Christmas cookies

So many yummy cookies vied for my attention this year.  It was almost impossible to narrow it down, and I had every intention of baking many more than I did.  Finally it came down to two.  I had them all baked and laid out so pretty on a Christmas tray... and totally forgot to take pictures!  So you’re just going to have to go to the websites and see the pictures of them there.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies with Sea Salt

makes 2 dozen cookies

source: two peas and their pod

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons butter

7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

soft caramel, rolled into little balls

sea salt

Preheat oven to 350º; line 2 baking sheets with baking paper, lightly coated with cooking spray.  I used Silpats!  Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife.  Sift together flour, soda, and salt; set aside.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will resemble coarse sand).  Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine.  Add flour mixture, stirring until moist.  Wrap the chocolate dough around the caramel balls.  Place balls on cookie sheets and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until almost set.  Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm.  Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

These were really yummy, but a little salty for my taste.  (Duh!)  I didn’t think I put all that much salt on them, but I wasn’t liking the salt.  I might try them again without it and see how they taste.  Oh, and I used Milk Duds in the middle so I didn’t have to worry about rolling my caramel into a ball.  Good cookies, but not my favorites.  The boys seem to agree with me, as we still have quite a few left.

Soft Gingersnap Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks

makes about 3 dozen cookies

source: two peas and their pod

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup molasses

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1¼ teaspoons cinnamon

1¼ teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 large eggs

3½ cups all-purpose flour

1½ cups white chocolate chunks

1 cup granulated sugar-for coating cookie dough balls

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment papers or with a silicone baking mat.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

Beat in the molasses, canola oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Mix until well combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth.  Slowly add in the flour.  Next, stir in the white chocolate chunks.

Scoop the dough into balls and roll in granulated sugar.  Place on lined baking sheets, about two inches apart.  Bake for 10 minutes, the cookies will still be soft.  Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

In place of the cinnamon and cloves I used 2½ teaspoons of Chef Tess’s Wise Woman of the East spice mix.  And I could find no white chocolate chips in my house.  Must have used them all for something.  So I chopped up some Baker’s white chocolate and used that instead.  Mmm.  Really yummy gingersnaps, nice and soft, even the next day.  This recipe I highly recommend!  So do the animals ~ they were gone within a day!

What kind of cookies did you make for Christmas?

buttermilk cookie mix neighbor gifts

I’m always looking for good neighbor gifts, and was delighted when I found this on ~ yep, you guessed it ~ Chef Tess Bakeress’s blog.  I love the idea of cookie mixes, since we all get inundated with way too many sweets this time of year, and this way you can hang on to the mix and make up some cookies when you’re more in the mood for them.  I used the basic recipe, which I am listing here, but there are more baking options once you have the mix, which you can find on the website.

Tess’s Extra Moist Buttermilk Cookie Mix

source: chef tess bakeresse

9 cups all purpose flour (whole wheat works, but be sure it is soft wheat or pastry flour)

1½ cups buttermilk powder (instant milk is okay too)

1½ cups Homemade Instant Pudding Mix

3 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons vanilla or LorAnn Princess emulsion

2 cups butter or shortening (I use Spectrum Organic)

3 cups sugar (you can use splenda spoonable instead)

Soften butter in a very large bowl, electric mixers are amazing for making mixes, I highly recommend using one.  Add the sugar and vanilla (I also love brandy, rum, nut flavors...) and cream well.  In a separate large bowl combine the dry ingredients.  Gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.  If done correctly it will look like a course cornmeal.

This mix will make 20 cups of cookie mix.  I use 2 cups of mix per gourmet mix.  Most often I will put 2 cup portions in storage size zip bags.  This mix will make 10 bags of plain sugar cookie mix.

I started by making a big batch of Tess’s homemade pudding mix (find it here).  I also had a can of powdered butter and decided to use that instead of regular butter.  (I found a #10 can at Wal-Mart, but can’t find it online anywhere.  They also sell it at Kitchen Kneads.)  I threw everything in my Kitchen Aid and mixed it all up.  Be aware that your mixer bowl will be VERY full, especially when using powdered butter, so use the pouring shield if you have one.  I then put 2 cups each into holiday Ziploc bags.

Only I didn’t get 10 bags full.  I only got 8.  Hmm.  I decided I’d better bake up a batch and sample them.  So I mixed it all up and used the drop method, and got the funniest cookies I’ve ever seen.  They looked like biscuits.  They tasted like biscuits.  They tasted like biscuits because I forgot to put the sugar in.  Ug.  So I dumped all the bag contents back into a large bowl, added a little less than 2 cups of sugar, stirred it all up and bagged it all again.  Then I used the leftovers (about 1¼ cups that didn’t go into the bags) to make up another batch.  This time they turned out great.  Very yummy.  They would probably have been even better with a little butter cream frosting on top, but they were gone before I could find out.  This is the best picture I was able to get before little fingers had grabbed them all up.

After I had them all in bags, I made up a few of these,

used my Xyron to make the labels into stickers, stuck them onto the bag and plopped placed them carefully into these cute little treat holders I got from Current several years ago.  Fit perfectly, and made a great neighbor gift.  (I even made a second batch of the mix, more to give away and some to keep for myself.)

What did you give for neighbor gifts this year?  Did you stick with a tried-and-true or did you make something new this year?