Gift Ideas + A Festive, Bean-Based Cookie

Plus a Q&A with author and cookie expert Ben Mims

I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving holiday! Mine coincided with moving out of our apartment (we’re not leaving New York, just to a new place in the neighborhood) and heading west to join my family to celebrate my dad’s 70th birthday. It has been wonderful and exciting, but I’m glad we had a long weekend to recover.

Now, by some feat, it’s December and time to be thinking about gifts and cookies. You’ve probably got gift guides coming from every direction, but I always enjoy pulling them together and reflecting on the things I’ve found special and lasting in my life. I’ll try to keep this one short and sweet.

If you’re not in the mood for a gift guide, scroll right past it because below, author and friend Ben Mims has shared a great bean based gluten-free cookie that hails from Iran, from his exhaustive and exciting new cookbook Crumbs. He also answered a few questions about the book. Enjoy!

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2025 Gift Ideas

Something One-of-a-Kind

Molly Reever’s Panettone Print via her Substack

When I think about the gifts I’ve loved giving and receiving most, they’re almost always works of art. This can be touchy, as art is so personal, but for the right person, the holidays are a great time to support an artist and create an original keepsake.

• Ever since her beautiful bean print crossed my radar, I’ve been a fan of Molly Reeder’s work (see above).

• Last year I commissioned a Jordan Sondler pet portrait for some dog-loving friends.

• Recently, my friend Kat Hunt gave Vincent and me a channeled painting after we got married.

• And ceramics are always so special and functional for cooks. Head to your local market to find potters and ceramicists in your area and see what’s available.

Something Deliciously Unique

• The best homemade treats are obviously the ones that keep and travel well, and are fun to package up. They can be a great economical option, too. My go-to’s are my Buttery Maple Almonds and Best Biscotti.

• I was just chatting with someone on Instagram who’d started a big batch of ferments over the weekend, because she’ll be giving some of her friends jars of kimchi (my go-to recipe is on page 227 of Bowl).

• Homemade hot sauce is also a treat; I’ve always made the Sqirl fermented jalapeño hot sauce, but I recently saw a few posts from Kenji Morimoto on Instagram that break down the process really clearly.

• Some of my favorite store-bought discoveries from this year are one-of-a-kind condiments, including NY Shuk’s Preserved Lemon Paste and Xilli’s Salsa Matcha.

Something Splurgey

The Nama M1 Plant-Based Milk Maker, image from their website

• For someone who makes plant-based milk at home, the Nama M1 Plant-Based Milk Maker (above) will be a thrill. It whips up a batch of almond milk in about 2 minutes, and is a sleek, thoughtfully designed, and pretty easy to clean (I put a demo on Instagram recently).

• If you know anyone who spends a lot of time on their feet in the kitchen, a standing mat from House of Noa will have long-lasting impact. These are much more attractive than the ones you can get at Lowe’s (what I used to use) and come in a range of sizes.

• My thick, sturdy, edge-grain cutting board from Boardsmith has held up terrifically over the past several years and always feels so good to cut on. They offer the option to customize with engraved initials.

Something for Winding Down

Perfumer H’s collaboration with Nigel Slater: A Feast incense (image via Perfumer H’s website)

• I’m really coveting the Nigel Slater incense, and also the eau de parfum.

• I only heard about the Shakti Mat about 2 years ago, but since I got my own, laying on one before bed has become a nightly routine (it’s a roll-up “acupressure” mat, covered little prickly discs — sounds painful but actually very relaxing).

• My nightly herbal tea is one of my favorite moments of the day, and I love the beautifully packaged blends by Dona (my favorites are the Hari River Mint and Still Life).

Something to Cook From, Of Course

No giving season is complete without some new cookbooks.

• All of my cookbooks are pretty steeply discounted on Amazon today.

• Recent bean-centric cookbooks I’ve been enjoying this year include Erin Alderson’s The Yearlong Pantry and Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo’s The Bean Book.

• For the pizzaiolo or pizzaiola in your life, Alexandra Stafford’s Pizza Night is so inviting (ie, not stressful, as technical bread and pizza books can sometimes be).

• For the baker in your life, today’s feature — Ben Mims’ Crumbs — will be just as cherished on the coffee table as in the kitchen.

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Q&A with Ben Mims, author of Crumbs

Ben Mims’ sprawling new book Crumbs collects cookie recipes from around the globe, and explores the geographic and cultural forces that tell the story of them becoming such a culinary fixture. It’s as much an object to keep on display as it is a resource to learn and cook from. He generously answered a few questions about his book and shared a fantastic, gluten-free cookie recipe that’s perfect for holiday baking.

For a book of this magnitude — a 432-page tome that spans the globe — where did you even begin?

I started by first, literally, googling every country in the world with the word “cookie” or “biscuit” to get a sense of scale of the mountain I was going to have to climb. I first came back with about 850 cookies, so then it was a question of which ones are repeats from other places, or descended from other well-known cookies that I could make reference to, or didn't offer anything unique for the book. Once I got that list down to around 350, then it became about keeping cookies that were either unique to a culture or marked an important milestone in the history of cookies or gave an insight to a culture or technique or ingredient that was important to include for completing the picture of cookies as a concept.

In defining what a cookie is, you state that for inclusion in Crumbs, it must be rooted in the home kitchen rather than the professional or commercial one. Can you explain what you mean and why it matters?

To me, cookies are all about sharing; they're these little pieces of condensed decadence that you make to not only eat yourself but to share with others. They’re sort of a community-building treat in that way. So I wanted to honor that aspect, which I think is most important, by making sure that all the cookies in the book are ones that have descended through centuries or decades of regular home cooks making and perfecting them to share with their homes and communities. If I were to include profession or industrial cookies, then we would get things like Oreos or McVitie's biscuits — cookies that are delicious and have fans, but are never anything the average person would make at home. I wanted to keep that distinction for this book to show how easy and simple homemade cookies are, and have always, been.

Did learning so much about cookies of the world change your view on American cookie traditions?

Oh, absolutely. It really helped, more than anything, put American cookies into perspective for me. Before, even I was confused as to why our cookies look and taste so different than the rest of the world. But by the time I got to the American cookies in the timeline of the book, I was more able to clearly see the European influences and how they all jumbled together, along with things like the advent of chemical baking powders and the cheapening price of sugar, to make cookies that spoke to a new populace’s way of breaking away from traditions of old to make the newer, more maximalist creations we see today that still harken back to that way of thought.

You outline many of the forces that have shaped cookies as we know them — geography, colonialism, the price of sugar, and advent of chemical leaveners. Any predictions as to how cookies might continue to evolve?

Concerningly, they seem to be getting more raw, lol. I think the influence of “cookie dough” flavors over the past few decades and the popularity of giant, underbaked cookies like Levain, people are really leaning into a softer, more sugar-crunchy confection. At the same time, I see influences from other parts of the world via different spices or grains or sugars making their mark on American cookies — like snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies. So, both a globalization of flavors to a softening and candy-ification of cookies.

Did you discover a new favorite cookie?

Yes, and, schockingly, it was pretty basic. There were cookies that I had made before or heard of before that I loved — like the makroud from Tunisia and Algeria, which is my favorite cookie in the book — and cookies that were exciting to finally try after only ever reading about them — like the chokladsnittar from Sweden. But the one I ended up liking the most was a simple hazelnut butter cookie from the Czech Republic called Masarykovo cukrovi. They are named after the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Masaryk, who helped the country gain independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918; they were apparently his favorite cookie. I love them because they're cut from a log, with stained-glass like bits of whole hazelnuts studded throughout. Just very simple and classic but hit all those warm notes I want in a holiday or cold-weather cookie.

For more information about what’s happening with Ben, follow him on Instagram. And for more information about Crumbs, click here.

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Chickpea Shortbreads

Nan-e Nokhodchi

Photo by Simon Bajada, from Crumbs.

Chickpea Shortbreads

• Notes from Ben: “These classic shortbread cookies are served for Nowruz, Persian new year. They are made of flour from split chickpeas or chana dal (often labeled as besan or gram flour). Though technically not the same as flour made from the common chickpeas we usually eat — like Italian-style chickpea flour — they can be used interchangeably in these cookies. Like nan-e berenji, these cookies are crumbly and dissolve in your mouth, thanks to the fine texture of the besan. They are typically rolled thick and cut into the shapes of a four- or five-leaf flower, but many bakers cut them into squares, diamonds, or circles, too. The cut cookies are studded with a single pistachio sliver; though slivered pistachios can be difficult to find outside of Persian, Indian, or specialty grocery stores, chopped pistachios are a fine substitute. The besan is typically roasted before making these cookies, but this recipe skips that step in favor of a less savory cookie. However, if you would like to roast the flour, spread it out on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F (180°C/Gas Mark 4), stirring occasionally, until a shade darker and fragrant, about 8 minutes.”

• Notes from me: These have such a wonderfully fragrant flavor, with the rosewater and cardamom — they’re perfect for the holidays. Try to use freshly ground cardamom if you can. Know that the dough may appear dry as its mixing, but it will become workable as it rests. And since there is no gluten in the flour, the cookie dough can be re-rolled many times without any worry of overworking it — I was able to get more than 24 by re-rolling scraps. Heed the advice of using a 1 ¼-inch cutter, because any bigger will compromise their sturdiness.

• Excerpted from Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World © 2024 by Ben Mims. Photography © 2024 by Simon Bajada. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.

Prep & cook time 1 hour, 10 minutes | Makes About 24 cookies (or more)

1 cup (135 g) powdered (icing) sugar
½ cup (115 g) clarified butter or ghee, at room temperature
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 ½ teaspoons rose water
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups (185 g) besan or chickpea (gram) flour (see note above)
Slivered or chopped pistachios, for decorating

1. In a large bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the sugar and clarified butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes. Add the cardamom, rose water, and salt and beat until smooth. Add the besan and beat on low speed until a dough forms and there are no dry patches of flour remaining.

2. Scrape the dough onto a large sheet of parchment paper and cover with another sheet of parchment. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough between the sheets to a round 7 to 8 inches (18 to 20 cm) across and 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. Slide the dough, still between the paper, onto a baking sheet and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

3. Position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C/Gas Mark 3). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and slide the dough onto a work surface. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and, using a 1 ¼-inch (3 cm) flower or similar-shaped cutter dusted in more besan, cut out shapes of dough. Arrange the shapes on the prepared baking sheets, spaced 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Stud the center of each shape with a sliver of pistachio or sprinkle it with a pinch of chopped pistachios.

5. Bake until barely light golden brown on the bottom and dry to the touch in the center, 15–20 minutes (err on the side of underbaking the cookies because they should have hardly any color at all).

6. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 1 minute, then transfer them to the racks to cool completely.