Cookie Recipes By Anna Olson

Impress friends and family this holiday season by whipping up some of these beautiful Christmas cookies from baking expert Anna Olson. Find the perfect snickerdoodle recipe, learn how to bake spice-filled gingerbread cookies, classic whipped shortbread and the best sugar cookie icing, for the ultimate holiday cookie spread.

There’s a lot to love about these soft and chewy sandwich cookies, from their cake-like texture to the sweet cream cheese filling. They’re a great little treat at the end of an elaborate holiday meal.

Freeze this dough in advance and whip it out for holiday parties, cookie exchanges or the night before Christmas, so Santa can enjoy warm and chewy chocolate cookies.

Chewy Chocolate Molasses Cookies

The only peanut butter cookie recipe you’ll ever need, this crowd-pleaser uses pantry staples you likely already have, and can be whipped up quickly whenever a craving strikes.

Icebox cookie dough is transformed into three festive treats by adding jam: orange marmalade crumble bars, apricot lemon rugelach and raspberry linzer cookies. Make a batch for your holiday entertaining needs and another batch for potlucks and cookie exchanges.

“Pizze” means flat in Italian, and these flat, crisp waffle cookies make for great ice cream sandwiches. Alternatively, you can dip these treats in hot chocolate or coffee to satisfy your sweet tooth midday.

Anna Olson's New Book Features 120 Recipes To Bake Including These Cookies

An ooey-gooey surprise is discovered upon biting into this caramel-centred cookie complemented by a spicy cinnamon dough exterior. A cup of coffee or tea or a glass of milk is recommended to accompany these sweet treats.

These tender, nutty pistachio cookies infused with orange and cardamom melt in your mouth, making it impossible to stop at just one.

Looking for fun, new Christmas cookie decorating ideas? Try Anna Olson’s a-dork-able gingerbread Christmas sweater cookies. Use a sweater cookie cutter, bake and flood with cookie icing before going to town with your wildest colours and candies. “More is more, ” as Anna says.

Food Network's December Cooking Club Challenge: Anna Olson's Shortbread Cookies

The icing on these tender butter cookies isn’t just for decoration — although it does make a beautiful sight. It also adds stability to the tender crumb and some sweetness to offset the slight salt undertones to the cookie.

Triangular instead of round, these nut, fruit and white chocolate cookies have many more surprises in store, including a to-die-for sweet spread accompaniment that you’ll want to slather on just about everything

The dough can be prepared ahead of time and frozen for up to three months, so you don’t have to worry about a last-minute dessert.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

This twist on the classic sugar cookie has a crunchy exterior but with a chewy and tender middle, with a hint of spice.

Cantucci are just smaller biscotti that are sometimes lighter in texture. This yummy chocolate version is filled with crunchy pistachios and chunks of dark chocolate.

These individual flourless desserts are similar to a molten centre cake but better. Tender gingerbread cookie encases a rich chocolate filling that, when baked and served warm, surprises each guest when they break through the crisp cookie exterior.

Cornstarch Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

These little crisp meringue cookies are so tender and light. They are fantastic dessert nibbles, ideal for afternoon tea or part of a petit fours plate. Find more of your favourite Anna Olson recipes here.In our What’s Cooking series, we ask chefs and foodies to share their favourite at-home recipes: the easy, delicious—even occasionally healthy!—meals that they go back to again and again. On today’s menu: Anna Olson’s Chewy Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies.

Anna Olson is an accomplished celebrity pastry chef, television host and bestselling cookbook author well known for teaching Canadians how to make delicious desserts at home. To celebrate the launch of her latest cookbook,

, Anna is sharing the first recipe that sparked the idea for the cookbook itself: Chewy Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies. “I love them as much for the smell of them baking as for the taste, ” Anna explains. “I was inspired to develop this cookie after popping into a Toronto café to warm up on a chilly day and this oversized cookie came warm from the oven. It warmed me through to my toes! This is my version, which yields a smaller cookie without sacrificing the pop of ginger and chocolate. I grew up loving ginger molasses cookies, so this is a step up.”

Ginger Snap Cookies With Ground Black Pepper

1. Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar and molasses in a large bowl. Add the fresh ginger and egg and whisk in. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and salt and add these dry ingredients all at once to the butter mixture. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir until evenly combined (the mixture will be quite soft). Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover and chill the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight.

3. Use a small scoop or two teaspoons to portion spoonfuls of cookie dough. Shape each into a ball and roll in the granulated sugar to coat. Arrange the cookies on the baking trays, leaving 2 inches (5 cm) between them. Do not press the cookies flat. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until they crackle and feel set at the edges when gently pressed with a spatula.

4. Let the cookies cool on the trays on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before lifting them from the tray to the rack to cool completely. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Peanut Butter Cookies

“My scale—I prefer to weigh my ingredients when baking, for precision and consistency. All of my recent books include both weights and volume measures.”

“The Italian Baker by Carol Field. I taught myself how to bake Italian breads with that book—I love that she presents the bread recipes by region and includes the history behind them.”

“I am keen on mastering the Parisian Vanilla Flan. I don’t have a specific recipe in mind, yet, but I love the way this one looks.”

Skor Shortbread Sliced Cookies

“Cleaning as I go. As a pastry chef in a restaurant, sometimes you are first in the kitchen, well before a cleaning team. You have to learn to wash up as you go or there won’t be a whisk or bowl left, and it would be cruel to have the washer come into an overflowing sink.”

When an editor is testing out Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon recipe. In a moment of active cooking, a splash of wine and sauce splatters across the recipe page, and I swear you can smell the sauce from that scene and feel the excitement of the melding flavours. I love the sight of a well-loved recipe page—splatters, flour, butter fingerprints and all!”

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Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

The sun is shining, and spring is finally in the air—which, if you’re anything like us, means your mood has considerably lifted after a long and dreary winter. As nature beckons us to get outside and move, you’re probably thinking about your favourite outdoor activity, be it running, cycling or hiking, and how to fuel up for an active life during the warm seasons.