dreaming@echonyc.com

to round out the pack, we have a winner and a loser.

citrus cookies, from an old recipe mom made yeeeears ago. i've added the innovation of rolling the dough log in colored sparkling sugar before slicing. it adds a lovely crunch and makes them even more realistic looking. the orange are better than the lemon, and they look better, too — it was easy to tint the orange dough just enough to differentiate it from the rind but not so much that it looks fluorescent; the yellow was harder to work with.

the loser are these peppermint cheesecake squares from a grocery store magazine. they taste very good, although peppermint and cheesecake is kind of a weird combination and you don't want more than one or two, but they look horrible: the black cookie crumbs from the crust got all over everything as i sliced them, and the red is just too vivid. these are the closest thing to a failure i made this year, but i'm including them anyway because, as this year's motto proclaims, it's only cookies, for crying out loud.