Christmas Cookies from Baking’s Biggest Talents: Cindy Mushet

Inventing a truly great cookie requires a kind of genius. Baking talent Cindy Mushet shares some of her best Christmas cookies with Food & Wine.

“I’ve made every mistake in the book, which is hard to admit, but it’s why I’m a good teacher,” says pastry chef Cindy Mushet, an instructor at the Seattle-based store Sur La Table. The Art & Soul of Baking proves she’s a great teacher, with precise directions for making sweets like her lovely “roll-and-cut” sugar cookies and her vanilla crescent cookies. But although her instructions are meticulous, her overall attitude is strikingly low-key: “Hey, it’s food, not world peace.”

 The Best Holiday Cookies

Plus:

Holiday Cookies by Jacques Torres

• Cherry-Nut Mudslides (left)
• Sugar-Crusted Chocolate Cookies

Holiday Cookies by Nick Malgieri

• Ginger Sandwich Cookies (left)
• Coconut-Pistachio Meringues

Holiday Cookies by Flo Braker

• Butterscotch-Glazed Coffee Shortbread Bars
• Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies (left)

Holiday Cookies by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

• Cinnamon Spritz Sandwich Cookies (left)
• Chocolate-Mint Thumbprints

Holiday Cookie Decorating Party

Published December 2008