December 4th is National Cookie Day, and what better cookies to enjoy than Christmas cookies.

Some people bake the same family favorites every year, others look for new recipes. We loved these three fun ideas from Pillsbury.

All three begin with a package of refrigerated cookie dough. With the time you save mixing and cutting cookie dough, you can focus on the elaborate decorations.

RECIPE: MELTING SNOWMEN COOKIES

Prep time for these cuties is 30 minutes, total time is 1 hr 30 minutes.

Ingredients For 24 Cookies

 
Preparation

TOP PHOTO: Melted snowmen cookies. BOTTOM PHOTO: Santa Bellies. Photos courtesy Pillsbury.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the cookie dough rounds 2 inches apart on 2 ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack to cool completely. Meanwhile…

2. MAKE the hats. Remove the creme from sandwich cookies and save. Attach a miniature peanut butter cup to one half of the sandwich cookie, using a small amount of the saved vanilla frosting. Continue for the remaining hats.

3. CUT the marshmallows in half, and place one half on top of each cookie, cut side down. In a small microwavable bowl, microwave the remaining frosting, uncovered, on medium (50%) for 20 to 40 seconds, until slightly warm (stir halfway through). Spoon the frosting on top of the marshmallow/cookie to look like melting snow. Attach a hat to the top of each cookie. Attach the miniature chocolate chips and orange gumdrop candy for the eyes and nose. Allow to set for 20 minutes.

3. USE black cookie icing to pipe arms on each snowman cookie. Wrap one piece of licorice around the neck for the scarf. Allow to set completely before serving, about 30 minutes.

Store in an airtight container.

You can see step-by-step photography and a video of this preparation here.

RECIPE: SANTA’S BELLY COOKIES

The photo for these is above. Prep time is 40 minutes, total time is 1 hour 20 minutes.

Ingredients For 24 Cookies

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. On two ungreased cookie sheets, place the dough rounds 2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Meanwhile, slightly flatten marshmallows.

2. REMOVE from the oven and top each cookie with a marshmallow. Return to the oven, and bake 1 to 2 minutes or until slightly softened.

3. REMOVE the cookies from the cookie sheets; cool completely on cooling racks. Meanwhile, separate frosting into 3 small bowls, using 1-1/4 cups to make red frosting, 1/4 cup for yellow frosting and 1/4 cup for black frosting. Add food color to each, and mix to get desired colors (red, yellow and black). Frost and decorate cookies to look like Santa’s belly, using photo as a guide.

Store in an airtight container.

You can see step-by-step photography and a video here.
 
RECIPE: CUTE REINDEER COOKIES

Make these reindeer in 30 minutes of prep time, 1 hour 5 minutes total time. See the photo above.

Ingredients For 24 Cookies

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Place thr cookies 2 inches apart on two ungreased cookie sheets. Shape each cookie into oval, but do not flatten.

2. Bake 11 to 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.

3. MELT the candy coating as directed on the package. Working with one cookie at a time, dip the top side of cookie into the melted candy coating, covering fully and letting excess drip off. Place 2 pretzel halves on top of cookie for antlers, 2 candy eyeballs for eyes and 1 mint candy for nose. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Store in an airtight container.

Head here for a step-by-step photographs and a video.

If you start now, you can have a homemade figgy pudding at Christmas.
 
 
WHAT’S A FIGGY PUDDING?

A distant cousin of the fruit cake, figgy pudding is a traditional fig-based cake, which became common in England in the 1600s.

Christmas pudding has been celebrated in song at least since then. Countless carolers sing for it every year. (But do they get a slice?)

Thought to bring luck and prosperity to all who share it, a figgy pudding is typically made five weeks before Christmas, on or after the Sunday before Advent.

Also called plum pudding and Christmas pudding, this dessert is, in the manner of British puddings, a steamed cake. Essentially, it’s a very wet, alcohol-soaked, boiled fruit cake.

British recipes use fruits such as plums, figs and dates; Irish recipes vary the recipe with raisins, currants, sultanas and citrus peel. Here’s the difference between British pudding and American pudding.

Even if you don’t have five weeks, you can make one this weekend and still have figgy pudding on Christmas.

The Christmas pudding is served on Christmas day, traditionally decorated with a spray of holly (which is not edible). In some homes, it is doused in flaming brandy and brought to the table in a darkened room. Here’s how to flambé a dessert.

The steamed pudding trend hasn’t caught on in the U.S. (or at least, it hasn’t returned since it fell out of fashion at the beginning of the 19th century), but we think it’s ripe for a comeback.

T[2] . BOTTOM PHOTO: Figgy pudding with toffee sauce, from Mackenzie Ltd.

First, here’s a figgy pudding recipe. You can add figs, dried plums (prunes), raisins, or other dried fruits and still be authentic.

A good pudding needs a good sauce, of course. Christmas pudding can be served with:

 
Or you can be very untraditional and serve your pudding with some vanilla ice cream. For delightful overkill, try rum raisin ice cream.

You may have heard of the wassail bowl. Wassail is neither the bowl nor the spirited drink inside it.

Rather, it is a toast to good health. What’s in the bowl can be anything from eggnog to punch.

The toast is not limited to England. From the Spanish salude to slainte in Irish Gaelic, many languages wish good health when glasses clink.

Wassail (WOZ-ul) is an Old English toast, adopted from the Old Norse “ves heill,” meaning “be healthy.” It has been served to carolers for centuries.

Wassail has its own song, too: Here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green.

But should you serve it with figgy pudding?

Slices of fresh goat cheese are topped with marinated sundried tomatoes, and you can serve them in several ways:

 
And it’s so easy to make.

You can buy whole sundried tomatoes, or make your own topping. dice them and marinate them in olive oil with oregano and other herbs*.

Deck the table with goat cheese rounds. Photo courtesy Bella Sun Luci.

The Bella Sun Luci brand of sundried tomatoes has done all the hard work. Look for their jars of:

Ingredients

 
Variations

 
_________________________________
*You can use basil, black pepper, marjoram,oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, sea salt and/or thyme.
†If you use rosemary, garnish with very small pieces, as guests may be wary of eating a larger sprig.

If you come up with other uses for “Christmas goat cheese,” please share!

We received scores of pitches, but here’s what caught our eye (in alphabetical order).

DeLEÓN TEQUILA: CUSTOM-ENGRAVED BOTTLES

You may or may not know that Sean “Diddy” Combs is the co-owner of the DeLeón tequila brand, which he acquired along with Diageo, his partner in Ciroc vodka.

His part is to give DeLeón a similar sheen, making it the luxury vodka (he drinks it on the rocks). The packaging is gorgeous, the empty bottles demand to be repurposed. But that’s not all:

Bottles of DeLeón Platinum ($55) and DeLeón Reposado ($65) can be custom-engraved with your personal message. It is engraved on the back of the bottle facing the front, so it can be seen whenever the giftee looks at the bottle. You have 10-25 characters on two lines in 14 point type, or 10-30 characters on 3 lines in 10 point type.

Each bottle comes beautifully wrapped and accompanied with custom drink stirrers and a personal note from Mr. Combs. Start composing those messages, then head to ReserveBar.com.
 
 
DIY: HOMEMADE GIN KIT

TOP PHOTO: Engrave a message on the back of the DeLeón tequila bottle. BOTTOM PHOTO: Make homemade gin with this kit from DIY. And homemade tonic water, too.

How much fun is this? The Homemade Gin Kit (photo above) lets you transform a generic bottle of vodka into your very own home-blend of gin in 36 hours. The kit contains everything you need—except the vodka—to make a like craft distillery-like gin in just 36 hours.

It’s $54.95 at Williams-Sonoma.com (online only). You can combine it with a DIY Tonic Water Kit, $24.95.

TOP PHOTO: Pop the cork of limited edition
Chandon Champagne. MIDDLE PHOTO:
Rolling Stones fans will want these
commemorative tequila bottles from Jose
Cuervo. BOTTOM PHOTO: Samuel Adams
Utopias, beer aged to a cognac-like state.

MOET ET CHANDON: CHANDON LIMITED EDITION HOLIDAY BOTTLE

Celebrating its third year of limited-edition holiday bottles, the 2015 bottle is white with gold script phrases like “Nonstop Fun” and Bestie Wishes.” It’s available at retailers nationwide, or online from Chandon.com.

The suggested retail price is $24 for a 750-ml. bottle, $288 for a case.

Not grand enough? For $449 you can give a Dom Pérignon 3-Pack: three bottles of the The King of Champagne’s 2005 vintage, with an engraved glass ice bucket.
 
 
JOSE CUERVO TEQUILA: ROLLING STONES LIMITED EDITION BOTTLE

Jose Cuervo has released two limited edition tequila bottlings of Especial and Reserva de la Familia. They commemorate “the pivotal role that Jose Cuervo played in fueling The Rolling Stones notorious 1972 North American tour” (dubbed the “Tequila Sunrise Tour”).

For those who don’t know their Stones legends, the tour kicked off with a party at The Trident bar in San Francisco. According to an article in National Geographic, Mick came up to the bar and asked Bobby Lozoff, inventor of the Tequila Sunrise,for a Margarita. Bobby suggested a Tequila Sunrise instead and the rest, as they say, is history.

Both bottles feature the iconic Stones “lapping tongue” logo and a limited-edition label. The Special Edition Rolling Stones Jose Cuervo Especial has a suggested retail price of $16.99.

The Ultra Premium Rolling Stones Reserva de la Familia Collectors Edition—the private Extra Añejo tequila reserve of the Cuervo Family—has a suggested retail price of $149.99.
 
 
BOSTON BEER COMPANY: SAMUEL ADAMS UTOPIAS

What’s a $200 Samuel Adams like?

Like cognac, it’s is a blend of previous vintages. The complex aroma has notes of wood, toffee, cocoa, raisin and maple; on the palate there’s molasses, earthy wood, dates, and toffee.

Utopias a limited edition, limited release brew. Only 15,000 bottles are made each year. It’s packaged in a ceramic brew-kettle-style decanter.

This year’s batch is 28% ABV, and is best enjoyed at room temperature, as a two ounce pour in a snifter.

At a suggested retail price of $199, you probably can’t give it as a gift to all your beer-loving friends; but connoisseurs of craft beer will really appreciate a taste. Buy a bottle and invite them for a sip.

Here’s where you can find it.

For holidays, we always spring for special crackers. We have our year-round go-to favorites, but a special occasion deserves special crackers with the hors d’oeuvre, soup and cheese courses.

Raincoast Crisps is one of the finest cracker lines made.

Lesley Stowe spent years as a caterer before the demand for her crisps grew so great, she realized there was a different opportunity to pursue. She went into the crisps business full-time.

Perfect for antipasto, dips, cheeses, pâtés or eating by themselves, these crisps are a perfection of flavor, texture and eye appeal. They’re packed with seeds (flax, pumpkin, sesame), nuts, fruits and herbs.

There are now six year-round flavors and a pumpkin edition for the holidays.

These small batch crackers* are made from scratch, using the finest-quality, all non-GMO ingredients. While Lesley could make them flat naturally, she creates a slight curve in the crisp to make them even more special (and great for dipping).

Much time was spent in the development of Raincoast Crisps. There’s a lot of hand labor required to get them just so. As a result, they’re pricier† than production-line crackers. But as a splurge, don’t hesitate to spend your money on them; they’re worth it. The products are certified kosher by OU.
 
*In the U.K. and Canada, crisps are something small and crunchy. Potato chips are called potato crisps.

†We have seen them for $7.99 to $11.99 for a 170 g (6-ounce) box, depending on the retailer.
 
THE GLORIOUS RAINCOAST CRISPS AND IDEAS FOR
PAIRINGS

As a caterer, Ms. Stowe had the experience to develop cracker flavors to pair with popular nibbles. Her choices follow, although your own preferences should guide your way.

Original Raincoast Crisps

With four types of seeds—no nuts, no fruits—this savory crisp is match anything, but Lesley favors it with:

TOP PHOTO: Use Raincoast Crisps as the base for canapés. BOTTOM PHOTO: The flavors and textures of Raincoast Crisps. Photos courtesy Lesley Stowe.

 
Cranberry Hazelnut Crisps

This sweet and fruity crisp, with plump cranberries and toasty hazelnuts, is a natural with:

 
Fig & Olive Crisps

Pair this savory and salty crisp, made with Adriatic figs and Kalamata olives (no nuts), with:

TOP PHOTO: Rosemary Raisin Pecan crisps
with blue cheese. BOTTOM PHOTO: The
filling of a New Orleans mufffuletta sandwich
is turned into a dip. Here’s the recipe. Photos
courtesy Lesley Stowe.

Rosemary Raisin Pecan Crisps

Try this sweet and savory crisp, balancing sweet Thompson raisins with pecans and fresh rosemary, with:

 
While you’re at it, check out Lesley’s recipe for Caramelized Onion & Blue Cheese Dip. We couldn’t get enough of it.
 
Salty Date and Almond Crisps

Made at the request of customers for a saltier crisp, this combination of dates and almonds is topped with a dusting of coarse sea salt. Try it with:

 
There are also two flavors exclusive to Whole Foods Markets: Apricot Fig & Lemon Crisps and the seasonal Pumpkin & Spice Crisps.
 
WHEAT-FREE, NUT-FREE CRISPS

So that more people can relish the crisps, there’s a wheat- and nut-free line made with oats, in:

There’s a store locator on the website, and they are sold online at Dean & DeLuca, iGourmet and other specialty food sites.

However, reading the reviews on Amazon raised an issue we need to point out. While almost every comment called them the “best crackers ever” (while bemoaning the high price), the majority reported that the crackers arrived in crumbs, that the packaging wasn’t good for shipping.

If you can’t find them or can’t afford them, several people have recreated their own copycat recipes—much to the chagrin of Ms. Stowe who spent so much effort developing them. (“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” she says.)

We can’t think of a better holiday gift for a foodie—along with a fine piece of cheese.

Learn more at LesleyStowe.com.

 
Cranberry Hazelnut Crisps photo courtesy Dean & DeLuca.