Drawing Inspiration: Last Call for Cookies

By: npadavick
They Draw & Cook

The Dish is teaming up with Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell, founders of They Draw and Cook, all December to share holiday recipes rendered by artists and inspiring all sorts of seasonal cooking with Food Network chefs. Each day, stop by the Dish for a new drawing and Nate and Salli's liner notes about the illustrations and the artists. Tell us which you like and why. A dollop of this, a dash of that and some talent add up to interesting ideas in the kitchen. Visit theydrawandcook.com for more info.

It doesn't get any more festive than this recipe and illustration by Abz Hakim. We love the elaborately rendered details and all of the holiday sparkle. Every milk pitcher needs to be decorated with a string of lights and a Santa hat! And of course, this is a classic holiday cookie recipe made really yummy by adding buttermilk and cinnamon. Abz is quite the cook and artist. By the way, Santa has given us permission to print his secret recipe. But wait, there's more!

Cherries, chocolate, and nuts? Some people call this a cookie; we call it dinner. The artist who created this recipe, Sandee Chamberlain, gave us a little background information about this recipe. She said, "This recipe is near and dear to my heart. I have been making it with my family for the past 30 years--it's our Christmas Cookie!" We love holiday recipes like this, which bring out the tradition in families everywhere. It's great to have something special like this to look forward to once a year, every year. And, isn't the cherry on Rudolph's nose an awesome little touch?

See more great illustrated recipes today on They Draw and Cook. And count down to 2011 with great sweets, appetizer and drink recipes at FoodNetwork.com.

—Nate Padavick & Salli Swindell from They Draw and Cook.