Best Way to Whip Up Some Holiday Spirit? Cookies.

OK, I'll admit that I have yet to find time to bake my first batch of the season--or possibly the year. But lately, when I'm plotting how I could get some time away from work in the next few weeks, my first thought is not a weekend on a beach. I'm dreaming of an afternoon in the kitchen, baking holiday cookies with a friend.

In my family, we've always been big on holiday cookie baking. Last year, I missed my holiday baking window, and I felt like I'd missed an essential part of the festive experience. I've also got gift list of nearly 40 people this year, and I'm thinking how pleased many of them would be with a beautiful little package of homemade treats.

So I'm planning ahead. My library includes more than a dozen baking books, several with holiday themes, but my new favorite is Lisa Zwirn's Christmas Cookies, which just came out this fall. Even if you just read cookbooks for pleasure and rarely make it to the stove, you'll enjoy the authenticity of her prose--she's the kind who describes her Baby Butter and Jam Sandwiches as "downright adorable." And as I've been stealing moments with this book over the past few evenings, my cookie list keeps shifting--and growing. Can I do Chocolate Crinkles and Swedish Dreams? I can try! Mexican Chocolate Snowballs and Italian Wine Cookies with aniseed sound deliciously unexpected, but the real decorating fun comes with simple Sugar Cookies. And isn't it time I learned to make a good macaroon?

If you've got a favorite book of cookie recipes, I'd love to hear about it. We still have lots of time to roll out some sweet holiday traditions.