I’ve been trying to talk my colleague Jane McTeigue into sharing some of her creations with Cook the Vineyard. A former pastry chef and multi-talented artist, Jane is prone to leaving surprise handmade gifts – from tiny gingerbread houses to pop-up Valentines — on coworkers’ desks. Recently it was a little stack of button-shaped gingerbread cookies, threaded and tied together with baker’s twine.

This time I begged Jane to show us how she made them — and to give us her favorite gingerbread cutout recipe. Finally she said yes. We had fun photographing the process of making these delicious and cute-as-a-button (sorry!) cookies, and I hope the photos will show that you can easily make these Gingerbread Button Cookies yourself with a few everyday tools like wooden skewers, small straws, and round cookie or biscuit cutters.

Meanwhile another foodie colleague of mine, photojournalist Ray Ewing, has been cooking up his annual batch of Cranberry Lime Habanero Hot Sauce. Yes, you read that right – yum! There’s even a bit of maple syrup in this New England-meets-Southwest condiment.