Christmas Cookie wars

The one, almost nasty, byproduct of the holiday baking scene are the cookie wars. Most home bakers have gone through them , vying with friends, coworkers siblings and even their own moms. It always boils down to who makes the best or the prettiest. It seems it was even that way at America's most prestigious newspaper The New York Times. Two well known food writers went after each other, well armed with spatulas, sugar and butter.

Kim Severson and Julia Moskin went oven to oven in this cookie stand off..Ms Severson contributed her family recipes such as the delicate flavored and textured pizzelle.Despite Ms Moskin writing smack about them {playfully calling them dry wafers with no taste save for a hint of unpopular anise} however  these are actually the perfect respite from all those over flavored bars, crisps and snaps. Ms Severson also has contributed a fun and jewel like  variation of the Linzer torte, Linzer trees. These are sandwich cookies with a tart ruby filling of raspberry jam peeking through the cut outs. With Linzer trees  the top cookie has tiny little circles cut out so the jam underneath acts as Christmas balls. The finished products then are dusted with powdered sugar to give them an elegant frosted look. She also baked the gooey and decadent chocolate snow caps.These  has the added crunch of pecans as well as a sugar crust made from crushed sugar lumps.

The other side, Ms Moskin is no slouch when it comes to cookies. She makes the strangely paired yet amazingly delicious bacon fat ginger snaps , taken from the classic New York Times recipe for Swedish ginger cookies.These have the usual spices such as cloves, ginger and cinnamon but also has the richness of fat to give the cookies some density.There are also the sinfully silky peanut butter snaps that is another combination of salty and sweet, crunchy and smooth married perfectly together. Make a batch of these for a tree trimming party or family get together. Ms. Moskin also celebrates her Jewish faith with a fried cookie, using an all butter puff pastry and stuffing it with citrus and dried fruit, giving it a mince pie kind of feel. Ms. Severson though accused her of cheating as she also accused her of ripping off the Girl Scouts with her yummy and truly decadent chocolate mint thins topped with  a candy cane crunch topping.

Cookie wars can get ugly despite the beautiful results. All in all these bake off just means more cookies to sample and enjoy. Every one is the best. Every one is the most tastiest.