Egg Nog Snickerdoodles | Commercial Food Photographer

Two perfect reasons to make these cookies:
1. You love Egg Nog.
2. You hate Egg Nog but someone left it at your house.

Either way, you'll like these cookies! If you don't, take them to work and make your coworkers eat them. They're really light and the flavors are subtle, a nice contrast to the majority of holiday treats.

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The paper trees in the background have been my favorite part of this holiday season. I've really enjoyed making them, thanks to fellow photographer and blogger Davina Fear, who happily shared the idea. Those of you who are parents, Davina has some of the cutest crafts and activities I have EVER seen.

Eggnog Snickerdoodle Cookies
www.whatkatiesbaking.com

1 ½ c flour
½ stick butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup egg nog (I used soy Silk Egg Nog, and it worked perfectly.)
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 cup sugar + 1 tbsp cinnamon for rolling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1/2 cup sugar. (I used the paddle attachment like it says, but I used a regular beater for my next cookie recipe (also to combine butter and sugar) and it worked just fine.
4. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl.
5. Add egg and eggnog, and beat to combine.
6. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine. Don't overmix.
7. You can chill the dough for an hour or more to make the dough easier to scoop, or go ahead and scoop them a little messier.
8. In a small bowl, combine 1/8 cup sugar and 1 tbsp ground cinnamon.
9. Use a small ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar.
10. Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
11. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack, about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after five minutes. The cookies will feel a little doughy when you touch them, but trust me, they're finished.
12. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack as soon as they are cool enough to not fall apart. Yields 18-20 cookies.

Galaxy Cookies | Food Photography and Styling

These Galaxy Cookies may look humble, but believe me, they're out of this world. (Ha! That was a pun I stole from my sister.) Really, these are one of my all-time favorite cookies. I loved making them as a kid. The best part is you can decorate and fill them with anything you love. Hands down, my favorite is Maraschino Cherry.

It's a simple colored dough wrapped around a candy or nut and topped with sprinkles. You can also cover them in icing. What should you put in them? How about...

Galaxy Cookies

from Betty Crocker

1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, softened

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

food coloring

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

anything you want to put in the middle

Icing

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons light cream or 1 1/2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Mix thoroughly butter, sugar, vanilla, and, if desired, a few drops of food coloring. (Or you can wait to add the food coloring when the dough is finished in order to split it into batches and make multiple colors instead of just one.)

Work in salt and flour until dough holds together. If dough is dry, mix in 1 to 2 Tbsp light cream.

Mold dough by tablespoonfuls around date, nut, candy, cherry, or a few chocolate pieces. Roll into balls. Here, you can choose to decorate with sprinkles, or wait until they're baked and top with icing.

Preheat over to 350°F. Place cookies about 1-inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes until set but not brown.

Prepare icing by mixing confectioners sugar with light cream or milk and vanilla until smooth. If desired, stir in a few drops of food coloring. For a tasty chocolate icing, increase light cream to 3 tbsp and stir in 1 oz melted unsweetened chocolate.

Let cookies cool, then dip tops of cookies into icing several times to get a good layer. If desired, immediately decorate with coconut, nuts, colored sugar, candies, chocolate pieces or chocolate shot.

Makes 20 to 25 cookies.