Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

So I started with the first day of cookies, and then stopped. I really did do two more days after that but then I just got so overwhelmed with everything else that something had to give. But I would love to share one of the other cookies I did with you now.

Another cookie we made for Christmas were Gingerbread cookies! I know I've done gingerbread cookies before, but when I looked at my recipe I saw that it included shortening. *blech* I don't know why, but I've been in a mood where I try really hard to avoid using shortening. So anyway, I wanted to do something a little different from the usual gingerbread cookies. (Last Christmas for the 25 Days of Christmas Cookies I made Chewy Gingerbread Cookies.)

2 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Set the bowl aside.

12 Days of Christmas..Cookies! Day 1 -- A Classic!

I am so happy (and very thankful) to be able to say that this is my third year to get to do 25 Days of Christmas …. In Cookies! The last two years I’ve baked one kind of cookie each day as part of my 25 day celebration. It usually gets pretty hectic as the days go on and I usually get a little behind at one point or another. J But it is always a lot of fun.

I actually had someone ask me about the upcoming cookie madness a couple weeks ago – because we like to share our multitude of cookies. J This year, due to some life events that happened at the beginning of the month, I’m cutting the number of days down from 25 to 12.

So this year I am happy to present the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! To kick off the fun, I’m baking a classic. This cookie has given me so many headaches over the years that I’ve always fallen back on using a recipe. It sounds crazy but I have never been able to come up with my own recipe for this cookie. Until this year! I made a recipe all my own and it turned out perfect! They taste so delicious to me, that it rivals the Pillsbury refrigerator-roll-of-dough cookies that I made the other day (don’t judge). Without further ado…..

My Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Brace Yourselves...Pumpkin Flavored Everything is Coming!



photo from memegenerator.net

I know, I’m late to the pumpkin party.

I’m chronically late for everything. I joke about how I’ll end up being late to my own funeral. haha

Despite not having blogged about anything pumpkin at all, it sure has been present in my kitchen since I first saw the pie pumpkins in the grocery back in September. We’ve been making pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin bread – LOTS of pumpkin bread.

We’ve bought so many pie pumpkins (and had some given to us) that I lost count of how many I’ve peeled, chopped and steamed. Then the day before Halloween, I took the girls to get our pumpkins for carving. While I was at the stand, I saw such a multitude of tan pumpkins all around that I bought one. I figured, at the time, that it was a good size and I should get a fair amount of pumpkin puree from it. I sorely underestimated this pumpkin.

 

Cookies for Santa!

It's Christmas Eve!! Wow! It seems as if Christmas just kind of snuck up on us this year. Crazy how time flies when you are running around everyday. Anyway, with Santa's impending arrival, we were in need of cookies!


And I wanted to do the very traditional--but still not perfected--chocolate chip cookies. These did not disappoint. :)

Chocolate Chippers
recipe adapted from Grandma's Kitchen

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper. Set aside.

Soup and Chocolate Orange Cookies!

Monday's planned dinner was a tomato soup. So when the time came to get dinner started, I began with a can of tomato soup and two cans of vegetable broth.

Those went into a large pot over medium heat. Then I pulled out the leftover pureed sweet potatoes I had in my fridge. I also thought the mashed butternut squash would be a nice addition. 

25 Days of Christmas in Cookies--Day 11 Mocha Chip Peanut Butter Cups

    What a weekend. I can safely say that this is one weekend that I am glad is behind me. It's funny how kids not sleeping throws your entire weekend off. But ya know what makes any day better? Playing in the kitchen. :)


    I was trying to explain that to Nate earlier too. Being in the kitchen by myself for just a little bit is therapeutic. Don't get me wrong, I love having the girls help me bake cookies. But when it comes time for me to make dinner, I want them no where near the kitchen. It's something like how an artist feels about his/her studio. I don't know that this is making sense, so let's just say that in order to keep my sanity I need some "alone time" in the kitchen. haha 


    Anyway, so with our weekend lacking in the sleep area Nate gave up control of the television and football games to have the girls sit with him and watch a movie. This was Mommy's time to play in the kitchen. And in the end, the girls were glad of it. Because after dinner, there was a super scrumptious, gooey, moist, and chocolatey dessert waiting. :)

This is the face of a kid who has seen the dessert and is ready to eat dinner. :)

Mocha Chip Peanut Butter Cups
Yield approx. 48 cookies


3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 oz hot water w/ 1 rounded tsp instant espresso
Nestle dark chocolate chips
mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or baking mat and set aside.

Heat up 3 ounces of water and stir in the instant espresso. Let it sit to cool.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until it is smooth. With the speed on low, add in the granulated sugar. Once the sugar has been incorporated, increase the mixer speed. Beat until light and fluffy. 

Scrape the sides of the bowl down and beat in the eggs one at a time, being sure the first is fully mixed in before adding the second.

Scrape the sides down again and beat in the brown sugar.

With the mixer on low, slowly beat in the cocoa powder. Otherwise you will end up with a cocoa cloud. :)

Alternately beat in the flour mixture and coffee. 

Once both have been fully mixed in, stir in the bag of dark chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes.

Pull the baking sheet from the oven. Taking care not to burn yourself, press the peanut butter cups into the middle of each of the cookies. Let them cool a little bit more then transfer to a cooling rack.

While my cookies were cooling, I noticed my Trader Joe's grinder. And I realized that the three things in the grinder were also in my cookies. And there was melty chocolate puddles in the middle of each cookie...waiting for something to be dusted on top. How perfectly perfect! So I topped each cookie with the Trader Joe's Sugar, Chocolate & Coffee Bean Grinder. :)

25 Days of Christmas in Cookies--Day 4 Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

The girls were glad to have a distraction from the football-laden television. :)

Here is our creation for the day. You won't be able to have just one. I promise! ;)

Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Yield...a lot :)

25 Days of Christmas in Cookies--Day 3 Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Cups

    Saturday. *whew* Who knew the weekend would be busier than the weekdays. haha I guess the closer Christmas gets the busier the weekends are going to get. That's the way it is. I find it fun, though. :)


    As another day of my 25 Days of Cookies, I needed to bake these cookies in between shopping, the library, cleaning, doing laundry, well, you get the point. :)


    Today's cookie was inspired by last year's cookie Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies, from Sweet Pea's Kitchen--I really enjoy her blog, and a cookie I found on Foodbuzz.com this year, Double Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies from Love From the Oven. 

25 Days of Christmas in Cookies--Day 2

    Ahh Friday. Today seems a little off though. Kyleigh has only a half-day today. That throws the schedule Abby and I have a little off because Kyleigh gets off the bus in the middle of Abby's naptime. So we have to adjust and always end up with cranky kids. 


    Anyway, I had forgotten how tough it is to keep up with the 25 days of cookies. What makes it so tough is that I bake each cookie everyday, as well as sharing it with you guys. But it sure is a tasty endeavor. :)


For today, I wanted to make a cookie using my super yummy maple syrup from Canada--the REAL stuff. 

Mmmmm REAL maple syrup--at about $8 a can...

And, with the help of my girls, 

My helpers.

here is what I came up with:

2nd Annual 25 Days of Christmas in Cookies

It's funny. I don't know where to begin. Can you believe the last time I posted anything was September 2nd?? 


I feel like I'm re-uniting with an old high school friend and things are awkward because so much time has passed. But in this instance, I don't come empty-handed. 


Today is the first of December. Know what that means? For the second year, it means 25 Days of Christmas in Cookies! (On a side note, I am thrilled that I have the opportunity to be able to do this for a second year.) 


I have been doing some "research" and found an overwhelming number of cookie recipes for this event. But in addition to finding already created recipes, what about ones I will make as I go? And then the classics need to be taken into consideration. And then there are the hits from last year I'd like to bring back. Whew. Kind of sends the head reeling, doesn't it?


The phrase "one day at a time" comes to mind. So let's focus on today. 


Oh, and by the way. While we were on our trip in Canada, Abby accidentally broke my camera and I am now adjusting to a new one from my Mom....please bear with me while I figure it out. haha It may mean either no pictures or blurry pictures. I'll get the hang of it before the month is out...I hope. :)


I'm calling them Chocolate Covered Oranges because they really remind me of those chocolate "oranges" in the candy aisle. And this year I have a new assistant in the kitchen. You'll recall my lil helper last year.

Well somehow she ended up in Kindergarten this year. Seriously, how does time go by this quickly??? So I enlisted the help of another lil one. :)

While looking through my cupboards for inspiration, my eyes came upon a rather large container of Nutella. And then I saw the oranges sitting in a basket on my counter. And voila!


Chocolate Covered Oranges

Kyleigh's Cookies!

    Books-A-Million stores around this area are closing up. So we went to check out what kind of bargains we could find. One of the things I found was a cookbook for Kyleigh. Sesame Street's Yummy Cookies Kids Cookbook Baking with Kids. I thought it'd be fun for Kyleigh to have her own cookbook and she was thrilled to get it. I think the biggest issue for her was deciding what to make first. :)

     At Kyleigh's preschool they had a special thing for dads Monday morning. As a special dessert, they had M&M cookies for the dads and kids. Kyleigh enjoyed the cookie so much that she wanted to make some when they got home. Luckily, 'Yummy Cookies' has an M&M cookie recipe. Who knew? :) So that is the first thing she made out of her own cookbook.

     She was very excited and proud of herself. :)

    After Kyleigh whisked together the flour and baking soda, we got the mixer bowl out. In went a stick of butter, 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, and 1/2 cup dark brown sugar. Then they were creamed together.

    After they were creamed and we added in the rest of the ingredients, it was time to add the flour in gradually. As you can see, Kyleigh was concentrating hard on adding in the flour. :) It was very cute.  

    Kyleigh was enjoying mixing up the dough. In this picture, she was talking while she was adding the flour. It reminded me of watching a show on Food Network -- star quality. ;) 

    Here are the cookies with the recipe. Kyleigh loved them! 

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me.

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me.

Oh! Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with 'C'!

Yumm!! :)

Writer's Block--Broken with cookies

    You ever get writer's block when sitting down to blog? I've started a few posts within the last few days, but they haven't made it past the first sentence or two. I've been in the kitchen, but when I sit down to blog about it my concentration and attention just goes off in some other direction. So, today I am not going to bed until I finish this post. 

    Okay, this last week or so I've been working on some cupcakes. (See, I've been working on a business plan for my cupcake bakery. That is actually why I have been so absent lately.) My first work of art was a lemon cupcake with a blackberry frosting. The frosting was made using fresh blackberries and had lemon zest. Nate loved them and his enjoyment grows with each time he has one since the lemon zest has had time to develop. 

    Today, I had some more fun in the kitchen. I came up with two more cupcakes. The first one is an Oreo cupcake. It is a chocolate cake with a white chocolate Oreo cream frosting with an Oreo on top. The second is a Dr. Pepper cupcake. It is a vanilla cake with a Dr Pepper, black cherry jam, and red raspberry jam syrup and topped with a Dr Pepper frosting. Ya see, today is my hubby's birthday and Dr Pepper is his favorite soda. So I wanted to create something for him. 

    While I'm not too sure about the second cupcake that came out of today, I LOVED the Oreo cupcake! I made a chocolate cake that actually has a texture of a cross between a cupcake and a brownie. The frosting is a white chocolate frosting. Incorporated into the frosting is Oreo crumbs that I made by pulsing some double-stuffed cookies in the food processor. I tell you, this is an Oreo cookie in cupcake frosting. No joke!

They are so gooood and so pretty that I had to post some more pictures. :)

And It's Goooooooood!!

    It is Super Bowl Sunday! Pre-game stuff starts at 2 pm and kickoff isn't until 6:30 tonight. Alright, baby goes down for her morning nap and the work commences. -- I don't think 'work' is a good term. I love being in the kitchen and was happy to be there Saturday and Sunday. But until I can think up a better fitting word, 'work' will have to do.
    I actually went to bed after midnight last night because I was working on the piggie cookies. First order of business was to finish them up because I knew it wouldn't take long at all. This would definitely be the quickest thing I did all day. :)


    First thing to share are my cookie designs. 

The Green Bay Packers Piggie Player

The Pittsburgh Steelers Piggie Player

    How did they turn out? Did they look even close to what I had intended? Let's find out!


First up, the Green Bay Piggie!

Facing off against the Packers Piggie, is the Pittsburgh Steelers Piggie! 

    I realize that these are not perfect and there are some major technical flaws, but c'mon! This is the most time I've ever spent decorating so many cookies. And they really are cute! :)


    Alright, desserts? Touchdown!
    The next drive is going for the pierogies. Hut-Hut-Hike!

    I was excited to hear an offer of help come from the living room. I enthusiastically accepted.

Go Team!

    I pulled out all of the prepped ingredients, plus everything else we needed. The hubby and I made an assembly line for the pierogies. I worked the dough and cut out circles (using a small drinking glass) and Nate was in charge of stuffing and boiling. Once I finished cutting out all the circles, Nate started sauteeing the pierogies in batches in a pan with chopped onions and butter while I finished stuffing and boiling. (We really do make a good team.) 

Once all the pierogies had been sauteed and plated, we needed a dip. We took some Greek yogurt, stirred in the sauteed onions from the pan, and some garlic & onion powders. Then that went into the fridge to give it a chance for the flavors to develop a little more.

    
    Pierogies? Another touchdown!
    
    The final drive of the game is going for the brats in blankets.
    
    Rolled out and cut up the crescent rolls. One batch had mustard and one did not--at Nate's request. The cut up brats and cheese got wrapped up together and placed on a pan then tossed into the oven.

    The cheese kinda oozed out, but that's how you know there is plenty--when there is too much to be contained. :)


    Talk about a game-winning lineup!

 All together now!