The Northwoods Cookie Plate
Seven Christmas cookies to bake in advance, freeze, and set out all season.
The seven cookies people ask me for, and a plan that gets them baked early, so the plate is ready whenever you need it.
$24 · 36-page PDF · Download right after checkout
Seven Christmas cookies to bake in advance, freeze, and set out all season. A 36-page PDF with every recipe in grams and cups, a bake-ahead calendar, one shopping list for all seven, and six printables. Download right after checkout. All sales are final.
Christmas cookies, done early
I used to bake every cookie the week before Christmas, right when those days were full of cooking for company and finishing gifts. Last year I baked most of them ahead and froze them. Whenever I needed cookies for a gathering, or wanted to drop some off at a neighbor’s, I pulled out what I needed and set out a full plate or packed up a cute little box.
Your whole Christmas cookie plate, made ahead.
The seven cookies people ask me for, made ahead and finished the day you serve them, so every one tastes fresh baked.
NOTHING SHIPS
Christmas cookies, done before December gets busy
I used to bake every cookie the week before Christmas, right when those days were full of cooking for company and finishing gifts. Over the years I've perfected a better way: bake ahead, freeze each cookie the right way, and finish it the day it goes out, so it tastes fresh baked.
Now whenever I need cookies for a gathering, or want to drop some off at a neighbor's, I pull out what I need and set out a full plate or pack up a cute little box.
This book is that method, written down: the seven cookies people ask me for, and exactly how to get them done early.
Kristin Beischel writes Northwoods Table, a newsletter about food, home and lake-house living in Northern Wisconsin. She used to run a business teaching people how to bake, and her summer pop-up bakery sold out of chocolate chip cookies every Saturday. The crinkles in this book are built on that dough.
Seven cookies, every one different
Bars, rounds, snowballs and candy, so the plate looks full.
Maple Peanut Fudge Bars
A Nut Goodie in bar form: maple fudge between layers of chocolate, butterscotch and peanut butter, with salted peanuts.
Freezes 3 months
Raspberry Almond Linzer Bars
Raspberry jam and buttery shortbread under a crumble top. All the flavor of a Linzer cookie, with no rolling or cutting.
Freezes 3 months
Soft Molasses Cookies
Thick, soft and spiced, with cardamom and a crackly sugar top. Bake as many as you need straight from the freezer.
Freezes 3 months
Brown Butter Pecan Snowballs
Brown butter and pecans, rolled in powdered sugar until they look like snow. A fresh roll in sugar on plate day.
Freezes 3 months
Double Chocolate Crinkles
Big and soft in the middle, cracked white on top. Built from the chocolate chip cookie I sold at my pop-up bakery.
Freezes 3 months
Fairy Food
Crisp, airy honeycomb candy dipped in dark chocolate. Every Christmas growing up, we bought my mom a box from a Milwaukee candy shop.
Keeps 2 weeks, no freezer
Forgotten Cookies
Light, crisp chocolate chip meringues that finish in the oven overnight while you sleep.
Keeps 2 weeks, no freezerStart with the freezer cookies this weekend
Five of the seven wait in the freezer until you need them, as dough or baked, and come out tasting fresh baked. The other two keep on the counter.
Buy the book, $24Freezer, counter, plate
Nothing on the plate tastes frozen. Dough bakes straight from the freezer, bars get cut and dusted the day you serve them, and baked cookies thaw sealed in their bag so they taste just baked.
Into the freezer
- Fudge bars, as a whole slab
- Linzer bars, baked and uncut
- Molasses, as dough balls or baked
- Snowballs, as dough balls or baked
- Crinkles, as dough
On the counter
- Fairy Food, made on a dry day
- Forgotten Cookies, in the oven overnight
- Boxes, cups and ribbon ready
- Cards printed
Finish and set out
- Slice the fudge bars cold
- Cut and dust the Linzer bars
- Bake dough straight from frozen
- Roll the snowballs once more
- Fill the plate, or pack the boxes
Every page, ready for the kitchen
Everything for the plate and the boxes
- 1Seven recipes in grams and cups, each with a make-ahead box and a contains line
- 2A bake-ahead calendar and make-ahead chart: what freezes, for how long, and what to do on plate day
- 3One shopping list for all seven, sorted by store section
- 4How to build the plate and pack the neighbor box
- 5Six printables: calendar, shopping list, freezer inventory, who-gets-a-box list, what's-inside cards and name cards
- 6My kitchen kit: the pans and tools I use
Boxes worth giving
For the boxes you drop off at the neighbors'. The book shows how I pack all seven into one box, and the what's-inside cards list every cookie and what it contains, so nobody has to text you about nuts.
- Kraft window boxes, 8 x 8 x 3, so the cookies show
- White mini baking cups, so the box isn't all brown
- Burgundy velvet ribbon, about 1¾ yards per bow
- Small cellophane bags, to keep the Fairy Food crisp
Links to everything I use are in the book.
Buy the book, $24Questions
Is this a physical book?
No, it's a 36-page PDF. It downloads right after checkout and nothing ships. Read it on your phone or print it.
When should I start?
Whenever you get it. The calendar tells you what to make first, and even a mid-December start gets you a full plate.
Can I make just a few of the seven?
Yes. Every recipe stands on its own, and the printables have blank rows for your own cookies.
Do I need special equipment?
Just a candy thermometer for the Fairy Food. Everything else is regular baking gear, and the kitchen kit page shows what I use.
What about allergies?
Peanuts are in the fudge bars and pecans are in the snowballs. You can leave the almond extract out of the Linzer bars. The fudge bars, Fairy Food and Forgotten Cookies have no gluten ingredients (check your chocolate and chip labels). Every recipe has a contains line.
Can I get a refund?
Because it's an instant download, all sales are final.
Bake ahead.
Set it out all season.
Seven recipes, the bake-ahead calendar, one shopping list and six printables, in a 36-page PDF you can use tonight.