Santa Baby Cookies

Chocolate Bears

2 sticks butter
1 C. sugar
1 egg
2 C. flour
1 C. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix. Refrigerate until firm. Bake 350* 12 minutes.

Gingerbread

Any gingerbread recipe will work. Scoop dough with #40 disher, then hand roll into balls. Lightly dust the top of each roll by first dipping finger in flour, then gently tapping top of ball, so you leave a fingerprint. More flour leave noticeable traces behind, less flour and the stamper will stick to the cookie. Stamp the ball until it is flat. You should get a good impression this way.

Melted Slices Cookies

2 sticks butter (1C.)
1/2 C. white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond
1 egg
2 1/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 C. chopped pecans
1 oz (3 bars to box, 1/2 of 1 bar) melted baking chocolate
2 Tb. maraschino cherries, chopped and drained
1 Tb. poppy seeds

Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl. Add vanilla, egg, salt and flour, and beat until smooth. Divide dough in three. The first section will be poppy seed. Add the poppy seeds. Wrap in saran and refrigerate. The second section will be cherry. Add the almond extract, chopped cherries, and 2 drops of red food coloring. Wrap in Saran and refrigerate. The third section will be chocolate. Melt chocolate in microwave, add to cookie dough, and a extra teaspoon of flour and the chopped pecans. Beat until smooth. Wrap and refrigerate. Use a rolling pin to make layers of cookie dough in a rectangular shape. Cookies are slice and bake. Bake 375* 10 minutes until smooth.  After cooled, top cookies with a basic thin powdered sugar and milk icing.

Caramel Apple Cookies

Caramel, dried apples, coloured chocolate chips. I made a basic Tollhouse cookie dough, and then added 1 package of dried apples, chopped, one package of Kraft caramels, cut in half, and one bag of chocolate chips. Bake 350* for about 9 minutes. The caramel begins to run away when they are done. The caramel burns before the cookies do.

Cockroach Clusters

Honeydukes has got nothing on me! I made these lovely dates filled with a cashew filling, topped with raw pecans. Delicious.

Danish

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/4 cup warm water (like a baby's bath)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste


Cut a half a tablespoon of butter off the ends of each stick of butter, and set aside.
Cut each stick of butter in half, then cut each half stick lengthwise. Line 4 butter rectangles up side by side on a sheet of lightly floured parchment. Dust with flour, and fold the parchment up and over the butter. Use a rolling pin to lightly pound/roll the butter to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Repeat with the remaining 4 butter rectangles. Refrigerate the parchment-wrapped butter squares.
Place the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Cut in the reserved tablespoon of cold butter, rubbing between your fingertips to fully incorporate. In a large liquid measure, stir the milk, water, egg, and vanilla together. Add the liquid ingredients into the dry and stir together. Knead the dough for approximately 7 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll/pat into a rough rectangle shape. (Ideally, the short side of the rectangle should be about the same length as the long side of the butter square in step 2. The long side should be about 3x the length of the short side of the butter square.)
Place one of the butter squares in the center of the dough rectangle. Fold one side of the dough over the butter, and top with the remaining butter square. Fold the other side of the dough over the second butter square. Pinch the sides of the dough together to encase the butter within the dough.
Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/2-inch, then fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Repeat, two more times. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or for a minimum of 1 hour). LINK

Reindeer Noses

These are just the EASIEST holiday treat you can make. Pretzel squares, a Rolo, and an MM. Unwrap Rolos, place one on top of each pretzel, place in hot oven for 3 minutes until Rolos get a little glossy, remove from oven, use an MM to squish each Rolo. The melty caramel combined with the salty pretzel is a good combo. Other variations include using pecan halves to make mock turtles.

Pb cookie

1 C. natural peanut butter
1/2 C. Splenda
1 egg

Mix, scoop into balls, flatten , Bake 350* 12 minutes.

If 12 cookies, 1 cookies is 4g carbs, 1.3g fiber, 6g protein, 100 calories.

Almond Cookies

Shortbread cookies smeared with melted chocolate icing, topped with almonds and sprinkles.

Sugar Cookies

Unlike many things in the baking world, sugar cookies are meant to be foolproof. They don’t have much butter or leavening, so they’ll keep their shape when you roll out the dough and cut them. They’re sturdy enough to be handled and decorated, but soft and delicious enough to be a Christmastime dessert staple. But there are still ways to totally mess them up.
Lots of people bake their sugar cookies until they’re a nice golden-brown. DON’T DO THAT! They’ll be hard as rocks–and will get harder the longer you keep them around. Because they’ll harden naturally as they age, you want to bake them until they’re just set. Look for a sandy-blonde color with just a hint of gold.
If you roll the dough out even too thin, they’ll become fragile. Not good if you’re having a cookie-decorating party. But if you roll the dough out too thick, then they won’t cook through and become dense and, honestly, pretty gross. The ideal thickness to roll out your sugar cookie dough is about 1/4″–that way, they’ll be tough enough to be handled and decorated, but thin enough to stay a little crunchy.
Dragees are pretty, but they break your teeth! Also, I would add another bit of advice to the list: don't overdecorate (unless you are a pro). Keep it simple. Cookies with too much glop on them appeal to little kids, but usually not to most adults.

Chocolate cookies

1-1/2 c. dark chocolate chips, divided
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2-1/2 c. powdered sugar, divided
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Melt 1 cup of dark chocolate chips in microwave, stirring after 30 second intervals, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. Using electric mixer, beat eggs whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 1-1/4 cup of powdered sugar and continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow creme. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1-1/4 cup of powdered sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt. On low speed, beat dry ingredients into meringue. Add in melted chocolate and remaining 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (dough will become extremely stiff). Place 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a bowl. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Roll in powdered sugar, coating thickly. Place on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake 10 minutes or until puffed and tops are cracked. Let cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.

Yield: 36 cookies with #70 scoop

Cherry Almond Biscotti

1/4 C. light olive oil	3/4 C. sugar	2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract	2 eggs	1 3/4 C. flour
1/4 tsp salt	1 tsp. baking powder	1/2 C. dried cherries
1/2 C. slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 300*F. In a large bowl, mix together oil and sugar until well blended.  Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in the eggs. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder; gradually stir into egg mixture. Mix in cherries and nuts by hand. Divide dough in half. Form two logs (12x2 inches) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Dough may be sticky; wet hands with cool water to handle dough more easily.  Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until logs are light brown. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 275*F.  Cut logs on diagonal into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until dry; cool.

Honey Almond Madeleines

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus melted butter for molds
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon packed light-brown sugar
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting


In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, being sure to not let the butter brown. Remove from heat, and stir in honey and almond extract. Let stand until room temperature. In a small bowl, whisk together, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, using a rubber spatula mix the eggs and sugars until combined. Fold in flour mixture, until just combined. Add the cooled butter mixture, and continue to fold until combined. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees; with rack in center. Brush madeleine molds with melted butter; set aside. Fill each mold three-quarters full, using a spoon. Do not overfill the molds. Bake until puffed, and the edges are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack until pan is just cool enough to handle. Invert onto wire rack and serve warm, if possible. If not serving warm, once the madeleines are cool, sift some confectioners' sugar over the seashell side.

M&M Shortbread

1/2 C. powered sugar
1 C. butter, soft
2 C. flour
1/2 C. M&M's to make this M&M shortbread

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Beat together the butter and powdered sugar.  Slowly add the flour (about a half cup at a time), mixing a bit in between each addition.  The mixture will look crumbly at first, but the dough will come together after a few minutes.This dough should not be sticky.  Gently mix in the M&M's with a spatula or wooden spoon. Turn dough onto a lightly floured silicone baking mat or parchment paper and roll out to a 1/4" thick rectangle. Using the parchment or baking mat, life the dough onto a baking sheet (leave the parchment or silicone mat as the lining). Cut dough into 24 squares with cookie cutter set you got for Christmas last year. Bake for 20-25 minutes until edges begin to turn a light golden brown. Let cool completely. on a wire rack. Drizzle the melting candy over top and sprinkle with additional M&M's if desired.

Nini's Springerle Cookies

1/2 tsp. bakers ammonia (hartshorn)
2 Tb. milk
6 large eggs, room temperature
6 C. powdered sugar (1 1/2 lb)
1/2 C. unsalted butter (1 stick) room temperature
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. flavor
2 Lb. box sifted cake flour (Softsilk)
more flour as needed (I used about 1 C. more)

Dissolve hartshorn in milk and set aside for 30 minutes or more.  Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored (10 minutes).  Slowly beat in the powdered sugar and butter.  Add hartshorn and milk, salt, and preferred flavoring.  Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer to make a stiff dough. turn onto floured surface and kneed in enough flour to make a good print without sticking. Bake on parchment paper at 225*-300* until barely golden on the bottom 15-25 minutes depending on size of cookie.

I made 85 cookies.

Petit Ecolier

DIY Sprinkles

Chocolate	Colored
1/2 C. powdered sugar	1 C. powdered sugar
3 Tb. cocoa powder	1/2 tsp salt
4 teaspoons vanilla infused vodka	1 egg white
2 teaspoons water	1 tsp flavor extract
(Just be sure it's 6 tsp. liquid, total)	food coloring

Instructions:
1. Mix powdered sugar with cocoa (for Chocolate) or salt (for Colored) very well. Add the liquid and mix, incorporating everything. You'll get a thick but workable frosting like mixture.
2. If you want to create multiple colors, distribute white frosting between separate bowls. Now add the food coloring. I recommend that you add between 2-3 drops of color, then whisking together, before add more. Continue until you’ve reached your desired color. Put your icing into a plastic sandwich bag, removing as much air as possible, then tying shut. With a scissors, snip a tiny, tiny hole into one corner of the bag. Or use a pastry bag with a #2 round tip.
4. Lay a piece of parchment paper down on a flat surface, then squeeze long straight lines of icing onto the parchment paper. Make sure the stripes don't touch.
5. Let dry up to 24 hours undisturbed. If you used mostly vodka as the liquid, this will dry faster, as it will if you live in a warm, non humid place. If you use water or your home is colder, this will take more time. Let it dry until you have hard sticks that flake off the parchment paper easily.
6. Pick up the side of the parchment paper, and start rolling it, so that the sprinkle sticks detach from the parchment paper and end up in the middle. Make a pile of all the sprinkle sticks, making sure they all are facing the same direction.
7. With a non serrated knife, cut the pile of sprinkle sticks into little sprinkles, each about a quarter of an inch long.
These now are your sprinkles. Use as you would any other sprinkles. Keep them in a dry place. They don't spoil.

Wilderness Cookies

Unfortunately all animals are brown. All of them.

My Favorite Sugar Cookie Dough

Seriously NO FAIL cookie dough. Thank you Williams-Sonoma.

• 2 1/2 cups (390g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks/185g) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup (250g) sugar
• Food coloring gel (optional)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Over a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on high speed for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, slowly add the sugar and a few drops of food coloring gel and beat for 2 minutes, stopping the mixture occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute, stopping the mixer once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and add half of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until most of the flour has been absorbed. Add the remaining flour and continue beating until all of the flour has been absorbed and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 2 to 3 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 equal balls, Shape each into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 2 days. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 3/16 to 1/4 inch (4.5 to 6mm).
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
Dip cookie cutters into flour just before using and cut out shapes. Place on the baking sheet. Gather up the scraps, reroll them and cut out additional cookies. Refrigerate the cookies until firm 20 to 30 minutes.
Bake the cookies until golden brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. If baking more than one sheet at a time, switch the sheets between the racks and rotate them 180 degrees halfway through baking.
Transfer the parchment sheets with cookies onto wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies directly onto the racks and let cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes 34 to 30 cookies, depending on the size.