Making these cookies is one of my fondest Christmas traditions. This would lead you to believe that I am a total sugar-holic (which I am), but I mostly enjoy flexing my artistic muscle to decorate these bad boys. We have about 50 different cookie cutters, 6 colors of icing, and decorations galore. It’s always fun to make the standard snowman, but after 2 hours of baking you start to get creative. Dinosaurs, shoes, cars…......

This is the summer cookie that works well in winter - especially in LA, where women are still wearing flip-flops on Christmas Eve! At every holiday party, the dessert table is full of heavy chocolate confections, heady alcoholic affairs (figgy pudding!) and dense fruit-cake-y type items. If I'm just not up for making sugar cookies (and the insane hours it takes to decorate them all!), I make these instead. They're lighter, fresher. Oh so yummy......

These are known by many names. Here in Los Angeles, they are usually called Mexican Wedding Cookies or Cakes, but we always called them Snowballs. You have to be careful not to inhale the powdered sugar, but this light, nutty cookie is worth a little white powder up the nose. SNOWBALLS 1/2 cup butter or margarine 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for coating the cookies 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour 1 cup finely......

I think it started about a year ago, when the students in one the classes I was teaching found out that I was going to cooking school. "Will you make us something?" they begged. I pictured myself whipping up something in the French tradition from my growing pile of recipes and modifying it to serve thirty or so college freshmen. "No," I replied sensibly. "But if you're good, I'll make you cookies!" I love......

Snickerdoodles 1 cup butter, Spectrum shortening, or any non trans fat 1 1/2 cups raw sugar 2 eggs 2 3/4 cups unbleached flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 Tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon Cream butter, sugar, eggs. Sift together (twice) flour, cream of tartar, baking soda. Add to butter mixture. Drop cookies on ungreased baking sheet. Mix 2 Tablespoons sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon and sprinkle on top each......

Gingersnaps and cocoa and rum balls and Italian knots and Kolacky and biscotti and chocolate chips, oh my! LAist has been in the kitchen, cooking up a Cookie Exchange. I Can Has JGoldBurger? Omg the PULITZER PRIZE WINNING JOURNALIST uses LOLspeak, I don't know what to say, my world has been all shook up like a snowglobe. It's entirely possible I was Afghani in a previous life (as well as Korean, Persian, Icelandic, and......

These come straight from my mom, the master. (Complete with long disclaimer about how we used to use margarine, but now that's bad for you, and we really should use oil instead of butter, but she hasn't figured out how much yet, so this'll do.) Cocoa cookies 1/2 butter, Spectrum shortening, or any non trans fat 1 cup raw sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup cocoa 1 3/4 cup unbleached flour 1/2......

All right, I know this was only supposed to be a cookie recipe exchange, but the power of Santa compels me to share my Italian American aunt's killer "Frangelico Balls." I suspect it was either her allegiance to the old country or a whacked out jones for hazelnuts that made her tweak the classic rum ball recipe. So yeah, there's no actual baking required and these are technically considered candy, but we're talking alcoholic candy.......

My mother has been making these Central/Eastern European influenced cookies since before I was born. Every Christmas, we have these delicious powdered sugared, jam filled treats. It turns out, the dessert is also interchangeably a cookie and/or a pastry and has quite an old and varied history:The oldest ritual leavened loaf which came into being soon after the Slavs embraced Christianity is shaped in a round, ring or like a cart and is called......

Two pretty big new changes are being rolled out to LAist over the next few days. Changes are good! Tags! Instead of being confined to narrow categories, every post is now tagged with specific tags––things that help you find specific kinds of posts (say, all of our Writers Strike posts), or browse broader categories easily (say, all of our music posts). Very soon, our categories will all be converted into tags save for a few......

Italian cookies are always a bit of puzzlement. The food of my ancestors is so damned delish, but their cookies—not so much. Take it from my semi-Italian American childhood, most of the time you’re cracking your tooth on something twice baked and/or steeped in anise. When my Nona brought out the cookie tin, I used to pray for a Pogen. Instead, I’d get something you had to dip in hot tea to chew. Of course......

Tis the season - for cookies!!! Cookies are one of the most versatile treats you can make. They are perfect for gift-giving, office parties, dessert, or a quick snack. They please children and grown-ups alike. Most cookie batters freeze well so you can make cookies anytime you feel like it. Cookie recipes are easy to make and hard to screw up. You just need to keep an eye on them so they don't burn.......

Still haven’t found the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for kinky family member? Not sure what to get for the Samantha Jones of your group? Or just broke, and would sooner choke on a reindeer cookie than knit another scarf? There’s hope yet—and thank the gods of crafting, it doesn’t involve mastering a new sweater pattern. This Friday, Babeland, L.A.’s loveable educational sex toy store, will offer up Craftnight. Hosted by Julianna Parr—or “JP the......

What with all the Big Game festivities going on this weekend, a girl can't help but think back fondly upon her alma mater. But you know what? It's only been a few years since I left UCLA, and I gotta say -- I almost don't recognize the place anymore. Has it really been so long since I graduated? Five years? Maybe more? So much has changed -- I came of age in the Steve......

I feel at home at hip hop shows. I am in my element. I am around people who love the same kind of music I love. This past Wednesday night, however, for the first time in my show-going life I was at a hip hop show as an outsider. Nerdcore rap was something that I had only vaguely heard of, all I knew of it was rap with a whole lot of references to......

Now that Thanksgiving is over, many of us are feeling guilty about overeating and we're starting to sweat the next month. My philosophy is to go ahead and enjoy the food when it is a special event, like Christmas Eve. What you really have to watch are the little unhealthy habits that the season brings - mindless cookie munching in the breakroom, triple-macchiattos to keep your energy up, and fast food meals eaten on-the-run......

Assorted Cupcakes at Crumbs Bakeshop Crumbs Bakeshop, a New York haven of baked goodies, has staked claim to 9465 S. Santa Monica Boulevard. If that address sounds familiar, it is about two blocks east of LA cupcake mecca, Sprinkles. With flavors at Crumbs like Oreo, Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough, Reese's, Heath Bar, and M&M, the difference in style is clear. Crumbs has the warm feeling of an old-time candy store. Nostalgic childhood favorites Twinkie, Hostess......

One of the things I love most about LA is the depth of its cultural diversity. I don’t love the fact that it’s so segregated, but I appreciate the fact that in contrast to the outsider view that LA is simply a vapid, endless string of cookie-cutter communities, every neighborhood has its own character and identity (witness our Neighborhood Projects). Which means that no matter what you’re into, you can find a place that......

It's hard to find a person out there who doesn't like cookies. And it's even harder to find someone who will turn down a free one. So what if I tell you that over the next few days at several Los Angeles-area Whole Foods Markets you can get yourself a free sample of an organic Crummy Brothers Chocolate Chip cookie? I think you just might say "Hell yes!" So what's the deal with Crummy......

The country's safest city (some years, anyway), is getting less and less so: a shooting this morning at a Simi Valley tire store left two dead and two injured. Police have ruled out robbery and suspect a personal motive in the attack. There are a few updates on the potential water cutbacks -- although Los Angeles is okay for now (thanks to the Owens Valley), the time may come when water rationing will be......

Sometimes after work this LAist just wants to go home. He wants to kick off his shoes, have some dinner and turn in early. Sometimes, a friend who works "in the industry" calls near the end of the day and says that the girl who was supposed to go to this party or that premiere has bailed and asks what is this LAist doing tonight? On a night like this, this LAist would've usually said......

A rock legend will hit the stage tonight. Matt Sharp the alleged heart of Weezer was with the band for their first two records, the debut "Blue" record, and the initially-overlooked but spotlessly perfect Pinkerton. Since he split ways with the band they've never produced anything as good and everyone knows it. Sharp's band The Rentals has been around 13 years now and although that music is sweet and cute and poppy and consistently......

By now, you've probably noticed our new profile system that rolled out earlier in the summer. In the system, people who comment on LAist are segregated into two groups: those who have registered for a free account to leave a comment (who have their name attached to each comment) and those who haven't (who are universally called "guest"). As of this morning, LAist's publisher Gothamist has rolled out another change, whereby guest comments are......

About the Above Photo: "Every Sunday from sunrise to sunset since February 15th 2004, a temporary memorial is erected in the sand just north of the pier at Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles and at Sterns Wharf in Santa Barbara, California and other locations around the country by local chapters of Veterans For Peace (VFP) and volunteers. This memorial is known as Arlington West... By the end of July 2007, using the U.S.......

Local photographer Hal Bergman was out taking pictures in Downtown this weekend when he and his roommate spotted a dumpster overflowing with fortune cookies. "I put them on Flickr to show friends as kind of a 'ha ha, look what we found in an alley'." Bergman told LAist. Little did he know that putting his pics online would end up with his discovery being sent around the world via the web thanks to a......

Anastasia Griffith plays the hot, and somewhat indiscreet drug-using and slutty restauranteur Katie Connor in "Damages" (FX, Tuesdays, 10:00pm) - you might also remember her from "Alfie" and "Dirty Rotten Love". The story so far as we know it shows Katie getting played by both corporate scumbag Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) and no-holds barred harpie lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Sorry about the pigeonholing stereotypes - everybody plays there characters well beyond those cookie-cutter......

The way I see it, documentaries succeed in one of two ways. The first: deal with a terrifying, real subject matter ("One Day in September", "Jesus Camp"). Express it in a matter-of-fact way that both frightens and informs the viewer. The second: Find a genre/subject that is so outlandish ("American Movie", "Spellbound") that all you need to do is turn on the camera and capture the unintentional hilarity. The hitch is, you need to......

A CG rat, a couple documentaries, John McClane and a Swiss genius...should make for an interesting weekend in the theaters. Be sure to also check LAist's LA Film Festival coverage for some other gems playing around town this weekend. Ratatouille - As far as I'm concerned, Pixar has yet to put out a bad film. Some of my friends argue that "Cars" was a glorified NASCAR commercial and "The Incredibles" lacked originality (just like......

• The Atwater Village Newbie's wife, Mrs. Newbie, wins the Atwater Village Street Fair cookie contest - AVN • Al Sharpton met with Sheriff Lee Baca today regarding Paris Hilton - Fox 11 • Former Fox 11 TV reporter / LAPD sergeant Rod Bernsen cleared of accusations that he touched two 12-year-old boys in a hot tub - LA Times • Deadly auto accident on the PCH near the Ventura County line claims one......

Leave it to the Atwater Village Newbie (at what point are you no longer "new"?) to fill us in on something that we had no clue about. Not only is our favorite neighborhood on Glendale Blvd. hosting their Street Festival this Sunday, but there's also going to be a freakin HOMEMADE COOKIE CONTEST! According to the rules (.pdf), if you think you've got what it takes, and baby we know you do, bring your......