3 Ultimate Cookie & Cocktail Pairings Perfect for the Holidays

This article first appeared in Traverse Northern Michigan. Find this story and more when you explore our magazine library. Want Traverse delivered to your door or inbox monthly? View our print subscription and digital subscription options.

Holiday Cocktail Pairings: How-To

Start here with tips from Iron Fish Distillery’s Kirath Singh on how to properly pair holiday cookies and cocktails and then continue reading on for our 3 favorite pairings + recipes.

1. Generally, the richer or fattier the food, the more spirit-forward the cocktail should be. For example, Béarnaise Sauce and steak needs to be paired with an old fashioned– or Manhattan-style cocktail.
2. But another important thing to remember when pairing food and cocktails is to match complexity—don’t pair an overly complex drink with a simple food item.
3. Pay attention to textures, meaning don’t serve a heavy, creamy or overly sweet drink with a lighter dish that it will overwhelm.

Jam-Filled Sugar Cookie Stars + PJ’s All Day Mocktail

Kim Sperl—who trained at the famed Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and in New York with renowned cake designer Colette Peters—spent more than 20 years creating wedding cake masterpieces for her business Bella e Dolce. From her gleaming kitchen in Cheboygan, Sperl transported her works of art to Mackinac Island and across Northern Michigan. Come December, now-retired Sperl turns her attention to baking for family and friends. This is one of Sperl’s go-to cookie swap recipes—one that we’ve been sharing and baking ourselves for a decade since first publishing it in Traverse Northern Michigan magazine in December 2013. Pair these star-shaped stunners with a non-alcoholic mocktail that blends tart apples, sweet peaches and the warm notes of cinnamon and pie—plus just a hint of citrus.

Cookie: Jam-Filled Sugar Cookie Stars Recipe

Yields approximately two dozen cookies

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 15 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cubed
• 1 2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 Tablespoons cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• Your favorite jam Powdered sugar for sprinkling

1. Pour flour into food processor with the cubed butter. Pulse until flour/butter mixture is crumbly. Add powdered sugar, salt and baking powder. Pulse a few times to mix in. Add egg yolk, water, vanilla and (optional) cinnamon, then process until dough forms into a ball in the bowl. Do not overmix. Flatten dough onto a sheet of plastic and form it into a round, 1-inch-high patty. Wrap dough in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, prepare baking pans lined with parchment paper, and gather two star-shaped cookie cutters, one large and one small. Roll out cookie dough on a lightly floured surface, turning the dough occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick to the table. Add more flour to surface only if necessary: too much flour can cause the dough to become dry. Roll out dough to about 1/8- to 1/4–inch thick. Cut out an even quantity of large stars and set them on the cookie sheet. Cut a small star out of the middle of half of the large stars with your small star cookie cutter. (You can bake the small stars separately, or knead back into the scrap dough to roll out more large stars.) Bake at 350 degrees for 12–15 minutes until lightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and slide a cooling rack under the parchment paper to lift cookies off the hot pan.

3. When cookies are completely cool, spread jam on the bottom of the whole-star cookies. Using a strainer or sifter, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of the cutout cookies. Then sandwich the whole stars and cutout stars, joining bottom to bottom. Once all cookies are sandwiched, fill the center cutout with a bit more jam. Tip: First loosen the jam by adding about 1 teaspoon of hot water to a cup of jam, then carefully spoon or pipe into the centers of the cookies.

PJ’s All Day Mocktail Recipe

• 1/2 ounce brown sugar simple syrup (recipe below)
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1 ounce Wee Bee Jammin’ Apple Peaches Pumpkin Pie jam
• 2 ½ ounces five spice apple cider (recipe below)

Glassware: Rocks glass
Garnish: Apple slice and cinnamon stick

Combine all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake until mixed, strain into glass with cube ice. Garnish with apple slice and cinnamon stick.

Brown Sugar Simple Syrup Recipe | 1:1 Measure out unpacked brown sugar with equal parts water (i.e. 1 cup of water and 1 cup of brown sugar). In a small or medium saucepan, whisk together water and sugar over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool or use immediately. If using in a cold cocktail, give it some time to cool before using. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 weeks and use in your favorite beverages or recipes as desired.

Five Spice Apple Cider Recipe | Use half teaspoon of ground Chinese Five Spice and mix with 10 ounces of apple cider. Place back in the fridge for 12 hours, mixing occasionally. 

Read Next: Sugar 2 Salt’s Famous Molasses Cookie & Ginger Glaze Recipe.

Butter Nut Cookies Dipped in Chocolate

Yields approximately two dozen cookies

• 19 Tablespoons unsalted butter (about 2 ½ sticks, room temperature)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1 cup pecans or pistachios, chopped + extra to sprinkle on top
• Chocolate melts, such as Grocer’s Daughter 70% dark chocolate discs

1. Mix together butter and powdered sugar until smooth, then add vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour and starch, then add these dry ingredients to butter mixture. Add crushed pecans (or pistachios) and mix briefly to combine. Roll out dough between sheets of wax paper. Refrigerate dough for an hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter (a shape of your choice). Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake about 10 minutes—removing before the edges turn brown. Cool the cookies on the tray.

3. Melt chocolate in microwave on high, stirring at 30-second intervals. If chocolate needs to be loosened, stir in a few drops of canola oil. Dip cookies by running the tops of them across the chocolate (rather than dunking them straight down). Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Let chocolate set before serving.

Hotter Daughter Recipe

• 1 ¼ ounces Iron Fish Mad Angler Rye
• ¼ ounce Ancho Reyes, original
• Pinch of salt 2–3 dashes
• Iron Fish Cherry Maple Smoked Bitters
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• 2 ounces Grocer’s Daughter
• 50/50 (Milk and Dark Chocolate) Drinking Mix 6 ounces boiling water

Glassware: Hot drink mug
Garnish: Half rim caramel syrup with kosher sea salt, grated nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a mug. Use a cream frother or small whisk to mix. Grate nutmeg on top to finish.

Read Next: Black Walnut Biscotti Featuring Local Dried Cherries for the Holidays.

Bocca di Nonna with Earl Grey Ganache + Buone Vacanze

We first shared Sari King’s story in the December 2014 issue of Traverse Northern Michigan. It was a story of perseverance: a woman, her life crumbling in the aftermath of divorce and a breast cancer diagnosis, who fought back in the sweetest way she knew how: baking cookies. King passed away in 2018, having served her Boyne City community for more than a decade as a youth pastor and bible study leader at First Presbyterian Church. We share her recipe in remembrance.

Sari values the simple act of offering up a cookie to make someone’s world a bit better. “Looking back, I’ve realized that crazy things happen to everyone,” she says. “Life is so uncertain. If I can give someone a little hope … a little bit of a sweet indulgence to savor a moment in life, then so be it.” –December 2014

Translated, these dainty Italian cookies mean “Grandmother’s kisses.” They’re rich little bites, with a loving smooch of chocolate and almond. Pair them with a Buone Vacanze—“happy holiday” in Italian. Oak and juniper mingle in the glass with orange and red berry notes, ending with dry coffee and semi-sweet chocolate.

Bocca di Nonna with Earl Grey Ganache Cookies Recipe

Yields approximately two dozen cookies

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened extra dark cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3⁄4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 1 1⁄2 cups finely ground blanched almonds

Earl Grey Ganache Ingredients

• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 4 Earl Grey tea bags (or a tea ball with 4 teaspoons loose tea)
• 4 ounces dark chocolate, 65–70% cocoa content

1. In a small bowl, stir together flour and cocoa powder; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla bean paste. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in almonds. Beat in flour mixture just until combined. Cover and chill dough about 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a chilled surface (either marble or a rubberized mat) roll out cookie dough and cut into 1 1⁄2–inch rounds. Place cut cookies on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes or until firm. Cool on cookie sheet. Spread about a teaspoon of Earl Grey ganache on top of the cookies. Decorate with slivered almonds or any other decorative edible.

3. For the Earl Grey ganache: In a small saucepan, bring heavy whipping cream to a boil. Remove from heat. Add tea bags or tea ball and let stand for 15 minutes. Remove tea from cream and, if using bags, gently squeeze them with back of spoon to release any remaining liquid and add to the cream mixture. Return cream to boiling. Remove from heat and add 4 ounces of dark chocolate chopped into small pieces. Stir until chocolate is melted and shiny and smooth. Cool to room temperature before frosting.

Buone Vacanze Cocktail Recipe

• 2 dashes orange bitters
• 3/4 ounce coffee liqueur
• 3/4 ounce Campari
• 1 1/4 ounces Iron Fish Slightly Lost Barrel Rested Gin

Glassware: Nick and Nora glass
Garnish: Orange peel twist

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Stir until chilled. Express the orange peel, trim and garnish on glass.

Read Next: Warm Up with Decadent Chocolate Marshmallows and Hot Chocolate.

Kirath Singh works for Iron Fish Distillery and is based in Southeast Michigan. Before joining the Iron Fish sales team, Kirath spent a decade leading some of the Detroit area’s most celebrated bar programs.

Dave Weidner is an editorial photographer and videographer based in Northern Michigan. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram @dzwphoto.

Sarah Peschel, @22speschel, is a stylist and photographer with an appreciation for all things local agriculture, food and drink.