Christmas Cookies from Baking’s Biggest Talents: Jacques Torres

Inventing a truly great cookie requires a kind of genius. Baking talent Jacques Torres shares some of his best Christmas cookies with Food & Wine.

Like most French pastry chefs, Jacques Torres didn’t quite get why Americans loved cookies so much. But when he opened his eponymous Brooklyn, NY, chocolate factory and store in 2000, he made it his mission to perfect the cookie, using top-quality ingredients and toying with size, baking time and texture. The latest results of his experiments: fudgy mudslides with dried cherries, chocolaty butter cookies and a new cookbook, Jacques Torres’ A Year in Chocolate.

 The Best Holiday Cookies

Plus:

Holiday Cookies by Cindy Mushet

• Vanilla Crescents
• Roll-and-Cut Sugar Cookies (left)
• Royal Icing

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