Merry Christmas!

I will be taking this weekend off from blogging to celebrate Christmas with my family. I'll be spending the next few days with my family, opening gifts, eating (and eating again!), and generally celebrating the miracle that is our Savior's birth.

Whatever you are celebrating this weekend, I wish you a safe and blessed holiday. Merry Christmas! 

Our Tree!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Okay, I know I promised to have the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies finished by now, but I was hoping I would get around to making these before I ran out of time.  Of course, I did run out of time and haven’t made them yet, but I wanted to share the recipe with a few days (um hours now) left.  These are a standard holiday recipe in my family.  My grandmother made them for as long as I can remember, and a few years ago, when baking became too much of a hassle for her, she taught me to make them.  I am now the official chocolate chip cupcake baker in the family.

Although these are cupcake-shaped, they do not have a classic cupcake texture.  They are more like chocolate chip cookie bars, baked in the shape of the cupcakes.  It’s also kind of a weird baking process, but follow the directions exactly and you’ll end up with amazing cupcakes.  Don’t be alarmed if your cupcakes sink, because that’s how they are supposed to look.  The little bowl that is created in the middle is the perfect place for a scoop of ice cream!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes – makes 12

1/2 cup butter, softened
6 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
6-ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat 375°.  Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.  Grease liners!

Cream together butter and both sugars.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl, and then stir into butter mixture.  Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cupcakes are puffed and golden.  (They will not be done finished cooking, so don’t increase the cooking time).

Stir the filling ingredients together in a bowl.  Top partially baked cupcakes evenly with the filling.  The filling will sink down towards the bottom.  Return cupcakes to oven and bake for 14-16 minutes.  These are amazing served warm.

Photo Credit

I hope you have found some new recipes to try this holiday season!  I’ve loved sharing some of my family’s favorite cookies with you.  What was your favorite cookie that you made this year?

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Decorated Sugar Cookies

Growing up, one of the things I looked forward to most during the holidays was decorating sugar cookies with my mom and my two older twin cousins.  Mom always made it so fun.  She had lots of different toppings like sprinkles, and M&Ms, red hots, and chocolate chips.  She also made icing for us to spread on plain cookies. 

This year I intended to make decorated sugar cookies twice.  Once by myself, so I could finally learn how to pipe, flood, and decorate with royal icing, and again with my cousins’ oldest children.  My twin cousins have 5 children between them and their oldest kids are 5 this year.  My mom and I thought that they would be old enough to enjoy making and decorating cookies.  We had them over on Sunday (naturally I forgot to take good pictures) and I think they had a good time. 

I’ve yet to make and decorate my own cookies and I may or may not get around to it.  But I wanted to share my favorite sugar cookie recipes and the recipe for the icing. 

I never use the same recipe twice when making sugar cookie recipes, so instead of sharing one, great recipe, I’ve listed three recipes that I’ve tried and had great results with.  What recipe do you use for sugar cookies?  Or do you go with a mix or even slice and bake cookies?

Our Best Bites Sugar Cookies use almond extract which I think gives a little extra punch of flavor.

I like that Alton Brown’s recipe uses powdered sugar instead of flour to roll out the dough. 

If you want to slightly fancy and extra delicious, these from Annie’s Eats use both a vanilla bean and lemon zest.

There are tons (and tons) of icing recipes out there, but I use this, which is mostly a royal icing type and can either be piped (and thinned for flooding) or spread with a knife (which is way way way easier and good for kids).  It also gets nice and hard which is good for storage and gift giving. 

Basic Decorative Icing – makes 1½ cups

2 cups powdered sugar

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Food coloring, if desired

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, egg white, water, and cream of tartar. Beat for 3-5 minutes with an electric mixer.  You really do need at least a hand mixer for this; you’ll be exhausted if you try to do it by hand.  I use my stand mixer fitted with my whisk attachment.  You want the icing to be spreadable and smooth.  It should drip off the whisk (paddle, spoon, whatever) in one smooth line and fold back into the rest of icing fairly quickly.

Divide icing into small bowls and tint with food coloring (or gel colors).  Frost away!  

If you are looking for good icing tutorials, try these from Annie’s Eats and The Pioneer Woman (with help from Bake at 350).

I apologize for not taking pictures, but like I said, I forgot.  Plus, you all know what decorated sugar cookies look like anyway.  :)

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Amaretto Balls

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that this recipe isn’t for everyone.  But it’s a personal favorite of my dad’s and my mom always makes them for him.  It’s another one of those traditional holiday recipes that show up year after year at our house.

These keep fairly well and they freeze beautifully, so they would make an excellent gift if you are looking for something last minute.  I would use the little candy papers (like these).  You can also use almonds instead of pecans, if you prefer that flavor.

Amaretto Balls – makes 4-5 dozen

6 oz chocolate chips

½ cup sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

½ cup Amaretto

12 oz box (2½ cups) vanilla wafers, crushed

1 cup finely chopped pecans (or almonds, if you prefer)

Extra sugar for rolling (granulated or powdered, your choice)

Melt the chocolate (in the microwave is fine) and transfer to a mixing bowl.  Add the sugar and corn syrup and stir to combine.  Blend in the Amaretto.  In a separate bowl, mix the crushed wafers and the nuts; stir into the chocolate.  Use your hands to form small balls (about 1 inch in diameter).  Finger licking is not only recommended, but practically required, as your hands will be very gooey.  Roll balls in extra sugar. 

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Almond-Cherry Rosettes

Like Mostaccioli, these cookies are an Italian holiday standard in my family.  I never actually saw my grandmother make them, we always bought them from a Polish bakery that specialized in Italian cookies (weird, right?) when we visited my dad’s family in upstate New York.  My aunt sends us a big box every year in our Christmas package and they disappear within a couple of days. 

You really need a cookie press to get the authentic shape of these cookies (rosettes), but I don’t have a cookie press, nor do I expect you to have one, so I simply roll the dough into balls, flatten them slightly, and press the cherry in the middle.  They still taste good and that’s all that really matters with us.

Almond-Cherry Rosettes – makes about 2½ dozen

½ cup sugar

½ cup powdered sugar

½ cup flour

⅛ teaspoon salt

1 can (8 ounces) almond paste

2 egg whites

Candied cheery halves or maraschino cherries, halved

Preheat oven to 300°.  Prepare baking sheets.

Sift together both sugars, flour, and salt and set aside.  Break the almond paste up into small pieces using a fork.  Put into a mixing bowl and add egg whites.  Use an electric mixer to beat until smooth (2-4 minutes).  Mix in flour mixture.  If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time (you may add as much as an additional ¼ of a cup). 

Roll the dough into small balls, about 1.5 inches wide.  Lightly press the cookies down with your fingers.  Top with a cherry half.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light brown.  

Photo Credit

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Brown Butter and Jam Cookies

A few years ago, Food Network’s 12 Days of Cookies highlighted cookies from around the world.  Many of the cookies were familiar to me, but I had never heard of a cookie like this.  I made them the Christmas I found the recipe, and I’ve made them every holiday since.  I don’t make many jam or filled cookies, so I find that these are a nice change from chocolate and super sweet cookies. 

I’ve made some changes to the original recipe, including the shape, which makes the original name of the cookie, Lusikkaleivat or “spoon cookies”, irrelevant.  Here is the original recipe and how make spoon-shaped cookies.

Brown Butter and Jam Cookies – makes about 36 cookies or 18 sandwiches

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

2 cups flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

⅛ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla

¼ cup jam of your choice (I like raspberry, black raspberry, or blackberry)

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 325°.  Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone mats, or greased aluminum foil.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned and it smells slightly nutty.  Swirl the pan during the cooking to keep the butter from burning.  Watch the butter carefully, because butter goes from delicious browned to burnt very quickly.  Remove brown butter from heat and pour into a medium bowl.  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Wisk egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla into cooled brown butter.  Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate small bowl.  Gradually whisk dry ingredients into butter mixture.  Stir until dough looks like wet sand. 

Roll a small amount of dough into a ball that is slightly smaller than a gumball.  Arrange cookie balls on prepared pans and flatten lightly with your fingers.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Try to make an equal amount of cookies, as you will sandwich these together. 

Bake cookies until very light brown, 12-15 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes on pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

When cookies are cool, spread about ½ teaspoon of jam onto one side of half the cookies.  Sandwich together with another cookie.  Dust powdered sugar over tops, if desired.

Photo Credit

12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Peanut Butter Reindeer

Anyone who's known me for any length of time knows that I am not crafty. Sure I cook and bake, and I occasionally get creative in what I put in a dish, but when it comes to making something look good, I fail miserably.

I can barely sew (just hems and repairing rips…I can't sew buttons back on!), I've failed at every scrapbooking project I've ever attempted, my dad had to do all of my drawing for school projects, and even my baking crafty projects only turn out okay. Please don't ask me to decorate your cake or your cookies. I guarantee I will mess them up.

I'm okay with that, though, because pretty much everything I make tastes good enough to make up for its lack of presentation.

(And that will do it for my ego-boosting session of the day. Ahem.)

So when I saw these cookies in the Betty Crocker holiday cookie magazine, I was tempted to ignore them. After all, I'm a big, fat, failure when it comes to cute decorating. But they were just so cute, that I had to try my hand at them.

And all though they don't look quite as cute as the ones in the magazine, they taste really good. And cookies that taste good are all that really matter, right?

This recipe is very easy. It starts with a peanut butter cookie mix and the reindeer are super easy to shape. I think this would be a great recipe to make with kids! If you don't do peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies would be an appropriate substitute (you may need to chill the dough before shaping). You could also use mini M&Ms instead of chocolate chips for the eyes and nose. A red hot would make an excellent Rudolph nose if you wanted to have a red-nose reindeer leading your herd.

Peanut Butter Reindeer – adapted from Betty Crocker

1 package of peanut butter cookie mix, mixed according to the package directions (sugar mix may be substituted)

2 tablespoons sugar

72 chocolate chips

24 pretzel sticks

Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheets with parchment or greased aluminum foil.

Roll cookie dough into 24 evenly sized balls (about 1¼ inch) and space evenly on cookie sheets. Dip a glass into a small bowl of sugar and use the glass to lightly press the cookies down. You want them about ½ inch thick. Use your fingers to shape one end of the cookie into a point. (The top will remain round and the middle and bottom will graduate to a point.)

Break 1 pretzel stick into four even pieces. Put two pieces on either side of head to form antlers. Use three chocolate chips (or M&Ms or red hots, your choice) to make the eyes and nose. Repeat with remaining pretzel sticks and chocolate chips.

Bake for 9-11 minutes until the edges are just brown. Cool for 2 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Aren't these adorable?!

 This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Holiday M&M Cookies

I've shared this recipe before, but I wanted to share it again because these are perfect holiday cookies. They are easy to make, taste great, and can be easily customized.

I made this batch with two different kinds of M&Ms: plain holiday ones and holiday mint. Both are delicious and prove that you can easily use any kind of M&Ms you want. I added 1 cup of M&Ms to the batter and then pressed 2-3 more candies on the top of each cookie. The candies on top with slightly crack, which is a really cool effect.

You could also add nuts, chocolate chips (any flavor), mini M&Ms, or even Reese's Pieces. Any addition would be delicious or great substitutes.

The recipe for my M&M cookies can be found here. If you try them, let me know what you think!
 

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

If I was forced to make only one cookie for the rest of my life (how incredibly tragic that would be!), it would be these cookies.  They have everything I love about cookies; they are soft, they melt in your mouth, they are extra chocolaty, and they are incredibly delicious.

I’ve only been making these for a few years, but they have easily become one of my favorite and most requested cookies during the holidays.  They are so good that one of my old roommates christened me “the baking goddess”.  So if you want to be a baking goddess (or god), I suggest you make these cookies ASAP.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies – adapted from Paula Deen

1 stick butter, at room temperature

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 box (18 oz) chocolate cake mix (I use Pillsbury’s Devil’s Food Cake)

Powdered sugar, for rolling and dusting

Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth and creamy (2-4 minutes).  Beat in the egg, then the vanilla.  In increments, beat in the cake mix.  (Why increments?  Do you want a chocolate cake mix mess in your kitchen?  I didn’t think so.)  Cover the bowl with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

Preheat oven to 350°.  Prepare your cookie sheets.  Grease your hands and roll the chilled dough, 1 tablespoon at a time, into smooth balls.  Roll the balls in powdered sugar and place, 2 inches apart, on the cookie sheets.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Cookies will look gooey and not done, but will continue to set after you remove them from the oven.  Do not over bake!

Cool on a wire rack and dust with more powdered sugar, if desired.  Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Chocolate Bon-Bon Drops

If for some reason you didn’t like the mostaccioli, these delicious chocolate cookies may be more up your ally.

There are a number of things I like about them.  One, they have icing, which makes everything better.  Two, they are small, so they are perfect for gift giving or for feeling better about yourself when you eat three or four (or five or six).  And, three, they have an interesting texture, almost like a shortbread. 

You can also do a number of toppers.  The original recipe tops them with a chocolate ball or maraschino cherry halves, but I also think that festive holiday sprinkles, a chocolate-covered espresso bean, or even leaving them plain is just as pretty and tasty.  I topped them with the cherries last year, but I forgot to buy some this year, so this year I topped them with sprinkles, chocolate chips, and M&Ms.

Chocolate Bon-Bon Drops – adapted from King Arthur Flour

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) of butter, softened

¼ cup Dutch-process cocoa

1 cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons vanilla

1½ cups all-purpose flour  

Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

¼ cup heavy cream*

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Various toppers, as desired

Place cookie ingredients in a bowl and mix with an electric or stand mixer on medium speed until a soft, smooth dough is formed.  The dough should be in one big lump and shouldn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.  Remove from the bowl, wrap well in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.  Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper or greased aluminum foil.  Using your hands, roll the dough into small balls, about the size of a gumball.  You can also use a tablespoon cookie scoop to drop the cookies on the pan, no rolling necessary.  Arrange the cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.  Bake for 7-10 minutes, watching carefully to avoid burning.  Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Make the icing: combine the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla in a small bowl.  The glaze should be rather thick.  Spread the icing onto almost-cool cookies and top with desired toppings.  Alternately, put the icing into a plastic bag (or pastry bag), snip off a small corner, and pipe onto the cookies.  This isn’t necessary, but it does create a pretty cookie.  Top with desired toppings.  Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

*You can also use half-and-half or whole milk to make the icing, but it will be much thinner and more like a glaze than an icing.  I would also cut the liquid down to about 2-3 tablespoons as opposed to ¼ cup.

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Cocoons

One of the reasons I wanted to do this 12 Days of Christmas Cookie series was because I wanted to share some of the recipes that define the holidays for me.  Do you have those?  Recipes that just scream “It’s Christmas” to you and your family?  We have several, including this cookie.  These cookies are very similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies, except they are made with chopped pecans and shaped into cocoons instead of balls or crescents.  This recipe came from my mother’s sister’s mother-in-law (got that connection?) and I assume that it was a recipe that was handed down to her.  It’s just that kind of cookie.  And it wouldn’t be the holidays if we didn’t make these.

Cocoons – makes about 2½ dozen

1 stick butter, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Powdered sugar, for coating

Mix butter, flour, pecans, sugar, and vanilla together.  This can be done by hand, but I prefer to mix it with a mixer (stand or hand).  You want everything to be well combined and the butter to be creamed into rest of the ingredients.  Cover and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour.

Preheat oven to 325°.  Line baking sheets with parchment or grease them.  Take a small amount of dough (use your best judgment, but I would say it’s more than 1 teaspoon and less than 1 tablespoon – exact, right?) and form cocoons.  The cocoons should be about the length of your little finger and a little fatter.  Arrange the cookies about an inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes until they are a light golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool on the pan until they are cool enough to handle (3-5 minutes).  Mound about a cup of powdered sugar on a piece of wax paper and coat the still-warm cocoons on all sides with powdered sugar.  Place on a wire rack to cool completely and repeat with remaining cocoons.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Mostaccioli

Mostaccioli (say: Mousta-chi-oly) are a southern Italian chocolate cookie and should not be confused with mostaccioli pasta, which is similar in size and shape to penne. There is lots of discussion on how these cookies should be made, mostly revolving around the inclusion (or exclusion) of ground almonds/almond flour and which spices to use. Some people shape them like diamonds, others make the round. Some use chocolate icing, others white. The differences appear to be both regional and based on personal preference. My grandmother, who hails from the province of Bari in the region of Puglia, made a very similar cookie that she called Diavolacci (say: devil-a-chi). She made hers with ground almonds, and either iced them with white or chocolate icing. Hers were cut in diamonds.

Sadly, I never got my grandmother's recipe. For several years I've been hunting recipes similar to hers. I've yet to find a recipe that produces the exact shape and flavor of hers, but I have found one that has a similar flavor. While I made mine with 2 cups of all-purpose flour, you can use 1 cup almond flour made from grinding blanched, slivered almonds in a food processor, and 1 cup all-purpose flour.

I hope you enjoy this taste of my family's heritage as much as I do!

Mostaccioli – makes about 2 dozen cookies

2 cups flour*

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sugar

½ cup butter (1 stick), softened

1 large egg

½ cup milk

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted**

3-4 tablespoons heavy cream

½ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

Sprinkles, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, a silicone baking mat, or grease the pans.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt until combined.

In a large bowl cream sugar and butter together until light and fluffy (about 2-4 minutes). Mix in egg. Scrape sides of bowl down and mix again. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just combined, scraping bowl when needed to make sure everything is mixed thoroughly.

To shape: Grease hands thoroughly with butter or cooking spray. Use a level tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball with your hands. Space the cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared pans.

Bake for 7-9 minutes. Cookies will look dry and cracked. Let cool on pan for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Icing: In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, extract, and 3 tablespoons heavy cream and mix until all the sugar is absorbed. You want it to be thinner than traditional icing, but thicker than a typical glaze. To thin icing, add more heavy cream, a teaspoon at a time.

Dip the tops of the cookies into the icing, making sure the icing covers the entire top of the cookies and fills in all the crevices. If desired, sprinkle the tops with festive holiday sprinkles.

*You can also substitute 1 cup almond flour, or 1 cup ground almonds for 1 cup of the all-purpose flour.

**1 cup powdered sugar, sifted is not the same as 1 cup sifted powdered sugar. The difference you measure 1 cup of the powdered sugar and then you sifted versus sifting powdered sugar and then measuring out one cup. In this recipe you want to measure and then sift.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you make it, let me know what you think!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies!

Food is definitely near the top of my list of my favorite things about Christmas. I love the warm smells – vanilla, cinnamon, apple, cranberry – that flood the house and seem to permeate every pore. While I adore the turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, and the many casseroles that grace our holiday table, baked goods are by far my favorite holiday food group.

My mother was a big holiday baker when I was a kid, and some of her favorite treats to make are now some of mine. Every year she had my twin cousins over to decorate sugar cookies for Santa a few days before Christmas. This year we are welcoming my cousins' oldest children (who are both 5) to the tradition. I can't wait to pass on this favorite memory of mine to them.

Christmas cookies are the best. I have no less than 20 different recipes to make this year. I've decided, since it's the season of giving and sharing, to share 12 of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes with you!

So starting December 1 and continuing until December 21, look for the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies to appear here! Watch closely...there may even be a giveaway coming soon! If you haven't already, I encourage you to subscribe, either by email or feed reader, so you don't miss a single cookie recipe!

I hope you are as excited as I am! Grab your mixer and a couple of pounds of butter, and check back Wednesday for the very first Christmas cookie recipe!