Every year, I can't wait for the holidays. When I was growing up (my mom is Jewish, my dad is Chinese), we celebrated Chrismukkah and threw dumpling-making parties. They were non-denominational and everyone was invited. On Christmas Day, we made latkes and donuts and gingerbread houses—and ate bagels and Chinese food. The way we saw it: Let's celebrate everything. And eat everything in the process.
Nowadays, my holidays are pretty similar. They still revolve around food and we still celebrate everything. But with my blog, My Name Is Yeh, the celebrations happen months in advance. Like this year, in October, I worked on this Hanukkah cookie recipe and a stollen recipe. So the season gets drawn out, which isn't a bad thing.
We have some new traditions, too. My friend always hosts a cookie swap and it's so much fun. This year, I want to involve my daughter Bernie in some way—maybe have her help decorate cookies (though she’ll only be about eight months old). We usually host a Chrismukkah party at our house, with latkes and lefse, so my husband Nick's side gets represented as well.
A few years ago, I made homemade gelt for the holidays. I shot a video with another baker, whose name is also Molly. It was her idea to make homemade gelt and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. You form circles of melted chocolate on parchment—truly could not be easier—but there are so many ways you can go from there. You can top the chocolate with different nuts or seeds or dukkah or spice blends or sprinkles.
This year, I wanted to do something similar for Hanukkah. Why not put homemade gelt on a really tasty cookie? Because, when it comes to dessert, Christmas has a monopoly on cookies during the holiday season. Donuts and latkes get most of the focus during Hanukkah and, to be totally I honest, I don't love frying things. So I wanted to find a way to celebrate Hanukkah and get in the holiday vibe, but not have to get the deep fryer out. These cookies are super simple—and giftable.
One of my favorite things about gelt is that it's always super-sweet milk chocolate—and I love milk chocolate with hazelnuts. I have this almond cookie recipe I make a lot, so I subbed out the almonds for hazelnuts, then added a little orange zest (orange and hazelnuts work so well together, and of course orange and chocolate work so well together). It's a nice, big, thick cutout—a little soft, a little cakey. And the homemade gelt goes on top.
Gold sprinkles add the perfect extra something. (We used a lot of sprinkles growing up.) They're happy and just really great decorating tools. Simple, yes, but they make anything so much more festive.
—As told to Food52 —molly yeh
Featured in: Food52's Holiday Cookie Chronicles —The Editors
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