Cookie Lit 2018: 12 Favorite Cookie Recipes

Welcome back, Cookie Lit fans! Tuesday, December 4 is National Cookie Day and the New York Public Library staff is back with more literary cookie recipes to help you celebrate. Of course, the recipes from our 2015, 2016 and 2017 Cookie Lit blog posts are still available (and delicious), but we have a whole new batch for 2018!

A plate of cookies and a great book go hand-in-hand, so try your hand at creating some of this year's entries. Just click on any of these scrumptious-sounding recipes for a quick link to literary cookie goodness: 

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies | Russian Tea Cookies | Chocolate Chirp Cookies | Bread and Jam Brown Sugar Shorties | Chocolat Chocolate Chip Cookies | Nevermore Eggnog Cookies | Wee Free Men Cookies | If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Cookies | The Woman in White Cookies | Flourentines | Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread | Snow White Christmas Cookies

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
by Susen Shi of Mid-Manhattan Library

It's a hunk, a hunk of burning love. Love for peanut butter and bananas, that is. Partake in a favorite combination of Elvis Presley, but the cookie edition. Best with a warm glass of milk and some rock 'n' roll!

Recipe from Gimme Some Oven:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter 
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• (optional: cane sugar, for sprinkling)

1. Heat oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt, baking soda and cinnamon until combined. Set aside.

3. In the (separate) bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add peanut butter, egg, banana, and vanilla, and continue mixing on medium speed until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once if needed. Fold in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

4. Measure out a rounded tablespoon-full of dough, roll it into a ball, then place on the baking sheet. Use a fork to press down the top of the ball and make a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle with a pinch of cane sugar, if desired. Repeat with remaining dough.

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges. Cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Serve immediately or store in a sealed container for up to 1 week.

Russian Tea Cookies
by Nancy Kandoian of Maps, Local History & Genealogy

"Nina weighed the Count's remark, then looking once to her left and once to her right, she confided. She explained that while the card room was rarely used, at three o'clock on Wednesdays four women met there without fail for a regular game of whist; and if you arrived by two thirty and hid in the cupboard, you could hear their every word--which included a good deal of cursing; and when the ladies left, you could eat the rest of their cookies." from A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

Betty Crocker made Russian Tea Cakes a classic in her Betty Crocker Cookbook of All Purpose Baking back in 1942, when the Soviet Union was our ally during World War II. Today, you might know those cookies by another name; whatever they were called, with their richness of butter and nuts, they would have been a good choice for the card-playing ladies and Count Rostov, the gentleman living out his days under Bolshevik rule in the grand Hotel Metropol in central Moscow.  You can find the Theatre Square location on this Plan gor. Moskvy (map) from 1931.

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1. Heat oven to 400º F.

2. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.

5. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Chocolate Chirp Cookies
by Arieh Ress of SIBL/Mid-Manhattan Library

"'Frog,' said Toad, 'let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop.' Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie. 'We must stop eating!' cried Toad as he ate another. 'Yes,' said Frog, reaching for a cookie, 'we need willpower.'" - Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. (Read Frog and Toad Together or watch it!)

Like it or not, bugs are the future of sustainable protein, not to mention part of the average day in much of the world, with more than two billion people worldwide eating bugs. With a very small carbon footprint and universal ease of access, these ubiquitous critters may even be kosher!
While some recipes call for cricket flour along with whole crickets, we took our recipe from The Telegraph as it only had whole crickets, and we thought it best to ease into the next big food staple. Frog and Toad seem to have a lot of difficulty with willpower when it comes to their delicious cookies and, if you can forget what's in them, we think you'll have the same "problem" with these! 

Yield: 48 cookies

• 2 ¼ cups of plain flour
• 1tsp. baking soda
• 1tsp. salt
• 1cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 12 ounces chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped mixed nuts (optional)
• ½ cup dry- roasted crickets

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375º F.

2. Mix together butter, all sugar, and vanilla and beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

3. Beat in the eggs and then slowly add flour, salt and baking soda.

4. Stir in the nuts, insects and chocolate chips.

5. Place rounded teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking tray and put in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Bread and Jam Brown Sugar Shorties
by Stephanie Anderson of BookOps

Bread and Jam for Frances is supposed to be a morality tale about the perils of being a picky eater but, as a kid, I never understood what could be so wrong about bread and jam for every meal. (Although I did covet the little cardboard shaker of salt that Frances had in her lunchbox!)
The recipe for this cookie comes from Smitten Kitchen's Brown Butter Brown Sugar Shorties. You can use strawberry or gooseberry jam, as they are both mentioned by Frances in one of her little jam songs, or go into uncharted territory with your own favorite! 

Yield: 32 cookies

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (preferably dark)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (flaky salt would be great in these)
• Jam of your choice
• Demerara sugar (Sugar in the Raw) or sanding sugar for rolling (optional)

1. Cut butter into four or five pieces and cook butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it has a nutty fragrance and flecks on bottom of pan turn a light brown, anywhere from 4 to 7 minutes. It helps to frequently scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan in the last couple minutes to ensure even browning. Transfer butter to a bowl and chill until just firm, about 1 hour.

2. Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, then mix in flour and salt at low speed until just combined.

3. Transfer dough to a sheet of wax paper or parchment and form into a long rectangle so that the sliced cookies will  look more like bread slices,  about 12-inches long, 1 1/2 inches tall. Chill, wrapped in wax paper, until firm, about 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350° F with rack in middle. Unwrap dough and roll it in coarse sugar, if using, and press the granules in with the paper you’d be using to wrap it. Slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices, arranging 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Press a small indent with your thumb or a small spoon.

5.Bake until surface is dry and edges are slightly darker, 10 to 12 minutes. Let sit on sheet for a minute before transferring to a rack to cool. (Cookies will quite fragile at first, but will firm up as they cool.) Once cooled, fill indent with jam of your choice.

Pro tip: the greatness of the slice-and-bake cookie is that you can just bake a few at a time and then hide the rest in the fridge (for a week) or the freezer (for a month) until the craving strikes again.

Chocolat Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Kathleen Kalmes of Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL)

"Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive." -Chocolat by Joanne Harris

These doubly-chocolatey cookies are the perfect companion to Joanne Harris' novel about the transformational magic of including a bit of sweetness in your life. Happiness indeed!

Yield: 48 cookies

• 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks softened)
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• ¾ cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup Cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cups nuts (optional)

1. Heat oven to 375° F.

2. Stir together flour, cocoa and baking soda.

3. Cream the sugar, add eggs and vanilla, beat well.

4. Gradually add flour mixture.

5. Add chip and nuts if using.

6. Drop by rounded teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet.

7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes.

Nevermore Eggnog Cookies
by Elizabeth Waters of Mid-Manhattan Library 

"Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore.'" -The Ravenby Edgar Allan Poe
It seems that eggnog was a favorite drink of Edgar Allan Poe in his college days, so we made some rich, spicy eggnog-inspired cookies to enjoy while reading The Raven and other Poe classics. Gothic icing is optional.
If you’d like eggnog with your cookies, check out this version of the Poe family eggnog recipe. And Instagrammers can find a special Insta Novel edition of The Raven @nypl.

Eggnog Snickerdoodles (adapted from America's Test Kitchen's The Perfect Cookie)

Yield: 48 cookies

• 2½ c all purpose flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg (reserve ½ tsp for later)
• ¾ tsp cinnamon
• 16 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 1¼  c packed light brown sugar (original recipe calls for 1½ c granulated sugar.)
• 2 large eggs
• 1¼  tsp rum extract
• ¾ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ c confectioners sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a bowl.

3. Beat together butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes

4. Add eggs, one at a time, and rum and vanilla extracts, and beat until incorporated.

5. Reduce speed to low and and slowly add flour mixture; mix until just combined.

6. Working with 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, roll into balls and space them 2 inches apart on prepared sheets. Using bottom of greased dry measuring cup, press each ball to even ½ inch thickness. (I recommend chilling dough for an hour or two first to make it easier to work with.)

7. Bake cookies until edges are lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack.

8. Whisk confectioners’ sugar and nutmeg together in small bowl and dust cookies with mixture before serving.

Notes: The original recipe did not call for adding spices to the dough. I added both nutmeg and cinnamon, and included some vanilla extract with the rum extract since I like vanilla in eggnog. The original recipe uses 1 ½ tsp. of rum extract and no vanilla.
The America’s Test Kitchen editors also note that rum can be substituted for rum extract, but the flavor will be less pronounced. My family thought the combination of the two extracts made for a delicious eggnog cookie.

Wee Free Men Cookies
by Jenny Baum of Jefferson Market Library

"'They think written words are even more powerful,' whispered the toad. 'They think all writing is magic. Words worry them. See their swords? They glow blue in the presence of lawyers.'" -The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

These Wee Free Men cookies are sugar cookies with blue icing to resemble their namesakes—minus their shock of red hair. I used an animal cookie recipe adapted from Chloe's Vegan Desserts by Chloe Coscarelli. The icing is a half a cup of powdered sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons soy milk, with a tiny amount of blue food coloring added.

Yield: about 60 1-inch cookies

• 1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Cookie icing

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two or three large baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add margarine, 1 tablespoon water, and vanilla. Pulse until soft and doughy. If needed, add 1 more tablespoon water.

3. Working with half the dough at a time, place the dough between 2 large sheets of floured parchment paper. Roll dough out until it is 1/4 inch thick. Gently peel off the top sheet of parchment paper.

4. Using a 1-inch cookie cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can. You can combine any remaining scraps to roll and cut more cookies.

5. Place the shapes on the prepared baking sheets about 1/2 inch apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly gold around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

6. Decorate the cookies with icing. Let set, then serve.

If You Give  a Mouse a Cookie Cookies
by Gwen Glazer of Readers Services

"If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk." -If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Putting the "lit" in "literal" are some If You Give a Mouse a Cookie cookies, based on the book. The text doesn’t offer much information about the actual cookies, but going by Felicia Bond’s sweet illustrations, I'm guessing they're chocolate chip. 

I used the Copycat Levain Bakery recipe and followed it to the letter (don’t skip the refrigeration step and don’t overbake!) These cookies are gigantic and delicious, well worthy of a frenetic mouse and the exhausted kid who’s been chasing him around all day. 

Yield: 12 giant cookies!

• 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (I used King Arthur Unbleached AP Flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 3/4 cup + 4 teaspoons (6 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, cold, lightly beaten in a separate bowl
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips (Large ones make for gooier chocolate puddles throughout!)

1. Line a large baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper. 

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, powder, and salt. 

3. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until it comes together in one lump, about 1 minute. Add in the sugars and beat for another 1 to 2 minutes, or until the sugar dissolves into the butter. Lower the speed to medium-low, and mix in the eggs and vanilla and beat until mixed (the batter will be lumpy). Gradually add in the flour mixture, beating until a little flour remains. Fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

4. Divide the dough into 12 even pieces. Shape the dough roughly into a ball, but do not roll it. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes but up to 12 hours before baking.

5. Preheat oven to 375° F. Bake cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, until light golden brown. When in doubt, take your cookies out early. The cookies will continue to cook as they cool. There's nothing that ruins them more than being overcooked. I can't stress this enough! Cool on a wire rack, then serve!

The Woman in White cookies
by Jenny Baum of Jefferson Market Library

This "Cookie in White" has Victorian flair and a secret surprise nestled inside. It would even appeal to the character of Count Fosco who has "a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison" as Wilkie Collins wrote in The Woman in White

Frosted Coconut Sprinkled Almond Cookies: Adapted from the Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints recipe in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. 

• 1/2 cup canola oil

For the frosting:

• 2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated margarine, softened
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 tablespoon nondairy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanillla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Beat ingredients through salt together to form a stiff dough.

3. Stir in white chocolate chips.

4. Pat into small golf ball size cookies. Place whole almond in the middle, flatten slightly and place on the cookie sheets.

5. Bake for 15 minutes.

6. Allow cookies to cool sufficiently before frosting and dipping tops in shredded unsweetened coconut.

7. Mix frosting ingredients together until creamy enough to spread. If too dry add another teaspoon of non-dairy milk; if too runny, add in another tablespoon of powdered sugar.

Flourentines
by Virginia Bartow of Special Formats Processing

The Florentine Deception by Carey Nachenberg starts off with a simple enough task, and lands its hero in the middle of an incredible adventure. These cookies also start out simple enough… but the end result will blow you away!

Pastry

• 14 oz. (28 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened
• 1-1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 lb. 5 oz. (4-2/3 cups) all-purpose flour

Topping

• 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 Tbs. light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup water
• 7 oz. (14 Tbs.) unsalted butter
•  3/4 cup honey
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp. freshly grated orange zest
• 17 oz. (4 cups) sliced blanched almonds, lightly toasted
• 3/4 cup chopped candied orange peel (optional)
•  6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter the bottom and sides of an 11” x 17” rimmed baking sheet. Line the bottom and sides with parchment paper, leaving about 1-inch overhanging at the short ends. Butter the parchment.

2. Cream the butter with the sugar, then add the flour and salt and stir until incorporated.

3. Spread the crumbs on the baking sheet and with floured hands press them into a thin, even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the sheet pan (between 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick). Patch any cracks or holes at this point.

4. Refrigerate for 10 minutes, or until firm. Blind bake the dough by covering it with parchment and baking weights (or dried beans) in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the weights by spooning them off of the parchment, remove the parchment carefully, and bake the dough another 10 minutes. Cool completely.

5. In a large saucepan, heat the cream with the orange zest over moderate heat, just until bubbles appear around the edge, about 5 minutes, and set aside.

6. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the sugar with the corn syrup and water and bring to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Cook the syrup over moderately high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until a medium amber caramel forms (350° on a candy thermometer), about 5 minutes. Remove immediately from the heat. Add the honey and the butter to the caramelized sugar (very carefully as the hot mixture will bubble up). Bring it back to a boil.

7. Add the infused cream, again it will bubble up. Cook the caramel topping over moderately high heat until a candy thermometer registers 255° (about 4 minutes). Stir in the almonds (and candied orange rind, if using) and immediately spread the caramel over the pastry with a wooden spoon.

8. Return the baking sheet to the oven and for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the topping is bubbling. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let cool completely.

9. Run a knife around the edge of the baking sheet to loosen the pastry and turn it over, parchment side up onto a flat baking sheet. Remove the parchment and using a serrated knife, score the pastry (not the filling), trimming around the edges, and then scoring every 1 ½ inches parallel to the short side. Then score on the diagonal 1 inch apart. Using a sharp knife cut through filling on the scored lines, first trimming the edges (a great treat for anyone who wanders through the kitchen) and then cutting out the diamond shaped cookies.

10. Put the cookies right side up on two wire racks over wax paper. Melt 6 ounces of the chocolate in a bowl in a microwave oven for about 1 minute. Put the melted chocolate in a small plastic bag. Snip the corner off and drizzle melted chocolate over all of the cookies. Refrigerate until the chocolate is just set, about 5 minutes.

Note:  The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.

Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread
by Anne Rouyer of Mulberry Street Library

No Scottish Christmas is complete without a tin of shortbread at the ready! Here, we get all posh by fancying it up with chocolate and peppermint extract. So snuggle down in front of that wood fire, enjoying a dram and a wee bit of shortbread.

Inspired by Christmas on the Island by Jenny Colgan

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2 tsp peppermint extract (NOT mint or spearmint)
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 6 oz chocolate chips or disks
• Peppermint Baking Chips for sprinkling (I use Andes mints)

1. Heat oven to 350° F and spray sides of an 8-inch cake pan or springform pan and put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Add peppermint extract and mix until smooth.

4. Add flour and cocoa powder gradually, incorporating slowly and mix until combined. Dough will be very thick.

5. With lightly floured hands, press dough evenly into pan.

6. Bake 22 to 24 minutes or until edges just begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool in pan about 5 minutes. Carefully cut the round into 16 wedges. Cool completely in the pan on cooling rack, about 30 minutes.

7. Melt chocolate in microwave at 20 second intervals, mixing each time until chocolate is fully melted.

8. Pour chocolate into a piping bag with a small round tip (or into a ziplock bag with a corner cut off) and drizzle chocolate over cookies.

9. Sprinkle peppermint baking chips onto chocolate as you go—chocolate dries quickly.

Snow White Christmas Cookies
by Melissa Scheurer of Mid-Manhattan Library

I was inspired to make a cookie that looked like the snow-covered Christmas tree on the cover of David Handler's The Snow White Christmas Cookie. They do remind me of my type of Christmas tree—twinkly and festive with random ornaments spaced unevenly and tinsel thrown on for good measure. The recipe comes from Culinary Envy. 

• 2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened

• 1 cup sugar
• 3¾ cups flour
• 1 small box (3.3 oz) White Chocolate Instant Pudding Mix (not sugar-free)
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1½ cups dried cranberries
• ½ cup pecans, chopped (optional)

For decorating:

• Heart-shaped or round cookie cutters, if desired
• 1 cup Holiday Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels with Red & Green Colored Morsels
• ¼ cup red M&M’s
• ¼ cup crushed peppermint candies
• ¼ cup Hollyberry decor sprinkles
• 1 (7 oz) tube Decorating Cookie Icing in White
   

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat or parchment paper.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

3. Add in flour and instant pudding and mix until combined.

4. Fold in white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and pecans.

5. Roll cookies into about a 1½" ball and place onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Lightly press down on cookies to slightly flatten (or if you want to cut them out using cookie cutters; on a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a ¼ inch (.6 cm) thick circle. Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter. Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked).

6. Bake at 350° F for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies start to slightly brown around the edges.

7. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

8. If you are decorating: I just placed the morsels, M&Ms, peppermint, and sprinkles on top while they were cooling on the baking sheet. I let them cool completely before I used the white icing to decorate the top.

Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
 

Thank you 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 recipes, don't forget snap some pics and use the hashtag #CookieLit when you post.

See you with more recipes next year!