto the center of the dough. Take the edges and seal the dough — making sure the cookie butter is completely covered. Place 5-6 Teddy Graham crackers on top of the dough, then roll them in holiday sprinkles.
Repeat until you have a total of 18 cookies. Place cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, 9 cookies onto a sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges start to become golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes.
Peanut Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted halfway
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnadust (or ¼ cup sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Cream butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla and peanut butter until completely combined.
In a separate bowl whisk together flour and baking soda. Pour into wet ingredients and mix just until combined without over mixing. The dough will be very soft. Chill dough for at least 15 minutes.
Place Cinnadust or cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Steer to combine.
Roll 1 inch rounded tablespoons of dough, roll in cinnamon sugar and place 1 inch apart on baking sheet (don’t spread too much). Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Then remove to a wire rack to finish.
Makes 24-30 cookies.
Brown Butter Espresso Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ cups bittersweet chocolate chunks (Ghirardelli chocolate bars, chopped. Do not substitute chips)
- ¾ cup toffee bits
- flaky salt (Maldon)
Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso, baking soda, and salt.
Place ½ of the butter into a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Cook the butter until it is a golden brown color and smells nutty and toasted (roughly 5 minutes, do not burn the butter). Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the remaining ½ cup of butter, both brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and cooled brown butter and whip until light and creamy about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and the egg yolk and mix for another minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate and toffee. Do not over mix as it will create an unfavorable texture.
Scoop the dough with a 2 tablespoon scoop onto a lined cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill the dough overnight. Chilling overnight (and up to three days) allows the butter to rest and flavors to harmonize.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough onto the cookie sheets and bake 14-16 minutes, or until the cookies begin to brown around the edges, and the centers look set. Don’t over bake.
Once the cookies are out of the oven, sprinkle the top of each cookie with flaky sea salt. Let the cookies cool 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before placing the cookies on a cooling rack to finish the cooling process.
