What’s in a cookie?
The answer is…more than you think, especially around the holidays.
Baking cookies is like inviting the holidays in with all the aroma, love and laughter that makes your house a home. A cookie also becomes a new memory each time it’s eaten because it represents that moment in time when the joy of the season is snuggly nestled in the minds of all those who are enjoying them.
So here are three popular Christmas cookie recipes you can use to help create this year’s memories… memories that will last a lifetime.
Cookie Cutter Sugar Cookies (with a delicious twist!)
Most sugar cookies are made with the same ingredients; however, this recipe has one secret ingredient that makes it a melt-in-your-mouth dream.
Preheat your oven to 350°
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of butter
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon of vanilla
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- ½ cup of sour cream (yep, this is the secret ingredient!)
- 3½ cups of all-purpose flour
Instructions:
Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the egg, vanilla, and sour cream. Next, you’ll add the baking soda and salt, then you will gradually add the flour and mix just until the dough becomes a bit too hard to stir. Then put the dough on a floured surface and knead it until it’s no longer sticky. Next, roll the dough out until it’s about a ½ inch thick.
Once your dough is rolled out, you will use your favorite cookie cutters to form the cookies into your desired shapes. Then put them on ungreased cookie sheets and bake them for six to eight minutes or until they are lightly browned around the edges. Cool them on wire racks then decorate with your favorite icings and sprinkles.
Peppermint Bark Cookies (made the easy way!)
These peppermint bark cookies don’t require any baking and we will give you a bakers tip that will make crushing those candy canes a little bit easier.
Ingredients:
- 1-12 ounce package of white chocolate melts or chopped white chocolate
- ½ teaspoon of pure peppermint extract (please don’t use the imitation extract)
- 1-9 ounce package of chocolate wafer cookies
- 8-crushed candy canes
*BAKERS TIP…put the candy canes into a Ziploc baggie. Then take your rolling pin and roll it over the bag until the candy canes are crushed! Yes, it really is that simple!
Instructions:
Put the white chocolate into a glass bowl then melt it in the microwave in 25-second intervals stirring between each interval until it’s all melted. Next, you’ll stir in the peppermint extract. Now you dip the chocolate wafers into the melted white chocolate and put them on a wire rack. Then you simply sprinkle the tops of the dipped cookies with the crushed candy cane sprinkles.
Carmel Macchiato Cookies (a delightful mix of cookie, caramel, chocolate, and coffee!)
These cookies will be everyone’s new favorite that you’ll want to add to the holiday table each year.
Preheat your oven to 375°
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons of instant espresso (or coffee powder)
- 1 tablespoon of hot water
- 1 pouch of sugar cookie mix
- ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
- ½ cup of melted butter
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 18 unwrapped caramels
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions:
Grab a large bowl and dissolve the coffee powder in the hot water. Add the cookie mix, flour, butter, vanilla, and egg and stir until it forms a soft dough (make sure you don’t over stir it though). Next, you will shape the cookie dough into 1½ inch balls. Then you will use your thumb or a spoon and press it into the center of the cookies to form an indent for the caramel. Now you will need to bake your indented cookies (without the caramel) for approximately 8-10 minutes.
While that’s baking, grab a small glass bowl and melt the caramels and milk in the microwave. Then when the cookies are done baking, you will spoon about a ½ teaspoon of the melted caramel into the indentations of each cookie. Now you will let your caramel filled cookies cool for about 15 minutes. While your cookies are cooling, you can melt your chocolate chips in the microwave then drizzle that melted chocolate over the tops of your cookies using any festive pattern you’d like.
*OPTIONAL: If you have any leftover caramel, you can drizzle some of that over the tops of your cookies as well.
Now you can sit back and relax while enjoying fresh-baked cookies and making new holiday memories with your friends and family. Memories you will all look back on and fondly remember for years to come. Enjoy!
