Holiday baking magic: How cookies bring friends and families together

With Christmas around the corner and the winter holiday season in full swing, it’s time to turn on the oven and start baking cookies.

Cookies are a quintessential holiday bake, at least in part because they’re great gifts, according to Vaughn Vreeland, author of “Cookies: The Best Recipes for the Perfect Anytime Treat” and leader of the New York Times’ Cookie Week this year.

Vreeland, a recipe creator, writer and video host for @nytcooking, weighed in with a few tips on how to make the most of your holiday cooking this season.

“Nothing says I love you more than a cookie,” he says. The task takes time, intention, and tactile effort to complete, pulling together expressions of care using several different love languages, he explains.

“It’s not just something you buy on Amazon that gets there in two days,” he says.

Plus, baking cookies together can be a great way to spend time with family and friends. Especially for novice bakers, it helps to start with supplies that will set you up for success, he advises. Pick up cute kitchen towels or a colorful mat, and queue up a festive playlist that’ll make being in the kitchen fun.

Maybe invite a friend over. And make plans to share your creations with as many people as possible, he says.

“Nostalgia is a big part of the thread that weaves into the fabric of the holidays,” Vreeland says.

It can also help to find ways to incorporate unexpected flavors amid traditional ones. Seasonal flavors tend to be spicy, warming and uplifting, so flavors like gingerbread and peppermint, or boozy and warming combos are a safe bet.

But Vreeland’s cookbook also contains some creative recipes to blend traditional holiday beverage flavors with cookies — like eggnog snickerdoodles or gingerbread latte cookies.

“I think what’s nice is there is a cookie for everyone in the book,” he says.

Recipes come from Vaughn, alongside recipe writers like Yossy Arefi, Melissa Clark, Dorie Greenspan, Eric Kim, Genevieve Ko, Yewande Komolafe, Samantha Seneviratne, Susan Spungen and many others.

Details: “Cookies: The Best Recipes for the Perfect Anytime Treat” by Vaughn Vreeland and New York Times Cooking (Ten Speed Press, $35) was published Oct. 28 and is available wherever books are sold.

Holiday recipes from ‘Cookies’

• Chocolate Peppermint Bars
• Gingerbread Blondies
• Eggnog Snickerdoodles