Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Baking Part II

I love testing cookie recipes. Not just the baking - the eating :)

For neighbors and friends, we always take around a plate of cookies. Here's this year's selection and my thoughts on all three.

Disclaimer: You WILL want to go make these after I'm done describing them. I can't pick a favorite and neither can Hans. And I can't stop eating them...

Grinch Cookies (AKA mint chocolate chip)
I saw several of these floating around pinterest, but I already have a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe that I love. So, I used my favorite recipe (get it here!) I added green food coloring (doesn't show too well in the pic) and then swapped regular chocolate chips for mint chocolate chips. I had intended to add some peppermint extract to the recipe but forgot and I'm kinda glad - I think the mint woulda been too strong. The mint chocolate chips were the perfect amount. This recipe makes about 50.

Cherry Chocolate Shortbread - (The Curvy Carrot)

Hans proclaimed this one as his favorite. It's very buttery, but not overly sweet. The cherries add a wonderfully tart flavor to it. And I just love eating the extra cherries while I bake :) The recipe calls for regular Hershey kisses, but when I was at Target, I saw some cherry cordial kisses that I figured would go well. Oh. My. Gosh. Way to go Past Me - I think this made the cookie. Use these if you can find them. They're amazing. One last note: The recipe says to put the kiss in the middle immediately after you pull them out of the oven. Don't do that. I learned that the hardway with pumpkin kiss cookies a couple months ago. They get to melty. Let the cookies cool a couple minutes before pressing the kisses into the center. This recipe made the least... maybe 28. Hans was sad.

Hot Cocoa - (Pip and Ebby)

I think this one was my favorite. It's so fudgey and gooey and wonderful. I can't wait to make it again. It's very simple to put together and what you can't see in the pic is that it has melty chocolate in the middle. Only thing I'd suggest is that the recipe calls for 12 oz semisweet chocolate bars - I just used chocolate chips and that worked great. I used semi-sweet baking bars for the centers and garnish, but I think regular ol' Hershey bars would be great, too. This recipe made 32 for me.




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