The International Cookies Everyone Needs, According To Milk Bar's Christina Tosi

Once Halloween is over and twinkle lights start popping up around town, it can only mean one thing — it's officially cookie season! Late fall and winter holidays provide the perfect excuse to bake, eat, and share all the cookies your heart desires (after all, Santa Claus would approve). With a wide world of internationally beloved cookies to try, there's no need to limit yourself to the usual chocolate chip or sugar cookies, either, delicious as they may be.

For the scoop on which international cookies are a must-try, Chowhound turned to Milk Bar founder, CEO, and chef Christina Tosi, a bonafide baked goods expert. In celebration of the holiday season, Milk Bar and Tosi are partnering with seasoning giant McCormick for the McCormick Cookie Quest, a social media search for the best holiday cookie recipe, and to offer a limited-edition Candy Cane Pretzel Bark Cookie at participating locations in several U.S. cities from December 4 to 31, 2024.

Tosi doesn't just use her expertise to devise unique recipes, weigh in on the butter versus shortening in pie crust debate, and provide tips to chocolate chip cookie bakers — she also clued us into some of her personal favorite cookies from around the world, which provide a delicious source of inspiration. According to Tosi, French palmiers and Spanish alfajores are her top picks to broaden your cookie horizons.

The first international cookie James Beard Award-winning chef Christina Tosi recommends is the palmier, a French cookie made from puff pastry dough coated in sugar and rolled into an elegant heart shape. Also known as elephant ears, these delicate treats are believed to have originated in the early 20th century by French bakers who perhaps took inspiration from Middle Eastern methods of layering pastry, though their exact origin is unknown.

Tosi, a huge fan of these cookies, admits she "cannot resist whenever [she sees] one in a French bakery in the U.S. or abroad!" For her, the brilliance of palmiers lies in their simplicity, noting that they're baked by "leveraging time and technique and usually croissant scraps. It's the cookie that's greater than the sum of its parts."

That sounds like a cookie worth tasting to us! These confections are common to find in stores and bakeries around the world, but if you want to try baking them for yourself, the process is relatively easy. You can even save time and effort by taking beloved baker Prue Leith's advice to use store-bought puff pastry. Just pay close attention to your rolling technique, as too-tight dough can result in a soggy middle, while too-loose dough can lead to a brittle mess.

Next on Christina Tosi's must-taste list is an alfajor, a creamy sandwich cookie with massive popularity in Latin America. "I'm a nut for sandwich cookies, and this is a very special one," she says. "A nutty cookie, sandwiched with rich, milky, caramelized dulce de leche — what's not to love?"

Alfajores have a complex history, and there are a number of regional varieties. Perhaps the best-known type is the Argentinian alfajor, which features the dulce du leche filling Tosi mentions and is popular throughout South America. In the Andalusian region of Spain, however, alfajores originated as a cylindrical pastry made with honey, flour, sugar, and nuts — no filling. The well-known sandwich-style cookie can be made in many different ways, though; for instance, sometimes fruit jam is used for the filling instead of dulce de leche, and different types of flour can be used to create cookies with entirely unique textures.

There are also popular additions to alfajores seen in some bakeries. According to Tosi, "Originally, they are sometimes rolled in coconut, or dusted with confectioner's sugar, [but] the ones dipped in chocolate are my all time favorite." She adds that "they are also pretty fun to bake at home," so pick your favorite recipe and start baking!