Tag: Christmas cookies

Chocolate · Cookies · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Uncategorized

Rodelle Baking Cocoa

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Last year i discovered this wonderful cocoa, so rich and dark in flavor that it has replaced my regular cocoa in almost every recipe!

This year it was at Costco for $6.99 /25 oz bag so i bought enough bags to last me until i go to a nursing home or Jesus returns (personally i pray for that to happen first, maybe I’ll be raptured with a bag of Rodelle in my hand!)

Wanting to make cookies for a car trip to Sedona tomorrow with some friends, i looked up some recipes on my blog of which i hadnt made in a while and wa la….these popped up! So first batch is out and instead of the ganache filling the recipe calls for, i used Hershey kisses for the middle! Using the Thumbie, it is so easy to make perfect indentions for the kisses! Am also making some of these using raspberry jam in the middle! Love the flavor of raspberry and chocolate together! If you dont have Rodelle cocoa, you can use Hershey, they just wont be as chocolatey!

(Dont want go make Hershey people sad because I like Rodelle better, I want them to know NOTHING is better than a Hershey kiss, except a kiss from my hubbie)IMG_1642

Cookies · Desserts · Pies · Uncategorized

Pecan Pie Cookies

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Perfect for the cookie exchanges which we all love to attend.

*Am using a mini cupcake pan for these

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tables light corn syrup

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

2 cups flour

1 teas baking powder

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4  cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 teas vanilla

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in saucepan, and stir in powdered sugar and corn syrup until sugar isi dissolved.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often and stir in the peans utill well combined. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 min to chill.

Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour and baking powder togetehr in a bowl and set aside.

Beat brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter, egg and vanilla in large bowl with mixer. until creamy, about 2 min.

Gradually beat in the flour mixture until well mixed. Pinch off about 1 tables of dough and roll it into a ball. Press the dough into the bottom of an ungreased cupcake pan cup and use your thumb (or Thumbie if youhave one) to cuper the bottom and up the sides about 1/4 inch. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Fill each little crust with about 1 teas of the prepared pecan filling.

Bake in preheated oven untilthe cookie shells are lightly browned about 10 to 13 minutes. Let the cookie cool in the cupcake pan for 5 min and then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

 

Chocolate · Cookies · Desserts · Holiday Fare

Red Velvet Cookies (Thank you Duncan Hines)

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This is an infomercial! I thought since most of us are in a time crunch, but are still desiring to bake Christmas cookies, this would come in handy. I have heard of the cookies made from cake mixes, but until two nights ago, I had never really liked the ones that I had tasted. A friend came by with snickerdoodles which were awesome. When I told Peggy how good they were, she said, “glad you liked them, I made them from a cake mix”. I was shocked. So today, I stopped and bought a Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix and am making the cookie recipe on the side of their box. Am making one little change. I am making them into thumbprint cookies and filling the indention with my cream cheese frosting. Am so excited that I can whip up a batch of cookies that taste like homemade, in less than 5 min…I thought it would be fun to color the cream cheese frosting green so, wa-la, Christmas cookies that taste like red velvet and it was really so easy. The picture below is a plate of the original directions on Duncan Hines, each ball dipped in Powdered sugar, the ones on the outside are the ones I ended up just baking as balls and then added colored cream cheese frosting and sprinkles. Merry Christmas from my heart to yours…tkbakesalot2014-12-21 14.04.58

If you happen to have a box of red velvet cake mix that doesn’t have the recipe on the side, here it is:

1 box red velvet cake mix

6 tables softened butter

2 eggs

Mix until well blended with mixer on low to medium speed. Drop 1″ balls into powdered sugar and onto lightly greased cookie sheet if you are not using Parchment paper or coated cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for about 9-10 min. If you use the cream cheese frosting, do not roll the balls in the powdered sugar. Just drop the balls onto the cookie sheet and using a Thumbie or your thumb, make an indention in the center of each cookie. The indention will almost disappear when cookies are baked, but don’t worry about that. Fill in with frosting of your choice.

Cookies · Desserts · Fruit · Holiday Fare

Triple Ginger Cookies

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This was my first time to participate in the Food Bloggers Cookie Swap. I received 3 different types of cookies from 3 other bloggers. One of the cookies that were sent to me were these delicious Triple Ginger Cookies from, “loveandflour.com”   There were amazing, so I went to her blog to obtain her recipe. This was also my first time to use fresh ginger in a cookie recipe. These are now my favorite cookies and had so much fun making them today. Thanks Leandra for sharing these awesome cookies with the world! They have won my heart.

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour ( I used just all purpose since I didn’t have wheat)

1 tables ground ginger

1 teas baking soda

1/8 teas salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/4 cup molasses

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 tables fresh ginger, finely grated

1 large egg, beaten

1 cup dried chopped apricots

1/2 cup crystalized ginger, finely chopped

1 cup turbinado sugar

In a large bowl, stir together flours, ground ginger, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat.

Remove from the heat once the butter is melted and stir in the molasses, brown sugar and fresh ginger. Allow to cool.

Add the beaten egg to the cooled molasses mixture and stir to combine.

Slowly stir this mixture into the dry flour mixture.

Fold in the apricots and crystalized ginger into the dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Once chilled, shape the dough into half-inch balls and roll in the turbinado sugar.

Place the cookie balls on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 8-10 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

 

Cookies · Desserts · Holiday Fare

Chocolate Thumbprint Rasperry Cookies

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Chocolate Cream Cheese Thumbprints
Chocolate Cream Cheese Thumbprints

IMG_1642

Two weeks ago, I posted this recipe for a few minutes, but quickly deleted it when I realized that I wasn’t suppose to put it out on the blog before sending out these cookies made from this recipe. I have made these twice now and have taken them to several people and these cookies get lots of ahs and “wow, these are really good”. So wanted to be sure and put it out there again. I won’t be taking it off again, so enjoy with a giant cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

2 cups flour

1 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 pkg (8 oz) softened cream cheese

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided

1 egg, room temp

1 teas vanilla

1/3 cup red raspberry jam

Heat oven to 375. Mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl for 2 minutes; stir until all chocolate is melted. Whisk in cream cheese. Add 1 cup sugar, egg and vanilla; mix well.

Stir in flour mixture. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to 1 hour.

Roll dough into 1″ balls. Coat each ball by rolling in remaining sugar. (I mixed red sugar and white to make them look more festive)

Place 2″ apart on ungreased baking sheet.  Using your Thumbie (remember you can order them from me for $6.00) or your own thumb, make an indention in the center of each ball. Fill each indention with about 1/4 teas jam.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. (because they are chocolate and hard to tell when “lightly browned” I baked them for 9 minutes and they came out perfect.)

Cool completely.

Uncategorized

Cookie Swap

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Finally stepping out of my comfort zone, I have entered a cooking bloggers cookie swap. Today I received the 3 bloggers (which is kept secret until they receive the cookies), which I will send 1 dz cookies to each of the 3.. Haven’t figured out which cookie I will make, so if any of you have a great cookie recipe that travels well by mail, please let me hear from you. All the recipes from this cookie swap will be posted in an on-line site in December.

Essentially, you get three dozen cookies, one dozen each from three other bloggers in addition to mailing out three dozen cookies of your own creation to three fellow bloggers and make a donation to a lovely charity in the process. What could be better?

 

 

Chocolate · Desserts

Christmas Chocolate Cookies

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I have decided that this Christmas season, every recipe will have the “Christmas” in it. That way, not only will it remind me that each and every day I need to be focused on the “Christ” in Christmas but also, it just makes the recipe sound so much better. Take these cookies, if they were just called Chocolate Cookies, you would just think, “hum…another chocolate cookie recipe” but calling them Christmas Chocolate Cookie, well…..you get the idea…just sounds so much “cookie classy”!

Actually I got these out of the Martha Stewart Cookie Recipe book and just made them this morning. They are easy and will pack beautifully if you are needing a cookie to box up to send to friends or family.

2 cup plus 2 tables flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (dutch-process such as Hershey’s)

1 teas baking soda

1/2 teas salt

1 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

And a partridge in a pear tree….oops, got carried away there for a minute.

Sugar for rolling the balls of dough in before baking.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. (I have to admit, I never sift this mixture, I just stir in really well with a fork or knife until it is mixed)

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium until light and fully. About 2 mins. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to combine. Reduce speed and gradually add the flour mixture until all is blended. Wrap plastic over bowl and set in fridge for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350.

Shape dough in 1″ balls. Roll each ball in sugar. Place on baking dish lined with parchment paper about 2″ apart.

Bake until set, about 10-12 min.Transfer to rack to cool. Cookies can be stored between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container at room temp up to a week. If you house is like ours, they won’t last 2 days.