It's that time again! Monday December 4th is National Cookie Day, so it's time for another installment of Cookie Lit! 

What's better than curling up in bed with a good book on a cold winter's night? Curling up with a good book and matching cookies on a cold winter's night! Happy #NationalCookieDay everybody! 

Update: If you're still hungry for more recipes, check out our 2018 Cookie Lit list, including a dozen new ideas pairing delicious cookies and delightful books. 

Lemony Snickerdoodles baked by Arieh Ress, SIBL

“They were almond cookies, although they could have been made of spinach and shoes for all I cared. I ate eleven of them, right in a row. It is rude to take the last cookie.”    ― Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Cinnamony sweet snickerdoodles are always a crowd-pleaser, but life is not always sweetness and light. A bit of tartness rounds these treats off; they're best enjoyed when one needs a clear head for inventing ways out of sticky situations. 

• 1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2¾ cups flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 to 3 tbsp lemon zest
• ¼ cup of cinnamon sugar (¼ cup sugar mixed with 1 tbsp ground cinnamon)

- Glaze (optional): For an extra zing try drizzling with lemon glaze (1 cup confectioners sugar mixed with aproximately 2 tbsp lemon juice)

1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.
3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the electric mixer bowl until you get a nice smooth dough.
4.Refrigerate dough while the oven preheats to 400 degrees.
5. Roll out cookie balls and toss them in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Place them on a well greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
7. Drizzle with lemon glaze while still warm if desired.
8. Let them cool on a baking rack, store in an airtight container.

Butterscotch Drops baked by Susen Shi, Teen Zone at Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd St

Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where spells are mastered, love is discovered, and heroes are made. Take a trip to Hogsmeade and partake in some pranks from Zonko's Joke Shop, sweets from Honeyduke, and a bottle of Butterbeer (butterscotch strong) from The Three Broomsticks. Not a third year? Enjoy those Butterscotch Drops while making plans in your dorms to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named!

• 11 oz butterscotch morsels
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter. 
• 4 cups cornflakes

1. Place morsels and peanut butter into pan and melt together. 
2. Add cornflakes to the pan and mix together so everything is well coated. 
3. Drop mixture by the spoonful onto a cookie tray (lined with parchment paper comes off easier) 
4. Place in fridge until hardened.

Catch-22 Fruitcake Cookies baked by Elizabeth Waters, Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd St

“He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it.” -Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Start the day before by soaking the dried fruit

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs (from Malta, or wherever is most convenient)
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons real vanilla
• ½ cup molasses
• 2 cups chopped walnuts
• 2 cups chopped hazelnuts
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 ½ cups chopped raisins
• 1 cup chopped golden raisins  
• 2 cups pitted chopped prunes
• 1 cup chopped dried cherries
• 1 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• ¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger (or a little more if you love ginger!)
• ½ cup brandy or B & B

1. Soak prunes, raisins, cherries, cranberries, apricots, and ginger in ½ cup brandy at least 24 hours, cover tightly, at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
3. Cover several baking sheets with lightly greased parchment paper.
4. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a bowl; set aside.
5. Beat together the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
6. Beat in molasses and then eggs, one at a time.
7. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, alternating each addition with about 2 tablespoons of milk until all the milk is incorporated and the dough is soft.
8. Beat in the vanilla.
9. With a spoon, mix in the nuts, raisins, dates, cherries, mango, currants, and citron until thoroughly mixed.
10. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets.
11. Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are set and the bottoms are very lightly browned, 20 to 30 minutes and cool on wire racks.

Breakfast of Champions Cookies (Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Crumbled Wheaties Icing) baked by Sara Beth Joren, Media Relations

“We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.” -Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut

Loaded with old-fashioned oats and a healthy dose of Wheaties, these literary powerhouse cookies can surely serve as a breakfast of champions. This batch is a variation of these Old Fashioned Iced Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies which is full of great info and pretty photos at Ambitious Kitchen. For these, Sara added crumbled Wheaties to the icing, and chocolate chips to the dough!!

Goodnight Moonpies baked by Jessica Cline, Picture Collection

While they may not be as nutritious, this midnight snack beats the heck out of mush!

For the Cookies:

• 8 oz (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 jar of Marshmallow Fluff (I used strawberry flavored)

For the Chocolate Coating:

• 12 oz semisweet chocolate
• ¼ cup vegetable oil

Geek Love Circus Peanut Butter Cookies baked by Lauren Lampasone, Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd St

“A true freak cannot be made. A true freak must be born.” –Katherine Dunne, Geek Love
 

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 g)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed) (90 g)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (150 g)
• 1/2 tsp  baking powder
• 3/4 tsp  baking soda
• 1/4 tsp  salt
• Marshmallow Fluff
• Food coloring 

All-Of-A-Kind Buttery Hamantaschen baked by Nancy Kandoian, Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division

"It was so cozy in the warm kitchen full of the smell of hot-from-the-oven Haman taschen. ... Mama had baked two platters full and still kept making more."--Sydney Taylor, All-of-a-kind Family

The All-of-a-Kind Family books are set on the Lower East Side at the turn of the 20th century. This 1911 map from the Map Division shows the location of the original Hamilton Fish Park Library, which we believe to be the library Ella, Sarah, and their sisters visited in the book though it may have been the Seward Park branch as per one of the comments below. To identify which Lower East Side branch would have been the local library for the "All-of-a-Kind" family, we tracked down the 1910 census record showing the address of the author Sydney Taylor's (nee Sara Brenner) family in Ancestry Library Edtion. The Brenner family lived at the southern end of Avenue D, so we think the All-of-a-Kind family would have used the original Hamilton Fish Park Library.

Invisible Hand of the Market Butter Cookies baked by Kathleen Kalmes, SIBL

"Every individual... neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it... he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention." -The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith
Whether for private or shared consumption, these iced butter cookies are delicious!

• ½ pound butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups flour
• Preheat oven to 375

Eat Me Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies baked by Melissa Scheurer, Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd St

"Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words 'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants." -Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Practical Magic Lavender Rosemary Shortbread baked by Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market Library

“There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.” -Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

 

With no gas in her building, Jenny had to put some practical kitchen magic to use to bake these lovely, buttery, herby shortbread cookies.

 

She adapted this recipe from The Solitary Cook blog, which includes helpful step-by-step photos and commentary that truly gets you into the magic of baking these unique treats! Jenny baked the shortbread on high for an hour with a tea towel under the lid of her slow cooker, and the results speak for themselves. We think Sally Owens would approve!

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Major thanks to all our bakers, and to those who came up with ideas for them to bake! 

Please share your #CookieLit ideas below and you could see them in next year's edition. 

If you bake some of these don't forget snap some pics and use the hashtag #CookieLit when you post!