The Easy Way To Incorporate Unexpected Flavors Into Your Sugar Cookies

Part of the joy of holiday baking is the classic flavors: Gingerbread, chocolate, peppermint, and more bring to mind peak nostalgic memories of Christmases past. And let's be clear — there's absolutely nothing wrong with plain sugar cookies. Soft, sweet, and the perfect blank canvases for decoration, they're a classic treat for you (and Santa!) to munch on as the snow falls outside your window. But if you're looking to really wow your extended family this year with something a little different, award-winning chef Christina Tosi from Milk Bar bakery shared some exclusive advice with Chowhound for one way to easily slip unexpected flavors into your sugar cookies.

The trick? Don't focus on the cookie itself — instead, infuse your flavor of choice into the glaze that tops the cookie to retain the classic sugar cookie taste while still bringing something new to the table (literally). You can really add whatever flavor your heart desires, but Tosi has a few specific suggestions.

"Get wild with the glazes," she encourages. "For the holidays, try milk with a little peppermint extract, cranberry juice, orange juice and clove, even some champagne. And don't forget to decorate!"

The best part about choosing to focus on the glaze is how simple it is to make — typically, you just mix powdered sugar with a liquid of choice or an extract stirred into a bit of milk, and your glaze is ready. If you're dairy-free, you can use water or a non-dairy milk that's good for baking instead. And for a thicker glaze, use heavy whipping cream. For decoration, you can use food dye, sprinkles (a.k.a. jimmies), marzipan, or some crushed-up candy canes — get creative, and match the decor to the flavor of your glaze for a cohesive dessert.

If you're less of a cookie baker and more of a cookie eater, or simply too impatient to wait for your cookie dough to chill, Christina Tosi has good news for you as well: This year, Milk Bar is teaming up with McCormick to create a limited-time Candy Cane Pretzel Bark Cookie that will be given away at select locations in NYC, LA and DC on December 4, otherwise known as National Cookie Day, as part of the McCormick Cookie Quest. The same locations will also have the cookies for sale through December 31.