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Cookies for Santa
December 26, 2012 6:03 pm ET by Jennifer Ahearn
Rare is the holiday cookie that can truly survive in the wilds of the non-December baking schedule. You wouldn't eat a gingerbread man in July, right? However, I've got one that will be right at home in March: the TMM cookie.



The particulars of the cookie dough itself, I leave to the discretion of the baker. I used a delicious speculoos recipe from the recently published Bouchon Bakery cookbook; any dough made for rolling and cutting will certainly do. You can always trust a Dorie Greenspan recipe in my book, so if a basic sugar cookie is your speed, give this a try; and if you're not that handy with a rolling pin, definitely use her shortcut.

The cookie cutter is the key piece of the puzzle here. The inspiration for this cookie, in fact, struck when I realized that my snowflake cutter was also a six-pointed star. (A Star of David-shaped cookie cutter and a pair of needle-nose pliers, I understand, can also do the trick.) For these purposes, do try to find a cutter that has a center section of at least 1 inch in height - the smaller the cookie, the more difficult the decorating.

Now, right-click on the logo at the top left of this very screen and save that image to your computer; open it in the program of your choice and size it so that famous Avenir 85 logotype "m" is the appropriate size for your particular cookie, and print away. (If you happen to have that font on your computer, of course, printing an appropriately-sized "m" is easily done in your word processor; but unless you're Kyle Whelliston or in public relations at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, you probably don't.) I recommend printing several of these on the same page - it's good to have backups in these kinds of situations. Take an X-acto blade (or a small paring knife, if like me you aren't into crafts and don't have things like X-acto blades) and a ruler for the straight edges, and cut out the "m" from your star logo. If you emerge with an intact "m" and its negative image, you'll have options when it comes time to decorate.

Once your dough is rolled out, cut and ready to decorate (but not yet baked!), lay the cookies on a cooling rack set over a pan or a piece of paper. Choose some sanding sugar or sprinkles in the color of your choice, lay your cutout on the top of the cookie, and sprinkle away! Good coverage is important, since some of your sprinkles will almost certainly sink into the cookie. Carefully lift the paper, et voila.



The rack-and-pan combo allows you to easily catch the sugar that didn't stick and use it again, not to mention avoiding a mess of melting sugar on your cookie sheet. Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet and into the oven they go.

In fact, I may just make some of these to leave out with a glass of horchata for Bally Claus on Selection Sunday Eve, in the hope that he'll leave us an extra bid or two in our stockings...