What are some Christmas cookie recipes?

HONEY & CINNAMON CHRISTMAS TREES Honey and cinnamon biscuit dough 200g butter, at room temperature 1/2 cup (80g) icing sugar mixture 1/3 cup (80ml) honey 2 cups (300g) plain flour, sifted 1/4 cup (40g) self-raising flour, sifted 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons milk Glace icing 2 eggwhites, lightly whisked 3 1/4 cups (500g) pure icing sugar 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/2 cup desiccated coconut Method Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and icing sugar mixture in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add honey. Beat until well combined. Place flours, cinnamon and milk in a bowl. Add butter mixture. Mix until dough begins to form. Turn onto a well floured surface. Knead gently until smooth. Divide dough in half and wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 160°C. Using a well floured rolling pin, roll one portion of dough out on a well floured surface until 5mm-thick. Using an 8.5cm Christmas tree cutter, cut out biscuits. Place on prepared trays. Bake,swapping trays halfway during cooking, for 10 to 12 minutes or until crisp and golden. Cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough. Make glace icing: Using a wooden spoon, lightly beat eggwhites. Sift icing sugar over eggwhite. Stir until smooth. Add lemon juice and stir until well combined. Spread biscuits with icing, leaving a 2mm border. Sprinkle with coconut. Set aside for 1 hour to set. Serve or gift wrap. CHRISTMAS BELLS Ingredients 1 quantity honey and cinnamon biscuit dough (see related recipe) 1/3 quantity glace icing (see related recipe) silver cachous, to decorate Method Using a 6.5cm bell cutter, cut out biscuits. Place on prepared trays. Bake, swapping trays halfway during cooking, for 10 to 12 minutes or until crisp and golden. Cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough. Place icing in a piping bag fitted with a 2mm nozzle. Pipe small linked dots around edge of biscuits. Decorate joins between dots with cachous. Set aside for 1 hour to set. Serve or gift wrap. CANDY CANE BISCUITES Ingredients 2 cups plain flour 1/2 cup icing sugar mixture 200g butter, chopped 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar 1 eggwhite, lightly whisked red food colouring cellophane and ribbon, to decorate Method Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper. Place flour and icing sugar mixture in a food processor. Add butter. Process in short bursts until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add vanilla essence and 2 tablespoons of cold water. Process, in short bursts, until mixture just comes together. Turn dough onto a piece of baking paper. Divide dough in half. Roll each portion out between 2 pieces of baking paper until 7mm thick. Using a 7cm to 8cm long candy cane-shaped cutter, cut out shapes (see note). Place shapes on prepared trays. Roll together remaining dough and repeat. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 180°C. Bake biscuits for 10 minutes, swapping trays over halfway through cooking. Allow to cool on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Sift pure icing sugar into a bowl. Add eggwhite. Stir until smooth. Add 2 to 3 drops of red food colouring. Stir until icing is pink. Spoon icing into a snap-lock bag. Snip off one corner. Pipe icing over cookies. Set aside for 20 minutes to set. Place cookies in cellophane bags. Secure with ribbon. CHOCOLATE PANFORTE Ingredients Melted butter, to grease Edible rice-paper sheets, to line 175g (1 cup) mixed glace fruit, finely chopped 85g (1/2 cup) blanched almonds 80g (1/2 cup) pine nuts 75g (1/2 cup) plain flour 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground cloves 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 110g (1/2 cup) white sugar 125ml (1/2 cup) honey 125g good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped Icing sugar, to dust Method Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a 20cm (base measurement) springform pan with butter to lightly grease. Line the base and side with edible rice paper. Combine the mixed glace fruit, almonds, pine nuts, flour, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg in a large bowl. Combine the sugar and honey in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate. Add to the fruit mixture and, working quickly, stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Spoon the mixture into the lined pan and smooth the surface. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until just firm. Set aside in the pan for 5 minutes to cool slightly before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust the panforte with icing sugar. Cut into wedges to serve. LEMON & PASSIONFRUIT SHORTBREAD STARS Ingredients 225g

chocolate marbled meringues 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate 2 large egg whites- at room temp. 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar ½ cup superfine sugar ½ tsp. vanilla extract 1 ½ tsp. cornstarch 1 bag mint chocolate chips 1. Preheat oven to 200°. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 25 seconds; stir, and then microwave for another 20 seconds. 2. In a glass bowl beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar, Continue to beat on medium high speed until the mixture forms peaks. Slowly add the sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, waiting at least 10 seconds between additions, gradually increasing the speed to high. Add the vanilla and beat for another 3 minutes, or until stiff. Sift the cornstarch over the mixture, and gently fold in using a spatula. 3. Transfer the meringue to a bowl. Using a spatula, heavily drizzle parallel lines of the melted chocolate over the surface of the meringue. Using a 1 inch ice cream scoop scrape across the surface of the mixture, crosswise to the drizzled lines, to get a rounded mound of striped meringue. 4. Bake for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and leave them in until the oven is completely cooled.

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I read this great blog, foodblogga.blogspot.com - every year she has a Christmas cookie recipe collection, from around the world! Here is the link to 212 recipes from around the world, complete with photos, from "Eat Christmas Cookies 2007" - http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2007/11/christmas-cookies-from-around-world.html Then, if you go to http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/11/eat-christmas-cookies-season-2.html there is a new section of recipes from 2008. I believe she is still collecting them, so it may be updated every few days! I love her blog, as she truly appreciates FOOD, and she has some great recipes for truly unique cookies! The rest of her blog is great too - she has some awesome recipes, and the photos are always stunning! :)

I like to make gingersnap cookies. http://www.cherskitchen.com/recipes/desserts/gingersnap_cookies.php

http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/top25.php