THIS PART IS REALLY GOING TO BE FUN…
OLD TIME RADIO THEATER! EVERY CHRISTMAS!
Stay tuned for our 12 days of Christmas! Today is Christmas Cookie Day!
Christmas Cookie Day!
While I was sitting here putting this post together, I was thinking about all of the baking we’ve done and all of the cookies we’ve made over the years. We love to bake, and for a very good reason – we have a lot of people to eat up the goodies! I like to think back over the years, and I usually remember things about a certain Christmas based on what kind of treats and crafts we were making. I can even remember what Christmas music albums we were favoring that year, and playing over and over again!
I remember the Christmas when we had really gotten the hang of making whole wheat bread, and also learned how to make holiday sweet breads – it felt like we made bread every day! I remember the Christmas when we found the best cookie magazine at the grocery store. We made every cookie in there. Today, that same little cookie magazine is falling apart and has been stapled back together a dozen times, the cover long gone, but we still use it every year.
I remember the box of sugar cookies we made for a drive in the mountains. There was nothing perfect about them – I remember how messy the frosting was, but they were so good! And of course, I think of the year we got a really good cookie press and made what felt like a thousand spritz cookies and decorated every single one.
Christmas cookies always seem so different from all other kinds of cookies you could make at any other time of the year. I don’t know how it turns out that way, but somehow, Christmas cookies always mean there’s going to be flour, sugar, and sprinkles packed into every corner and crevice of the kitchen floor for a month. Many memories of that… No matter how hard we cleaned, there was always another heap of sprinkles and crumbs. Especially when we had a baby/toddler combination moving around the house. There was always one-half of a wet cookie mixed in the toy box at all times (Precious baby days!)
They look different too. You know all those Martha Stewart sugar cookies (and a lot of other cookies too) we see every year? They are absolutely perfect, so posh and pretty. Must have taken 30 minutes per cookie. But we all know the truth – Real sugar cookies don’t look like that. Of course, we get those beautiful batches of almost-pristine cookies, but most of the time, they are quite, creative. And sometimes a bit crunchy, or crispy, as my little sister likes to say. Colored sugar and sprinkles are never sprinkled evenly. There is usually a lovely heap right dead in the center of the cookie. This applies to the frosting as well.
But, perfect or not, they are always so special, and so full of memories. ?
WHAT’S YOUR BEST COOKIE DAY MEMORY? SHARE WITH US!
~ Jessica ~
Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookie Dough
~ for Spritz cookies and thumbprint cookies ~
The recipe makes enough for about 3 dozen of each cookie, double if needed!
One dough, two cookies for a more productive baking day! Holiday baking can be hard when there are so many recipes we want to make, but there’s not enough time in the day! I like to use one cookie dough recipe for multiple cookies to make a baking day a little more productive. It saves some ingredients too. We don’t really need 6 dozen of one kind of cookie when we are making three others, and I won’t find myself sitting in a kitchen with bowls of unbaked cookie dough all over the place.
In the Bosch mixer or standing mixer, combine the following:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. peppermint extract (or vanilla for a plain chocolate dough)
Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add:
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 2/3 cups soft white wheat flour (or 2 1/4 cups unbleached white flour)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Mix until soft dough forms. Divide dough in half and chill for one hour. These are the two cookies I made with it…
Peppermint Spritz Sandwiches
These came out so good! Use a cookie press (spritz press) to make the spritz cookies, any shape you want. Press them out 1″ apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until edges of the cookies are firm. Don’t overbake them though, or they won’t be soft!
Cool cookies, and make filling.
Peppermint Fluff Filling
In a small bowl with a mixer, combine the following:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 7 oz. jar of marshmallow cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. Lorann’s Peppermint oil (available at many grocery stores, or here)
Mix on high speed for 2-3 minutes, until creamy and fluffy. I mixed in 1/2 cup of Williams-Sonoma Handmade Peppermint Snow, or you can use 1/2 cup of crushed peppermint candies. Fill the cookies and roll edges of the cookies with additional crushed peppermint while the filling is still moist and sticky!
German Chocolate Thumbprints
I love German Chocolate Cake… and naturally, a cookie version is just as good! I used a finely shredded coconut I bought at a natural food store and loved it. It wasn’t like the cheaper, sticky shredded coconut – it was light and fluffy, perfect for rolling the balls of dough in! I highly recommend finding some, but if not, the regular shredded coconut will work just fine.
Roll chocolate cookie dough into 1″ balls. Roll balls in shredded coconut and place 2″ apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use your thumb to make an indentation in the center of each ball. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool and make the filling.
In a saucepan whisk two egg yolks until smooth. Add:
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Another eggnog cookie? Maybe. I haven’t tasted one like it, ever. We even used soft whole white wheat (freshly milled). So maybe another whole wheat cookie, but you’ll never know there is wheat in there. How many will it make? I don’t know! I’m guessing we made 3 dozen, but they were larger. You could always make smaller drops.
5 1/2 cups soft white wheat flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. apple pie spice or cinnamon
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
Now add:3 eggs beaten,
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tsp. rum extract or rum
1 cup eggnogCream until fluffy. Slowly add your flour mixture, jogging each time you add. This is about the consistency. It looks pretty empty because I always do a test cookie when using wheat flour – it was so good we immediately did another tray.This is about the size we dropped onto the sheets. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Oh boy.Now the best part: FROSTING!
Creamy Eggnog Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 Tbsp. eggnog
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. rum extract or rum
Beat together and frost. You could use real rum but I separate the frosting and sprinkle the real rum iced cookies with spice so the children know which to pick.This will be a keeper. Enjoy the recipes!