Chicago Tribune Staff - Good Eatings Holiday Cookies

Good Eatings 2004 Holiday Cookie Contest winners. Sirapskakor, Cucidati, and Hazelnut Coffee Oatmeal Cookies.

Cookie Cutters

For sheer beauty, and infinite decorating possibility, the set of snowflake cutters from King Arthur Flour could keep you busy all winter. These are sturdy, backless and without handles, making them a cinch to work with. What could be lovelier than a platter of snowflakes, each one its own work of natural wonder? This set contains seven cutters, ranging from a whopping 5 inches down to an itty-bitty 1 3/4 inches. Cutters are dressed up with a blue or white coating for extra sturdiness and style. Hand wash, please.
Cost: $12.95
kingarthurflour.com

A cookie cutter neednt be fancy to steal center stage. And so it is with this simple winter cap from the H.O. Foose Tinsmithing Co., out of Pennsylvanias Amish Country. You can decorate to your hearts content, as these easy-to-work-with lines leave much room for the imagination. And if youve a gingerman or snowman who needs head cover, you can order up a mini winters cap too. Winter cap is about 3.5 inches across; mini is 1.5 inches. Hand wash and thoroughly dry, please. (Some folks dry in the oven on very low heat till every last drop of moisture is gone.)
Cost: $1.59 for regular and mini
foosecookiecutters.com

We have long counted the whimsical, handcrafted Hammersong tinware cutters among our kitchen treasures. And come the winter holidays, Betsy Kukla, the artist behind it all, does not disappoint. With dozens to choose from, we were hard-pressed to pick favorites, but who could resist the Loving You Gingerman cutter or the Partridge in a Pear Tree? Down to the itty-bittiest detail, they delight. Hand wash and thoroughly dry, please. You might want to hang on the wall, rather than hiding away in a drawer.
Cost: $20 gingerman; $14 pear tree.
lacuisineus.com

Itd be hard to miss the bellowing ho-ho-ho of the jolly old elf, what with these 6-inch-tall solid-copper cutters. Made by Old River Road, a California artisan cutter-maker, this is a set of two upper case letters (you can buy lower case, too, if you are of the ee cummings ilk). You might want to extend the seasonality here and turn the HO upside down, baking up a big-sized OH!
Cost: $22
fancyflours.com

Tips for Success

Homemade cookies often may look simple, but the good ones take know-how culled from long experience in baking.

A real cookie maven is Nancy Baggett, who tested almost 30,000 to come up with the recipes for her new The All-American Cookie Book (Houghton Mifflin, $35).

Here, adapted from the chapter on How to Make Great Cookies Every Single Time, are some tips for doing your best work yet in the kitchen:

In baking, accuracy really counts. For measuring liquids, use transparent or 1- or 2-cup marked measuring cups. Set the cup on a flat surface. For measuring dry ingredients, graduated cups make it easy to obtain the exact amount needed by leveling off with the sweep of a long-bladed spatula or knife, rather than just judging by sight.

Prepare the recipe exactly as it is written at least once before making any changes. Pay particular attention to what temperature ingredients should be, because this can have a major effect on baking success. Follow the instructions on mixing procedures and the order for adding ingredients.

Semisweet chocolate blocks and semisweet chocolate morsels are often not interchangeable. Blocks and morsels were designed for different purposes; manufacturers intend for semisweet chocolate blocks to be used melted, so these generally melt smoothly and are fairly fluid. Chocolate chips are designed to hold their shape when heated, so are usually stiff when melted.

Butter and regular stick margarine are sometimes interchangeable; butter and tub-style, light or diet margarine are never interchangeable.

Granulated sugar and brown sugar are rarely interchangeable. Brown sugar is moister, heavier and coarser than granulated sugar, so it will also change the cookie texture.