What would it look like to tell the Midwest’s story through Christmas cookies? Shauna Sever, the author of Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland, shares 9 of her recipes, collected from research with small-town bakeries, newspaper clippings, church recipe collections and community cookbooks. If she learned one thing, she says, it’s this: “Without immigrants, our unique culinary landscape simply wouldn’t exist. One glance at a Midwesterner’s holiday cookie tin tells all you need to know.”
Sandbakkels
Sandbakkels.
Blaine Moats
Sandbakkels means “sand tarts” because the cookies (which, flipped over, can double as tiny shells to hold cream and fruit) have such a fine, crisp texture. They reflect the Midwest’s Scandinavian heritage cooking.
Cracker Toffee
Cracker Toffee.
Blaine Moats
Cracker toffee dates to the 1870s, when an enterprising baker in St. Joseph, Missouri, added baking soda to water crackers. The wildly popular creation became known as saltines, and home cooks dreamed up many ways to use them—including as a base for toffee.
Apricot and Orange Blossom Kolacky
Apricot and Orange Blossom Kolacky.
Blaine Moats
This tender pastry cookie, a cousin to Jewish rugelach, has Polish origins. The recipe’s apricot filling nods to Hungary.
Anisette Buttons
Anisette Buttons.
Blaine Moats
“Anisettes feel so Italian because it’s about abundance,” says Chicago food writer Shauna Sever, of these deliciously soft, cakey cookies with a licorice flavor. “Small bites, but a huge yield.”
Peanut Better Blossoms
Peanut Better Blossoms.
Blaine Moats
Shauna Sever ramped up the nuttiness of these peanut butter blossoms and opted for a creamy ganache filling in her take on this peanut butter favorite.
Cheater’s Fudge
Cheater’s Fudge.
Blaine Moats
Old-fashioned fudge (the kind made on marble slabs behind candy-shop windows on Michigan’s Mackinac Island) requires a candy thermometer and a whole lot of patience. Shauna Sever prefers a shortcut version you might recognize from the back of cans of sweetened condensed milk, but she gives it a 21st-century boost of bittersweet chocolate and flaky sea salt.
Lebkuchen
Lebkuchen.
Blaine Moats
Honey-sweetened lebkuchen, spicy like gingerbread but more dense and soft, traces its origins to Germany. The secret to perfect lebkuchen is in the resting phase after glazing.
Gramma’s Sugar Cookies
Gramma’s Sugar Cookies.
Shauna Sever grew up thinking this beloved recipe was special to her family with its unique additions of vegetable oil, confectioners’ sugar and cream of tartar. So you can imagine her bewilderment when she found this exact recipe in a vintage Illinois state cookbook.
Polvorones
Polvorones.
Blaine Moats
Polvorones are Mexico’s crispy, airy answer to shortbread (you may know them as Mexican wedding cookies). Coat them in cinnamon sugar for a churro-like effect.