Holiday Cookie & Wine Pairings

What’s the only thing better than a box of wines for the holidays that give back? A box of cookies to go along with each bottle. We’ve rounded up our favorite cookie recipes from the Test Kitchen for the holiday season that we can’t wait for you to try. We’ve paired these tasty treats with 5 of our favorite wines of the season. Gather your loved ones in your kitchen this holiday season for a cookie & wine party, and box them up for your holiday gifts with a bottle of your favorite wine that’s changing the world.

Cocoa Snickerdoodle

Wine Pairing: Vintner Pinot Noir

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine butter and brown sugar in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and combine until smooth. Add in eggs and vanilla, and mix until everything is combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt, and mix together with a whisk.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet in small increments. Mix until dry is completely incorporated. 
5. Scoop 2 tbsp. of dough out of the bowl and roll into balls. Combine white sugar and cinnamon together on a medium sized plate. Roll each dough ball around in the sugar mixture so that the whole ball is evenly coated. Place dough balls on a cookie sheet and press down with a flat measuring cup until it is about ½ inch thick. Bake in oven for 10 minutes.
6. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on a wire baking rack.

Ginger Cookie with Cinnamon Orange Glaze

Wine Pairing: Reserve Arroyo Seco Chardonnay

Ingredients

• 12 oz unsalted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup molasses
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 3 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼  tsp cloves
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine butter and brown sugar in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and combine until smooth. Add in egg, molasses, ground ginger and vanilla and mix until everything is combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves and salt, and mix with a whisk until combined.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet in small increments until everything is combined. 
5. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire baking rack.
6. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, orange juice and cinnamon with a whisk. When the cookies are completely cool, spoon glaze over the cookies and let it dry and slightly harden.

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookie

Wine Pairing: Vintner Red Blend

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine peanut butter, sugar and egg in a medium sized bowl and mix together with a rubber spatula. Scoop dough with an ice cream scoop and place onto a baking sheet. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire baking rack.
3. Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and heat in microwave for three to four 30-second increments. When chocolate is mostly melted but still has small morsels of unmelted chocolate, remove from microwave and stir with a rubber spatula until everything is melted.
4. Pour chocolate onto a plate and smooth into an even layer. Dip each cookie into chocolate so that bottom is covered with chocolate. Use a fork to pick up from the chocolate, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with all cookies and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to let the chocolate harden onto each cookie.

Butterscotch Shortbread

Wine Pairing: Brut Millesimato DOC Prosecco

Ingredients

• 20 oz. (4 ½ sticks) salted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups flour
• ½ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. To make the butterscotch, combine brown sugar and 8 oz of butter in a medium saucepan and heat until bubbly. Allow to cool.
3. Mix together the rest of the butter and butterscotch sauce in a mixer with the paddle attachment.
4. In separate bowl, mix together the flour and salt, and then with the mixer on low speed, slowly add into the wet mixture. This will have a crumbly texture. Roll into a circular disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and let sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator and use a rolling pin to roll out dough until ⅓ in. thick. Use a circular cookie cutter (2.5 – 3 inches in diameter) to cut into circles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in oven for 10 minutes.

Estate 8 Signature Chocolate Chip Cookie

Wine Pairing: Vintner Cabernet Sauvignon

Ingredients

• (2) 4 ounce sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup crushed toffee
• ½ cup mini peanut butter cups
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• flakey sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Add butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat on low speed until butter is smooth, about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, and beat for another 30 seconds until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat for another 30 seconds until everything is incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda together with a whisk. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet in small increments. Remove bowl from mixer, and stir in the chocolate, toffee, peanut butter cups, and walnuts by hand with a rubber spatula. 
4. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a #16 scoop to form the dough into balls (2 ounce or ¼ cup portions). A standard half baking sheet will fit 6 cookies. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle a small pinch of salt over each, and let cool on a wire cooling rack.

Dan’s Footnote: Try this out as an ice cream sandwich with some vanilla bean gelato 🙂 

Happy Baking!