Whenever I put a variety of cookies together, I try really hard to include something for every kind of cookie taste. For example, I always include some kind of buttery and crumbly sable, something uber-chocolate, something gooey, something jammy and fruity, and something nutty and spiced. I’m never short on ideas for these categories, but I always freeze when it comes to bars. I love including a bar cookie, no question, but with the dizzying variety, from cheesecakes to lemon bars to brownies, it’s almost another food category entirely and I just can’t decide.

This year was no exception, and an exhaustive research session with my stacks of cookbooks only left me feeling more bewildered. That’s when I decided to combine two of my favorite recipes of all time, this one, and this one (which resulted in EVK recently being featured on Saveur.com). The cookie love-child that resulted was absolutely worth my angst.

There’s just something so right about using a fresh ingredient, in this case, the cranberries in the topping, in holiday baking.  They make for a topping that’s both sweet and tart, and the addition of pecans lends a lovely toasted flavor and some crunch. The shortbread, which is the most crumbly (thanks to the semolina) and rich (ahm, butter!) that I’ve ever had. Together, get gooey, sweet-tartness layered over a cookie that crumbles as it melts in your mouth. With or without white chocolate drizzles, they’re a gorgeous addition to your holiday game plan.

Cranberry Shortbread
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan and Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver

Cranberry topping

6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons sugar
2 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped pecans

Shortbread

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar (or powdered sugar)
2 scant cups (a cup, minus a tablespoon) all-purpose flour, sifted
2/3 cup semolina
big pinch of kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8 inch x 8 inch pan with two inch sides.

Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in 6 tablespoons of the sugar and cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Pour this into the bottom of the pan, then scatter over the nuts and top with the cranberries. Set the pan aside.

Cream butter and sugar together with a whisk or wooden spoon or paddle attachment of a stand mixer until very pale, light, and fluffy. Add the flour and semolina. Mix very lightly with a wooden spoon and then with your hands until you have a smooth dough.

Pressed the doughevenly into your pan, on top of the cranberry mixture, poking it into the corners with your fingers – don’t worry about it having to look perfect. Bake in the preheated oven until slightly golden, 40-50 minutes. Don’t be alarmed if some of the cranberry caramel seeps up along the edges.

Allow the pan to cool completely. When you are ready to serve, dip the bottom of the pan in hot water for 10 seconds to help loosen the caramel and cut into squares. Use an offset spatula to remove the squares from the pan. Scrape additional cranberry mixture from the bottom of the pan and return to the tops of the squares.

Stores in airtight container in the fridge for 2 days.

Get yourself a hat and hold the heck onto it! When messing around tonight in my kitchen experimenting with entry ideas for my office Iron Chef: Holiday Cookie Battle, I finally got around to this recipe, and I don’t care what Gourmet says, this is actually the best cookie of 2008.  

These cookies are nearly flourless and rely on a buttery, caramel-y, coconut-y glue to hold them together. They are crispy all over and just beautiful – and that’s just the cookie – I haven’t even started to talk about the chocolate.

No worries if you do not have the official equipment, as you can see I make double-broilers out of my pots and bowls just fine. Just be careful and remember, there is near-boiling water under those top bowls (yes, I speak from experience – youch!)

Melt the butter, salt, and brown sugar in a bowl over a pot of hot water on low heat.

Mix the coconut, oatmeal, and flour into the melted butter mixture.

Drop tablespoons of the dough onto a large cookie sheet. I found that these came out best when I flattened the drops a bit. Also make sure to keep these at least two inches apart.

These took about 17 minutes to fully caramelize in my oven. Watch them carefully as they may take less or more in yours. Let them cool throughly before decorating. The smell of these is just intoxicating.

Chop your chocolate into small pieces.

Melt the chocolates in separate double broiler setups.

Stir the chocolate to keep it from burning.

(I couldn’t decide which chocolate I liked better, so I had to show both – gratuitous chocolate scene)

I used a nifty silicone drizzler tool that was a gift from Brian’s sister to drizzle the chocolate, and it worked great. If you do not have one of these, Gourmet recommends using a heavy duty ziploc bag with the corner cut off. 

In case you couldn’t tell, this part is a whole lot of fun!

Freeze these to set the chocolate. These cookies are so delicious I cannot even describe – you just need to make them yourself. They are my new favorite cookie ever. Ever. EVER! 

Coconut Oatmeal Lace Cookies
Adapted from Gourmet, December 2008 

For cookies:

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

For decorating:

3 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped and melted

3 ounces fine-quality white chocolate, finely chopped and melted

Equipment: 2 (17-by 11-inch) nonstick bakeware liners such as Silpats; 2 heavy-duty sealable bags

Make cookies
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line 2 large baking sheets with nonstick liners.

Melt butter with brown sugar and salt in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Stir in coconut, oats, and flour until just combined. Remove pot from heat but keep batter warm over pot (so batter is easier to spread).

Drop rounded teaspoons of batter at least 3 1/2 inches apart on 1 baking sheet and spread each to about 2 inches with an offset spatula or back of a spoon (This blogger flattened each drop for more even cooking). Bake until cookies are bubbling and golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet on a rack until firm, 3 to 4 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack to cool completely. Form and bake more cookies on second baking sheet (wipe liners clean and cool between batches).

Decorate with chocolate
Cool melted chocolates slightly. Transfer each to a sealable bag and snip a 1/16-inch opening at a corner of each bag. Put some of cooled cookies on a parchment-lined tray that will fit in freezer, then pipe chocolates decoratively over cookies. Freeze 2 to 3 minutes to set chocolate, then carefully remove cookies from parchment.

Cooks’ note:

Cookies keep, layered between parchment in an airtight container, at cool room temperature 1 week.