New Christmas cookie recipes

Any cookie monsters reading today? If so, I thought now might be a good time to give you a heads up about some great new publications. First, and of most interest to tea lovers, is a special issue from Better Homes and Gardens titled "100 Best Cookies." My friend Joanie at Hastings pointed this one out to me one day, and I loved the cover and immediately envisioned spelling out the name of the magazine I work for in cookies next year! But when I got home and began reading through the magazine, I was delighted to find a feature titled "Brew, Then Bake" about infusing cookies with coffee or tea! The tea-infused cookies include Jasmine-Orange Meltaways, Earl Grey Bocca Di Nonna and Chai Crescents. A huge yum to all those, which are surely candidates for the treats I'll be baking!

Next up: The wonderful women who gave us "Cookie Craft" a few years ago, Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer, are back with a sequel, "Cookie Craft Christmas," and it is delightful! I have not made a single bad batch of sugar cookies since learning their techniques, and now they have me eager to make some truly decorative Christmas cookies. Cookie placecards ... a 3-D sleigh ... lovely red poinsettia cookies with bright gold dragées ... Yes, I've already been stocking up on cookie sprinkles and gel food coloring!

Finally, the latest Martha Stewart special issue is a winner, and Holiday Sweets will join her other special issues I keep from year to year. Although the magazine isn't limited to cookies (there's a gingerbread cake that looks amazing!), the cookie recipes and cookie packaging ideas are what most appealed to me this time. Some of the cookies are individually packaged in paper envelopes lined with wax paper (template included), and they are adorable! I hesitate to keep plugging Christmas ideas when Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but I also know these holiday issues tend to sell out and you can't wait 'til Dec. 15 to find them!