The ultimate Minnesota cookie book 100 best recipes from the star Tribune's Holiday Cookie contest

There's a cookie for everyone in this compilation of the Minnesota Star Tribune's annual holiday baking contest. Perennial genres pop up, with twists and personalized touches for that extra holiday glow, and the fruits of this contest showcase the landscape of American cookie baking. Sandwich cookies feature popular spreads like cinnamon cookie-butter or take an all-American approach with peanut stars, while rosemary creams add a modern infusion of herbs to the more traditional lemony flavor. There is a wealth of drop cookies to choose from, with lively pops of cherry or peppermints pressed into the buttery treats, and a nod to Scandinavian flavoring with many cardamom-infused cookies. The wide variety of colors, textures, and names (think: orange almond melting moments, Persian molasses crinkles, strawberry margarita gems) reveals glimpses of a narrative that goes well beyond baking. Everything from swirls, crescents, pinwheels, shortbread, and pistachio "pine cones" will have mouths watering and bakers ready to create cookie gift plates this winter.

Bakers in Minnesota take their cookies seriously, as evidenced by the Star Tribune's annual holiday cookie contest. Launched in 2003, the contest would go on to become an annual, beloved tradition. Dean (food editor at the Star Tribune) and Nelson (Star Tribune's restaurant critic and food writer) have now expanded and updated their 2018 collaboration, The Great Minnesota Cookie Book, adding 25 new winning recipes to the 75 collected in the original cookbook. After covering the origins of the contest and offering tips for better cookie baking, the authors divvy up recipes into chapters by type of cookie, such as sandwich, drop, and bar. Each recipe includes a friendly note from its contributor(s) and is formatted in an easily accessible style with excellent color photographs of the finished treat. Recipes, some original creations and others riffs on cookies from other sources, range from sweet holiday treats, including candy cane sugar cookies and sugar plum doodles, to biscuits with more of a savory edge, such as smoky blue-cheese cherry cookies. VERDICT This collection of simple and sophisticated cookie recipes would be a welcome gift to any baker hoping to augment their holiday cookie repertoire.--John Charles