Showing posts with label
Two Weeks of Christmas Treats.
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Showing posts with label
Two Weeks of Christmas Treats.
Show all posts
Well, we’ve come to the end of the Two Weeks of Christmas Treats. I hope you’ve enjoyed the recipes I’ve shared, and maybe even got some inspiration for your holiday baking! Baking cookies and treats to share with my friends and family is absolutely one of my favorite things about the holidays. It’s been fun sharing some recipes with all of my virtual friends! :)
I’m ending the treat bonanza with a real winner: gingerbread cookie cheesecake bites. They start from refrigerated gingerbread cookie mix, so they couldn’t be easier to make. Andrew actually helped me make these, and he loved rolling the dough into balls and then making indentations in the cookies for the cheesecake filling. He also loved eating them, as did everyone else who tried them! The lemony cream cheese filling is such a perfect complement to the spicy gingerbread cookie. And the smell while these are baking – it’s out of this world.
I’m already imagining making these again with lots of different kinds of cookie dough. Mmmm. I’ll be sure to report on my experimentation in this area!
Gingerbread Cookie Cheesecake Bites
adapted from Created By Diane
1 30-ounce package refrigerated Pillsbury gingerbread cookie dough
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 to 1 teaspoon lemon zest
1. Roll two teaspoons of cookie dough into a ball for each cookie. Place balls of dough into paper lined mini cupcake/muffin pans. Make a well/indentation into each ball of dough with the back of a measurement teaspoon.
2. Beat room temperature cream cheese with powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla and lemon zest to taste. Place filling into a piping bag, cut off edge of bag. Place one teaspoon or so of filling into each area of cookie dough. Don’t over fill the cookies with filling as they will rise when baked.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes or until cookie tested with tooth pick comes out almost clean. Let cool before removing from cupcake pan. Makes 4 dozen.
I am certainly not the first person to post these Oreo truffles, right? They’ve definitely made their rounds throughout the food blogging community. They deserve all the attention, too; they’re incredibly delicious.
It took me awhile to get the hang of forming the balls. The mixture is incredibly wet and sticky, so after struggling for a few minutes, I chilled the mixture, then rolled the balls. That made a huge difference. They were easier to handle and easier to dip in the chocolate. Even after chilling them, the center still really had that rich chocolate flavor and texture you’d expect from a truffle. These are a bit time-consuming, but they’re such a crowd-pleaser that you’ll be a rock star if you make them.
Oreo Truffles
from Allrecipes
1 16-ounce package Oreo cookies
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
16 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
Red and green sugar for sprinkling, if desired
1. Crush cookies to fine crumbs in a food processor; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Chill for 15 minutes or so, just until the mixture firms up slightly. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1 inch in diameter.
2. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with sugars, if using.
3. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.
It seems to me that red velvet is just one of those flavors that everyone loves – in cake form, of course, but also in so many more applications. I, for one, am pretty much obsessed with this red velvet cheesecake (which would, incidentally, be a dramatic and absolutely delicious addition to your Christmas dessert table). But when I want a red velvet fix more quickly, these red velvet chocolate chip sandwich cookies are just the thing.
The cookies start with a red velvet cake mix. With a few simple additions (including chocolate chips), they become a delicious cookie that is perfect for sandwiching with a luxuriously smooth cream cheese frosting. These cookies, as you may imagine, are impossibly rich – one goes a long way, but you’ll still want to eat another, because they’re just so delicious.
These cookies are perfect for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and every single day of the year.
Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies
adapted from How Sweet It Is
1 box red velvet cake mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Half a batch of cream cheese frosting
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In an electric mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until a dough forms. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Roll into 24 balls and bake for 8 minutes.
4. Spread the bottom half of a cookie with cream cheese frosting. Top with another cookie. You’ll have a total of 12 cookie sandwiches.
Peppermint bark is, hands-down, one of my favorite holiday treats. I’ll confess that there is one particular store-bought version I prefer above even homemade versions, but when I saw these cookies, I just couldn’t resist trying them.
The base of the cookies is a buttery, crumbly, shortbread. It’s topped with peppermint bark: a layer of melted chocolate, crushed candy canes, and drizzled white chocolate. It’s a great combination of textures, and the shortbread layer really complements the flavor of the peppermint bark itself. And look how pretty they are! They're sort of a show-stopper – both in looks, and in taste.
Peppermint Bark Shortbread Cookies
from Epicurious
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped red-and-white-striped hard peppermint candies or candy canes (I used the spearmint tri-color candy canes)
2 ounces white chocolate
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13 x 9 x 2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with long strip of 9-inch-wide parchment paper, leaving overhang on both short sides of pan.
2. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla, then egg yolk. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just to blend.
3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into prepared baking pan, spacing evenly. Using moistened fingertips, press dough to form even layer over bottom of pan. Pierce dough all over with fork.
4. Bake cookie base until light golden brown and slightly puffed and edges begin to come away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes. Place pan on rack; immediately sprinkle semisweet chocolate over. Let stand until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes. Using small offset spatula, spread bittersweet chocolate over top of cookie in thin even layer. Immediately sprinkle chopped peppermint candies over.
5. Stir white chocolate in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Using fork, drizzle white chocolate all over cookies. Chill until white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.
6. Using paper overhang as aid, lift cookie from pan and transfer to work surface. Using large knife, cut cookie into irregular pieces. Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in refrigerator in airtight containers between layers of waxed paper or parchment paper.
There's really no recipe involved with either of these treats, but I still just have to share them with you. They're quick, easy, and adorable, and absolutely everyone loves them.
The classic version of this treat is made with a snap pretzel, a Rolo, and a pecan half. Simply top each pretzel with a Rolo, stick them on a baking sheet in the oven until the chocolates begin to soften, and then press a pecan half into the top of each one.
The version that I personally prefer replaces the Rolo with a miniature Reese cup, and the pecan with Christmas M & Ms. They're prepared the same way, but I think this version tastes even better. The pretzel/peanut butter/chocolate combination is just one of my very favorites!
You are literally minutes away from a delicious treat that you can make a lot of in very little time, so these are perfect if you've left your baking for the last minute. What are some other variations for these treats you can think of?
I love these cookies for one simple reason: They make me think of my mom.
My mom started making these cookies as soon as the cinnamon baking chips were released in the store, so I ate them a lot during college. Our house seemed to always smell like them. I’ll never forget the time she made a batch for her doctor’s office when she was heading there for an appointment. It wasn’t until after she was home, after everyone in the doctor’s office had eaten (and LOVED!) the cookies, that she realized she had completely forgotten to add flour to the mix. She shrugged and chose to see the humor in it, which was the way my mom always seemed to handle tough things in life – small things like flour left out of cookies, or big things like her cancer.
I miss my mom every single day, but I miss her the most this time of year. I wish she was here to bake these cookies, and many other kinds of cookies, with me. But when I bake them, and my house fills with their familiar, spicy smell, and I take a bite of a still-warm, delicious cookie, I really do feel like a part of her is still here with me. This recipe is very, very special to me.
Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies
slightly adapted from Hershey’s
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 10-ounce package Hershey’s cinnamon chips
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour and baking soda; add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in oats and cinnamon chips. Drop by heaping teaspoons unto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen.
Three words: Nutter. Butter. Santas.
How cute are these guys? Again, I’ve posted about these before, but I thought they deserved another mention here. I’d never seen these before I started dating my husband. His grandma makes these for Christmas every year, and now I’ve copied off of her, and I make them too. They’re adorable, and kids and grown-ups alike just love them.
They do take some time to make, but they’re not hard to make by any means. They require very little effort, and they are just so cute that they’re more than worth it.
Nutter Butter Santas
2 packages white baking chocolate, chopped
1 package Nutter Butter sandwich cookies
Red sugar
32 white chocolate chips
64 miniature sweet or semisweet chocolate chips
32 red hot candies
1. In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt white chocolate, stirring occasionally.
2. Dip one end of each cookie into melted chocolate. Place on wire racks. For Santa's hat, sprinkle red sugar on top part of chocolate. Place one white chocolate chip off-center on hat for pom-pom; let stand until set.
3. Dip other end of each cookie into melted chocolate for beard, leaving center of cookie uncovered. Place on wire racks.
4. With a dab of melted chocolate, attach semisweet chips for eyes and a red hot for nose.
5. Place on waxed paper until chocolate sets.
I’m really excited about today’s Christmas treat, you guys. Mint chocolate chip COOKIES. My favorite ice cream flavor, in cookie form. With their fresh, minty flavor and abundance of chocolate chips, these cookies taste like Christmas on a plate.
These cookies use packaged sugar cookie mix, which I’ve used lots of times with really good results. I’m sure you could find a completely-from-scratch recipe if you were so inclined. But if you’re making these for Christmas along with a bunch of other types of cookies, why not take a little help from a mix? The mix works perfectly for these cookies, giving them a sugary flavor and a nice texture.
I will be honest with you and tell you that not too many of these cookies actually made it onto my Christmas cookie trays last year. They were eaten too quickly by my own family! I’m making them again this year, just for us.
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Betty Crocker
1 pouch (1 pound 1.5 ounces) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
6 to 8 drops green food color
1 egg
1 cup creme de menthe baking chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.
2. Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.
I’ve seen these treats simply called “peanut butter balls,” and I know the fact that I refer to them as buckeyes is purely because I live where I do. The buckeye is Ohio’s state tree (and also the name of our college football team, of course!), and these treats were given their name because of their resemblance to the buckeye nut. Although the ones from the trees aren’t edible, thankfully these are – and they’re delicious.
Buckeyes, hands down, are my favorite Christmas treat. They remind me of my childhood, when we’d go to my grandma’s for Christmas every year and my aunt would make a huge plate of buckeyes for the dessert table. It was something I looked forward to every single Christmas. Even today, when I make my own buckeyes (using my aunt’s recipe!), they still don’t taste as good as hers.
Not all buckeyes are created equal. Homemade ones are vastly superior to the packaged ones you can get at the store. The type of peanut butter is important for these, too; don’t use natural peanut butter, and don’t use a generic brand. Normally I’m all about generics, but the flavor of the peanut butter is really important in these treats. I prefer using Jif, but I've also used Skippy for these with good results.
This will be the first year Andrew will help me make our buckeyes. Rolling all those peanut butter balls can get a bit time-consuming, but I’m betting the time will fly when I have him in the kitchen helping me.
A note about the recipe: You’ll probably only need around 4 cups of chocolate chips to dip the peanut butter balls in, but I strongly suggest you melt even more chocolate than you need. When you get to the last few, it’ll be hard to get enough chocolate to cover the peanut butter. You can save the leftover chocolate for another recipe if you don’t want to waste it.
Buckeyes
from my aunt
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup softened butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1. In a large bowl, blend peanut butter, butter, and vanilla until smooth and well-combined. Add powdered sugar and mix well.
2. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Combine chocolate chips and vegetable oil. Melt in the microwave in 20-second increments until smooth, stirring after each interval.
4. Using a tooth pick, dip each peanut butter ball in melted chocolate, leaving a portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them look like buckeyes.
5. Refrigerate until serving. Makes 4 to 5 dozen buckeyes, depending on size.
I made (and posted about) these buried cherry cookies in the early days of my blog, and I’ve made them at least twice a year ever since – usually for Valentine’s Day and again at Christmas. Everyone absolutely loves these sweet little cookies.
Although I’m not a fan of chocolate-covered cherries (it’s the creamy white stuff in them that I don’t like), I adore these cookies too. First of all, they’re adorable. Secondly, it’s such a fun surprise to bite into a cookie and find a cherry hiding under the chocolate frosting. These come together really easily, and the recipe makes more than 40 cookies, so again, these are perfect for cookie exchanges and gift-giving.
The frosting does actually cook in the oven along with the cookies, which may sound a little strange. It hardens just slightly and adds an interesting texture to the cookies, and baking the frosting enables it to hide the cherry perfectly without sliding off. I think you’ll love these fun, cute little cookies!
Buried Cherry Cookies
from Better Homes and Gardens
1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries (42 to 48)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain cherries, reserving juice. Halve any large cherries. In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in cocoa powder and as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.
2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press your thumb into the center of each ball. Place a cherry in each center.
3. For frosting, in a small saucepan combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons reserved cherry juice. (If necessary, frosting may be thinned with additional cherry juice.) Spoon 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover.
4. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Makes 42 to 48 cookies.
When I’m planning my Christmas cookie trays, there are certain requirements that I like to fill to make for a well-rounded selection of treats. I like to include something minty. I like to include some sort of candy-like treat. And I like to include some type of fudge.
As soon as I stumbled upon this recipe for raspberry truffle fudge, I knew I’d be making it instead of the standard chocolate or peanut butter version. And I’m so very glad that I did, because I got more compliments on this fudge than on anything else I included on my cookie trays. Raspberry and chocolate pair so perfectly together, and they’re a match made in Heaven in this rich, chocolaty fudge.
This fudge is so easy to make, and it’s definitely a crowd-pleaser!
Raspberry Truffle Fudge
adapted from Allrecipes
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Salt to taste
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup raspberry preserves
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1. Spray a 9x9 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray, and line with wax paper.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine 3 cups chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Heat in microwave until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to let it scorch. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Spread into pan, and cool to room temperature.
3. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat raspberry preserves until smooth. Strain seeds using a fine mesh strainer. Stir in cream and 2 cups chocolate chips. Heat in the microwave until the chocolate melts and stir until smooth. Cool to lukewarm, then pour over the fudge layer.
4. Refrigerate until both layers are completely set, about 1 hour. Cut into 1 inch pieces.
For the next two weeks, it’s all Christmas, all the time here at Cassie Craves! I have ten great recipes for Christmas treats to share with you. If you’re still planning your Christmas cookie trays (like I am – I can’t believe I haven’t finalized my baking list yet!!), I hope you find something here that inspires you. All of the recipes I’ll be sharing were on my cookie trays last year.
First up are these delicious gingerbread eggnog cookies. They’re a classic, quick and easy drop cookie, and one batch makes a ton, which makes them perfect for gift-giving and cookie exchanges.
As you can probably tell from the picture, the cookies aren’t actually gingerbread. They’re made with gingerbread eggnog. This stuff is delicious – on its own, and in the cookies. It gives the cookies just the right amount of the warm, inviting, spicy flavor of gingerbread. It’s a flavor that just screams Christmas for me, and it turns these cookies into something really special.
Gingerbread Eggnog Cookies
adapted from Allrecipes
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup gingerbread (or plain, or any flavor) eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg, eggnog and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture so it is well blended. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 6 dozen cookies.
