I’ve been writing and publishing novels for a while. In some ways, I approach the ups and downs of my writing career with a weary resignation, knowing that a great writing day can as easily be followed by a terrible writing day as by another good one, that a gushingly positive review may spark a new reader to pick up the book only to dislike it, that I may struggle with doubt one week and be sure everything is going well the next. I still get a thrill when I first see the new cover for a soon-to-be published novel, and I never get bored of coming up with new ideas, characters, and landscapes.

Yet here is a first for me, one that left me speechless with surprise and glee but mostly because I was too busy eating and savoring to talk:

A fabulous reader who loves to bake sent me a box of home-made cookies as a thank you for my book Cold Magic. One batch was scrumptious double chocolate chip cookies.

But just to make the entire experience even more full of squee, the other batch was a cookie she invented herself in honor of Cold Magic.

That’s right. There is now a Cold Magic cookie, created by Raina Storer.

With Raina’s permission, I am sharing the recipe and photo with you, just in time for the winter baking season. It is a refrigerator sugar cookie, rolled with chocolate mint filling, and glazed with a white piped frosting and icy blue sprinkles, and it is unbelievably tasty as well as beautiful.

Here’s what Raina has to say about them:

“Baking became a new obsession of mine shortly after I started sewing professionally, and had to find a new hobby. This was my first attempt at making a themed cookie recipe. There was a book I read once where one character was forever making these chocolate cherry cookies that I decided I needed to make up a recipe for, but that’s as close as I’ve come. I am still a fledging baker, and am just starting to dabble in making my own recipes, instead of just changing existing ones. So this was both fun and challenging!

“The thing I did like about making the Cold Magic cookies the way I did was how very much time they had to spend in my freezer. It seemed poetic.”

As the recipient, I assure you, the cookies are delicious.

Raina goes on to write: “I am already wondering about Cold Fire, also. I mean, the name itself suggests something spicy. Maybe something with ginger and cloves. But we will have to see if the story inspires any additional flourishes.”

I can’t wait! I love ginger and cloves!

Cold Magic Cookie
Raina Storer (Los Angeles, CA)

Cream together until light and fluffy:
1 cup room temperature butter (2 sticks)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar

Mix in:
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp vanilla

Stir until well blended. I like to whip my butter for 3 minutes alone, then with the sugars for another 3 before I add the vanilla and egg to get plenty of air in there. I use a stand mixer, though an electric hand mixer will also work just fine.

Mix together in separate bowl, and then add slowly until you get cookie dough:

a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cake flour

Take the entire mixture, and carefully flatten into a disk. Wrap in foil, or plastic wrap and chill for 3 to 4 hours.

When dough is cold, roll into a sheet about 1/4″ thick.

Brush dough with 1/4 cup melted butter, and sprinkle 4 – 6 oz of ground mint chocolate over the dough. I used Dagoba brand Mint Bar (59% Cacao) Dark chocolate blended with mint oil and rosemary essence.

Roll tightly into a log and again, wrap in some sort of cover. Chill for another few hours, or freeze for about an hour. You really just want to be able to slice the log without having it melt.

Preheat oven set to 350 degrees

Cut log into 1/4″ thick slices and arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges turn slightly golden.

After cookies have fully cooled, prepare royal icing:

2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups confectioners sugar

Beat the egg whites with lemon juice until combined. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. Add either water (to thin) or more sugar (to thicken) until the frosting reaches piping consistency (on the thicker side, but not so thick its hard to squeeze through a piping tip). Spoon into a piping bag, using a small round tip. Make swirls on top with the royal icing, and sprinkle with blue sanding sugar.
(2011 Raina Storer)