Christmas Cookies

Image via

In recent years, my favorite holiday activity has not been searching for gift ideas or even opening gifts on Christmas Day; it's been baking Christmas cookies. When I was back in Pittsburgh for school, we would pick a night in December before winter recess and get together with my roommate's mother for a cookie baking marathon. I'm talking the oven staying on for at least 5-6 hours and baking 11 varieties of cookie kind of marathon. All done while holiday music or a movie played in the background.

I plan on keeping this new tradition going this year. I'm beginning the search now for recipes to bake with my mother this year for a new batch of Christmas cookies. My plan is to bake a few varieties and put together some bags as stocking stuffers for the family and maybe even set aside some to take to Christmas dinner...if they can make it that far. :P

My favorite Christmas cookies are those that have peppermint in them. Last year, we made chocolate peppermint cookies that were absolutely to die for! Here are a few cookies that I have loved in the past and look forward to making again this year:

• Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
• Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
• Classic Gingerbread
• Snowflake Shortbread
• Twix Cookies
• Italian Ricotta Cookies

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite types of Christmas cookies?

Recipe Box: Peppermint Crunch Dark Chocolate Cookies

Image: here

This past Saturday my roommates and I spent some time at our friend's house baking with her mother (spoiler alert: that friend is studying abroad currently! Haha!) Last year, her mother came to our apartment and we knocked out 11 types of cookies in 6 hours. This year we did not boast the same stats, but only because we were under an actual time constraint. But we did manage a solid 8 cookies between 10 AM and 2:30 PM! One of them, I will share with you today. The peppermint crunch dark chocolate cookies are everybody's current favorite I believe. What's not to love? Dark chocolate + peppermint = holiday happiness.

What you need:
- 1 box dark chocolate cake mix
- 1 bag peppermint baking chips (note: we bought Hershey's peppermint candy bars and just broke them up)
-  1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil
- 2 eggs

What to do:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combine mix, oil and eggs in a bowl
- Stir in peppermint chips
- Chill in the refrigerator for one hour
- Roll into balls and drop onto ungreased, non-stick cookie sheet
- Bake 7-9 minutes
- Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite kinds of Christmas cookies?

Baked with Love

Tis the season for baking! If there is one thing that I must have every single year without fail is fresh baked Christmas cookies. Every year, my grandmother makes everyone their own bag of her pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies, which are amazing! Before we went on winter break, my roommates and I went on a little cookie baking spree of our own. My one roommate's mother came over with bins full of ingredients and in 6.5 hours we produced 11 different types of cookies. Now that's commitment! My favorite cookie that we made were the raspberry almond shortbread thumbprints. I loved them so much that I just had to share the recipe with you so that you can get in on the cookie goodness yourself!

Ingredients
Cookie:
- 1 c. butter, softened
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 c. raspberry jam

Glaze:
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- 2-3 tsp water
- 1 1/2 almond extract

What to Do:

Combine softened butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring in bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add flour; beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.

Heat oven to 350°F.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly). Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon jam.

Bake 14-18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely.

Combine all glaze ingredients in bowl with whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite kinds of Christmas cookies?