The January issues of Bon Appétit, Cooking Light, Cooks Illustrated, and Gourmet magazines are here.  Check out all of the great new recipes and plot out the perfect way to spend those lazy weekends cooking this January!

Here is a quick overview of what you'll find in the January issues:

Bon Appétit: Explores the best of the year including the indulgence, cuisine, dish, destination, ingredient, dessert, remodel, flavor and technique of the year.  This issue has recipes from many great chefs and cookbook authors including Suzanne Tracht from the Jar in Los Angeles, Sondra Bernstein from the girl & the fig in Sonoma, Michael Psilakis from Anthos and Kefi in New York, Paul Johnson author of Fish Forever, Alice Medrich author of Pure Desserts , and Janet Fletcher author of Cheese & Wine.

Cooking Light: Hearty winter fare with soups from around the world ranging from chicken, to black bean, to Borscht, to Ecuadorian Potato soup; winter roasts including pork loin and rack of lamb; a great collection of Talapia recipes, and much more.

Cooks Illustrated: The Cooks Illustrated test kitchens have found great ways to prepare: kneadless bread baking, cheap roast beef, spice cake, chicken in a pot, oatmeal cookies, garlic shrimp, roast broccoli and French onion soup.

Gourmet: The Southern issue - devoted to great food from the Southern United States starting with a previously unpublished article by the late great Southern Cooking queen Edna Lewis.  This issue is packed with Southern classics as well as new adaptations.

The Holiday Season is here and with it comes baking, entertaining and family celebrations.  To help you pick out great recipes for all your holiday cooking needs we’ve tagged the holiday related recipes from  the latest issues of Bon Appétit, Cooking Light, Cooks Illustrated, Gourmet and Food & Wine for you.  Just check out the following links to see what your favorite magazines are suggesting for this Holiday Season:

• Holiday Baking
• Gifts From the Kitchen
• Hanukka Dinner
• Christmas Dinner

You may also want to check out what these magazines suggested for Thanksgiving since many of those great meals work for the December Dinners as well.

And if you are looking for gifts for your fellow foodies check out our Cookbook Gift Guide.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Project Foodie!  

Looking for the perfect gift for a fellow foodie or a year-end indulgence for yourself?  You're in the right place! Here's the Project Foodie list of favorite cookbooks chosen from this year's Cookbook Spotlights.

Baking

Chef

Happy Holidays! 

Ghiradelli Star Cookie

Lark Creek Restaurant Group Wish Cookie

Gingerbread Wishes Cookie

Pastry Chef Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, Lark Creek Restaurant Group

• 5 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons Ginger, ground
• 1 teaspoon Clove, ground
• ¼ teaspoon Cardamom, ground
• ½ teaspoon Nutmeg, ground
• 12 ounces Butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 1 Cup Ginger Sugar (see recipe below)
• ½ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/8 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Lemons, zest only
• 1 Cup Molasses
• 1 Extra-Large Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• ¼ Cup Buttermilk
• 2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Water

Sift first 6 ingredients and set aside.  Whisk eggs and buttermilk together and set aside.  Place butter and salt in bowl of standing mixer, mix on low to smooth butter. Add ginger sugar and lemon zest and mix till smooth.  Scrape down and add molasses, mix until smooth.

Mix baking soda and water together and whisk into egg mixture then add to mixer in two additions, scraping in between additions and mixing until smooth. Add flour in 3 additions, scraping down in between.

Remove bowl from mixer and make certain dough is completely homogenous before wrapping in 4 packages, roughly 2 inches thick. Dough must be refrigerated until firm enough to roll, preferably overnight so flavor can also develop.

Roll cold dough out in batches to 1/4 inch thick.  Refrigerate again before cutting stars.

Brush stars with a mixture of 1 part water to 1 part corn syrup and bake at 350 degrees until center springs back when touched.

Ginger Sugar

Pastry Chef Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, Lark Creek Restaurant Group

• 1 Pound Sugar
• ½ Pound Sliced, candied Ginger
  

Place sugar and rough chopped ginger in bowl of food processor and grind until the mixture resembles sand and the ginger is broken down.

Cream Cheese Icing

Pastry Chef Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, Lark Creek Restaurant Group

• 1 Pound Cream Cheese, room temperature
• ¾ Pound Butter, soft
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ½ teaspoon Almond Extract
• 1 ½ Pounds Sifted Powdered Sugar

Place cream cheese in mixer with paddle.  Mix until smooth then add butter (should be same temperature and consistency as cream cheese). In 2 additions, scrape down mixer and add extracts.  Begin adding sugar and scraping down as needed.

Ghirardelli's Wish Star Chocolate Cookie

Created by Chef Emily Luchetti in honor of the Ghirardelli Make-A-Wish program
Makes about a dozen cookies.

Shortbread

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 bar (4oz) Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar, chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt
  

Dipping

• 1 bag (11.5 oz) Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 Tbsp butter
  

Melt baking bar on double boiler and set aside. Mix flour and salt together and set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add melted chocolate and vanilla. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture and mix just until blended. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured board, roll dough to ¾ inch and cut with cookie cutters. If the dough is very soft, chill again for at least 30 minutes. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Melt chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp butter in double boiler. Dip cooled cookie in melted chocolate mixture and let chocolate set.

The August issues of Cooking Light, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine are out!  Stone fruit, burgers, grilling, summer vegetables and more - check them out today, pick out the ones you want to try and hold onto them with Project Foodie Track & Tag.

• What is Project Foodie Recipe Track & Tag?
• Why would you want to use Track & Tag?