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Grab your oven mittens, make sure you have enough powdered sugar and don't be shy, put on those stretchy pants — it's cookie season.

We're bringing back our popular cookie of the week series this holiday season, giving you a delicious cookie recipe every week leading up to Christmas. That means four different cookies to try out for friends and family, or for your office cookie swap.

Happy Baking!

Our first recipe is from Lindsey Hollenbaugh, managing editor of features. These bakery-style butter cookies look intimidating, but it's actually an incredibly easy cookie dough to make. A word of caution: This is a thick dough, you'll need a good piping bag and French star tip to make them look fancy. Lindsey tried to cheap out and just use a tip in a Ziploc bag and soon had dough oozing out of every possible crack in the bag's seam, while she sweated trying to push the dough out of the actual French tip. The little bit of effort is worth it though, for these sweet little perfect reminders of a childhood eyeing these beauties in a diner dessert counter.

Bakery-style butter cookies


Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

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  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

    • Toppings:
  • 1/2 cup jam of your choice
  • 1 cup sprinkles, chopped nuts, or finely shredded dried coconut
  • 10-to-12-ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Directions:

  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  3. Combine the butter and sugar until well blended and light.
  4. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and salt, and beat to combine.
  5. Add the flour, and mix just until the flour disappears.
  6. Fit a piping bag with a medium (approximately 1/2-inch opening) French star tip. Pipe the dough into 1 3/4-to-2-inch-long segments, spaced about 1 inch apart.
  7. Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes, or until they are golden at the edges. (Be careful, the bottoms of these can burn quickly!) Let the cookies cool completely.
    To assemble:
  8. Spread a small amount of jam on the back of one cookie. Top with another cookie.
  9. Place sprinkles in shallow bowls.
  10. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or in a small saucepan until they're three-quarters melted, then stir to melt the rest.
  11. Place the melted chocolate in a bowl.
  12. Line two large baking sheets with parchment.
  13. Dip each assembled cookie sandwich a third to half of the way into the chocolate and let it drip off, wiping away any excess.
  14. Roll the cookies in sprinkles, then return them to the baking sheets to set or you can pop them in the freezer for 5 minutes.