Cookies of the Day: Praline Cookies and French Butter Cookies

This year, I’ve got more cookies than I have days to write about them before Christmas. So, we’re going to double-up on our cookie of the day. 

Let’s start with one of the cookies that I most love—my mother’s praline cookies. I’ve a special fondness for creamy, nutty, sugary, glorious pralines, so, it’s only natural that I’d be drawn to these. These brown-sugar hued, chewy cookies melt in your mouth. They’re topped with magnificent homemade pralines, creating a wonderful combination of textures and a richness of flavor which reminds a person that eating is just the bee’s knees.

Next, we have my mother’s famous French Butter Cookies. Short, rich and delicious, these cookies should always be made with the best quality, creamiest butter that you can find. The dough for these cookies is made in a log. You can make this dough in advance and refrigerate it until you’re ready to bake. The dough log is rolled in turbinado sugar and colored sugar to add a jewel-like sparkle to each cookie which is sliced from the log. Each round is pierced with a wooden skewer to create the four-holed “button” look which makes these so special.