At Baked we are crazy about holiday cookies. Absolutely insane for them. With the holidays in full swing, the Baked hive mind is buzzing and baking and eating all sorts of shortbreads, pinwheels, ginger bread men, peanut blossoms, chocolate crackles, chocolate chips, meringues, hazelnut sandwiches, and any cookie in the shape of santa. There are side effects of course (i.e. I have already eaten more than half my weight in sugar cookies), but they are minor and fleeting. Right now, we are bonkers (happy, smiley bonkers) and we are celebrating. And we are giving stuff away (keep reading).

First, let’s talk about the Baked 12 Days of Cookies. Each day a member of our amazing kitchen staff will be making a new Christmas/Holiday cookie at Baked and sharing a little story about it. If you live near Baked, I highly recommend you visit all twelve days to partake. If you don’t live near Baked, visit us here (at bakingsociety.com) to check out the cookie photo, read the story, and get inspired. First up: SNICKERDOODLES (of course) via Molly:

That is Molly (above) and she is one hell of a cookie maker/baker.

These (above) are Molly’s saucer-sized snickerdoodles. Here is why she made them (in her own words):

For me, they are pretty close to being the perfect cookie — simple flavors, perfectly chewy and just the right amount of softness. The story behind my pick doesn’t date back to my great-great grandmother, but rather my favorite chef instructor during my time as a student at The International Culinary Center…I remember Chef Peter going on and on (and on. and on.) about how much he loved cookie plates, but how so very often they were executed horribly. For his birthday, my class gifted him with a surprise cookie plate and surprise, surprise! he LOVED my addition of the snickerdoodle. Nothing like a little chef-praise to put this gem at the top of my go-to cookie list.

Molly’s snickerdoodles will be available all day at Baked today (Thursday).

And about that free stuff! Renato and I are giving away a fun gift consisting of: one Limited Edition Baked Bundt Pan, one $50 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma, one Baked hoodie and one Baked Elements Book to one Cookie Crazed individual. Here is how to enter:

1. Create a board on Pinterest.com called “Getting Baked for the Holidays”.

2. Pin at least 4 (or up to 12) of your favorite cookie photos to the board AND pin your favorite photo (just one, and it doesn’t have to be a cookie) from either bakednyc.com or bakingsociety.com.

3. Email the link to the board you created to info@bakednyc.com. Make sure you set up your board and send your link to us by Dec. 24th, 2012/5pm.

Renato and I will choose a winner by Dec. 30th (and due to all sorts of shipping issues, we can only ship to U.S. and Canadian residents…sorry). Our judging criteria is simple: the winner with the coolest, most-delectable, most “I wanna make that” looking board wins.

Happy Holidays and Happy Baking!

(oh, and if you were looking for the recipe for our Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprints, it is here.)