Making The Most of Naptime

Monday, 12 December 2016

White Chocolate Gingersnaps #ChristmasCookies

Well, it's the final day of the 12 Days of #ChristmasCookies, and my final contribution to it for this year. Today I'm sharing White Chocolate Gingersnaps with everyone. I wish I could take full credit for this recipe, because it's amazing. However, it is really just one of my favorite gingersnap recipes , jazzed up with some extra deliciousness. This deliciousness that I speak of includes a variety of sparkly sprinkles and a little coating of white chocolate.

These gingersnaps are amazing, and I've spoken of them before. You might remember my post about Gingersnap Maple Pecan Ice Cream. Well, how can you forget it? .....I ramble on and on and on about it on a regular basis. Sorry. Anyway, this is the recipe I use for that too. Why? This recipe produces the most delicious little tender, but still a bit chewy gingersnaps. They are practically perfect in every way. The recipe's source is from Taste of Home Magazine, and it is called Lara's Tender Gingersnaps. I've rewritten the recipe below, and added my own few notes (in italics) to make them a little more festive.

Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I cut mine back to 1/4 tsp, but that's purely a personal preference)
1/4 cup sugar (for rolling)

Directions
1. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until blended. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; gradually add to brown sugar mixture and mix well (dough will be stiff). Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (I have found 1 hour to be ample time without affecting my results).

2. Shape dough into 1 in. balls. Roll in sugar. (I rolled some of mine in coarse golden decorating sugar). Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.

3. Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes or until set (Just set! Don't overbake or you'll have crispy gingersnaps). Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 3 dozen.

Now, to add some holiday touch to these:

-Microwave 1 cup of white chocolate chips + 2 tsp shortening in a 2 cup measuring cup. I start with 30 seconds, stir, and then keep doing this at 15 second intervals until fully melted.

-Dunk about half of each cooled cookie into the melted chocolate. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with any sprinkles or coarse decorating sugar of your choice. Cool completely before moving to allow chocolate to harden. Or, pop in the fridge for a few minutes.

These cookies freeze well too. Enjoy!

Welcome to the 12 Days of Cookies, hosted by Family Around the Table and Cooking With Carlee. We will be filling the season with all kinds of delicious cookies. Be sure to check out some of the recipes below or you can follow along on Facebook or Twitter by searching #ChristmasCookies. We also have a 12 Days of Cookies Pinterest board where you can see all of the goodness! May your holidays be sweet!

Day 12

Bullas (Caribbean Spice Cookie) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Cinnamon Bun Cookies from Cooking With Carlee
Cranberry Bliss Cookies from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Eggnog Snickerdoodles from Palatable Pastime
Gingerbread Crinkles from Jolene's Recipe Journal
Minty Dark Chocolate Delights from Family Around the Table
Norwegian Pecan Cookies from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
Pecan Balls from The Chef Next Door
White Chocolate Gingersnaps from Making the Most of Naptime

Saturday, 10 December 2016

Chocolate Mallow Drops #ChristmasCookies

Welcome back to Day 10 of the 12 Day of Christmas Cookies, and my 5th contribution to them. Be sure to check out all of the other delicious recipes featured today. Check out all of the links following this post!

I first made these cookies a few years ago for a Christmas platter, and remember them being SO good. I dug out this recipe again last weekend to bring along to a game day party we went to. I ate SO much at that event that I'm surprised I even had room to indulge on these. But I did. I had many. Too many! In my defense, we got there at noon and stayed until 8:00. So that's eight solid hours to rebuild my appetite, and eat again. Yikes!

The point is, these cookies are so full of chewy, chocolaty, marshmallowy (is that a word?) goodness, that anybody who reads this needs to add them to their list of cookies to try. The base of it is basically a rich, brownie-like drop cookie. In the last couple minutes of baking, you top it with a piece of marshmallow. If that isn't already amazing, you finish it all off with a squiggle of chocolate icing. Heaven in a cookie.

The original recipe can be found via Taste of Home, here. I have re-written it below with a couple of my own tips.

CHOCOLATE MALLOW DROPS

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans - I omitted these.
18 to 22 large marshmallows, halved

Icing:
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 to 6 tablespoons brewed coffee

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Stir in pecans (I omitted these).

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. I always cover mine in parchment for easy and lazy cleanup.

Bake 6 minutes. Do NOT overbake here. The will look slightly underdone. That's OK! If you overbake them they will be dry. You want moist and fudgy!

Press a marshmallow half onto each cookie, cut side down. Bake 2-3 minutes longer or until edges of cookies are set and marshmallows are softened. Again, don't overbake here. If your marshmallows start to spread, you have overbaked. You just want them to puff up slightly. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Since these are JUST baked, I recommend allowing them to cool slightly and firm up on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes before allowing them to cool completely on a wire rack.

For icing, in a microwave, melt butter and chocolates; stir until smooth. Stir in confectioners' sugar and enough coffee to reach a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cookies. (I used a piping bag here. You can also cut a very small hole in the corner of a zipper lock bag). Let stand until set. Yield:about 3 dozen.

Day 10

Chocolate Mallow Drops from Making the Most of Naptime
Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Cookeis from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies from F amily Around the Table
Homemade Jingles from Jolene's Recipe Journal
Kolacky from Cooking With Carlee
Palmiers from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Turtle Chocolate Chip Cookies from Palatable Pastime

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Eggnog Hugs #ChristmasCookies

Eggnog is one of those flavors that just tastes exactly like Christmas to me. I get really, really, really excited when I first see it in the stores each year. I swear it's getting earlier every year....but that doesn't matter to me. I bought my first carton in October this year, when my youngest son gleefully pointed to it and announced "Look mom, snowman milk!!" He's three. So I thought this was adorable.

When I signed up to be a part of the 12 Days of #ChristmasCookies, I knew I wanted to incorporate eggnog. I managed to come up with two eggnog cookies this year. I've already shared one, back on December 4th, my Eggnog Biscotti. This one is equally delicious - and fun, because it has a yummy little Hershey's Hug on each chewy, sugar coated cookie. The sugar makes them glisten a little. These were declared a winner in my household, and I hope they will be in yours, too. Again, be sure to check out what everyone else has baking today, by visiting each of the links at the bottom of this post!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar, + 3 tbsp for rolling
1/2 cup eggnog
1 tsp vanilla
30 Hershey's Hugs

Unwrap the Hugs and put them in the freezer while you make your cookies. If they're cold, it helps them from melting into your cookies!

Beat softened butter until very creamy. Add sugar, and continue beating until light and fluffy. On low speed, gradually beat in eggnog, then vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and pinch of salt in a small bowl. Stir into the eggnog mixture until well combined. Cover the dough and chill for approximately 1 hour.

Shape dough into 1.5 inch balls. Roll in sugar and place about 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Gently flatten (just slightly!) with a fork (or a glass if you don't like any marks). Bake for about 11 minutes in a preheated 350F oven. The should look just done. Allow to cool on your baking sheet for about 2 minutes, and then place one of your frozen hugs in the center of each cookie, applying a little gentle pressure to "press" it into the middle. Remove to fully cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Day 8

Almond Butter Cookies from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Eggnog Hugs from Making the Most of Naptime
Hungarian Poppyseed Pinwheel Cookies from Palatable Pastime
Kourambiedes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Melting Moments from Cooking With Carlee
Muddy Snowballs from Family Around the Table
Raspberry Coconut Cookies from Jolene's Recipe Journal

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies #ChristmasCookies

We're half way through the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! This brings me to my 3rd contribution to this roundup: Taste of Home's Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies. I first made these a few years ago, and then I forgot about this gem. I always have my standby baking that I don't tend to stray from over the holidays. So, with all of the cookies I've been making for this blog roundup, added to my old standbys in the freezer....it's going to be a very sugar infused holiday season. I'm happy I dug this one out again as it really should be part of my regular rotation.

This cookie is best described as a chewy brownie with a sweet little maraschino cherry in the middle. How can one beat that? Well, I guess the chocolate frosting added to the top helps. These are pure magic. PURE MAGIC! They come together quickly, and you don't even have to chill the dough, making them a very impressive treat that is super quick to prepare. I followed the recipe exactly as published by Taste of Home, with the exception of adding 2 tbsp of milk to the dough, and halving the amount frosting as it just made too much. I have copied the recipe, below, from Taste of Home. I've noted my adaptations in italics. Also note that this recipe is called Frosted-Chocolate Cherry Cookies on the Taste of Home Website, but was originally published as Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies many years ago, including the cookbook I found it in.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tbsp 2% milk
1 jar (10 ounces) maraschino cherries (I used 30 cherries)
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I halved the frosting to use 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (I used 1/4 cup)

Directions
1. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa, 1/4 teaspoon salt, baking powder and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture.

2. Drain cherries, reserving 1-1/2 teaspoons juice. Pat cherries dry. Shape 1 tablespoon of dough around each cherry. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool on wire racks.

3. For frosting, in a saucepan, heat chocolate chips and milk until chips are melted; stir until smooth. Remove from the heat. Add reserved cherry juice and remaining salt. Frost cookies.

Yield: about 2-1/2 dozen (Mine made exactly this!)

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Welcome to 12 Days of Cookies, hosted by FamilyAroundTheTable and CookingwithCarlee. We'll be sharing delicious cookie recipes all week long in celebration of the holiday season. Perfect for your holiday cookie trays or party dessert table. Search #ChristmasCookies to see all the goodies these 12 days. Follow the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Pinterest board for more cookie ideas. Please visit all the blogs sharing cookie recipes today:

Day 6

Cherry Kiss Cookies from Jolene's Recipe Journal
Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies from Making the Most of Naptime

Jewelled Fruitcake Bars from A Palatable Pastime

Oatmeal Raisin Almond Cookies from Feeding Big

Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies from Family Around the Table

Soft and Spicy Molasses Cookies from Cooking With Carlee
Spiced Pretzel Walnut Cookies with Chocolate Chips from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Susensky from A Day in the Life on The Farm