Gingerbread Cookies with Confectioner's Sugar Icing

Our friend recently deployed to Iraq for a year. While he's gone, a group of us has committed to sending him care packages that represent the current season back home. We thought and thought about what we should include in the fall-themed package, and a trip through Hobby Lobby provided inspiration: gingerbread cookies in the shape of turkeys! It was obviously fated, so we snapped them up and ran home to bake.

The basis for our cookies is the Gingerbread Cookies recipe from Cooking Light's November 2009 issue. We made these for our annual Christmas party last year and they were a smash hit, so we were able to bake with confidence.

Before attempting these cookies, be aware that the dough requires an hour's worth of chillin' in the fridge. The good news, though, is that the cookies will keep for weeks in an airtight container, so you can make them several days ahead when you have time and ice them later.

We love the simple icing recipe that accompanies the cookies, but it's more for piping, and we didn't quite know how to pipe a turkey! That's why we headed over to Williams-Sonoma and snapped up a recipe for Confectioners' Sugar Icing instead.

The W-S icing requires 3 ingredients not pictured in our ingredient line-up - 1/2 stick of butter, water, and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar - and about 7 minutes to prepare (5 of which are cooling time). It results in a buttery, sugar icing that can either be drizzled or spread.

We chose the festive route and opted to drizzle the icing on our cookies, and they turned out looking very chic and modern! A tip for fellow drizzlers - lay your cookies out on a large sheet of saran wrap, leaving plenty of room on the top and bottom sides. Then, start the stream of icing before you get to the first cookie, and finish after you've reached the last one. That way, all of your cookies look perfectly uniform, with none of them looking like an obvious starting or ending point.

Our fingers are crossed that the desert heat doesn't melt these into a sticky, gooey mess! But hey, it's the thought that counts, right? And no matter how they look when they reach their destination, we know one thing's for sure: they'll still be delicious!

Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dried Cherries and Pistachios

Halloween is fast approaching, and what better way to prepare than with a sinful treat? (No tricks, we promise!) This one comes from our new favorite recipe destination, Williams-Sonoma.com, and they call these their Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dried Cherries and Pistachios.

First a warning - do not start eating this dough, or you will not be able to stop. Seriously, we clearly missed the part where it said we were actually adding crack to the dough. It must have been in the butter.

Let it be known that those pistachios and cherries came with a Williams-Sonoma price tag, but boy were they worth it! The cookies themselves were very easy to assemble. Beyond combining the powdered ingredients, the bulk of the recipe relied heavily on our old friend, the stand-mixer. Add, mix, add, mix, add, mix...you get the idea.

Placing the cookies on the prepared sheets was challenging, because the dough was a) sticky, and b) delicious. To save yourself a few extra hours on the elliptical, we recommend using two teaspoons to shape the dough into balls, flattening them with the palm of your hand, and quickly stashing both baking sheets in your oven. Then lick that mixing bowl clean!

Swapping the baking sheets midway through cooking creates a problem because those sheets are good and greased up. Your cookies will slide if you don't keep them level, so take your time!

We offer this caution because we, of course, did NOT take our time. Zombies must have eaten our brains last night, because one of us tried to perform the whole sheet-swapping task without setting down either baking sheet.

That's how we ended up with Mega-Cookie.

Most of Mega-Cookie was salvageable with a few quick cuts from the edge of a spatula, and one of us appreciated the excuse to sample some of our less attractive product.

The verdict? These. Cookies. Are. Delicious. In fact, we've already pulled the trigger and added them to our Christmas Party must-have list. They are so crammed full of delicious fall flavors that we could eat them all season. (And since W-S doesn't include nutritional information with their recipes, we just might!)

So make these. Make them now. This weekend, if you have to wait. And...have a tasty, treat-filled Halloween!