It's not too late! It's almost too late! Last chance to order before Christmas! The subject lines come in to our inbox with increasing hysteria these days. We're thinking: this isn't what we signed up for. What happened to those cozy nights we imagined, curled up with people we love, drinking too much eggnog? Here's the answer - let's all ignore the emails, stay in our jammies and bake cookies! Here are recipes from some of our favorites from last week's cookie swap - we hope you'll put on your favorite holiday music, and bake and eat to your heart's content.
Salted Toffee Cookie Bark - This recipe from Foodess is a new favorite!
Smitten Kitchen's Brownie Cookies - We love everything Smitten Kitchen & this recipe is a definite keeper!
White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies
1/2 c maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 c cold butter
12 oz white chocolate baking squares, divided
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 drops red food coloring
2 tsp shortening
red & white sprinkles
Preheat oven to 325. Spread chopped cherries on paper towels to drain. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture in crumbly. Stir in cherries and 4 oz chopped white chocolate. Stir in almond extract and red food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a ball. Shape dough into 3/4" balls and place a couple of inches apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to flatten balls into 1 - 1 1/2" rounds. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Once cookies are cooled, melt 8 oz. white chocolate with shortening. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate. Sprinkle with red and white sprinkles and place cookies on wax paper or parchment and allow chocolate to set.
Banana Cake Cookies
for cookies:
1 c butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c mashed banana
1/2 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c chopped, toasted pecans
for frosting:
4 oz butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
For the cookies: Preheat oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Stir in the banana. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together, then fold into butter mixture. Fold in pecans. Drop by rounded tablespoon 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool and frost.
For the frosting: In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and chill until ready to use.
Swedish Butter Cookies
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
2 cups regular or whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
zest of one lime or lemon
pinch salt
brown sugar powder (grind brown sugar in a food processor until powdery)
Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until fluffy. Add flour, brown sugar, vanilla, lime or lemon zest and pinch of salt and continue mixing until a stiff dough forms. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll the dough on a floured surface to a half inch thickness, then cut out rounds or other shapes. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until very light brown. As they come out of the oven, toss the cookies in the brown sugar powder then put on a rack to cool completely.
Spice Crescents
2 c. flour
1 Tbs cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp reshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz butter, at room temperature
1/2 c light brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
2 Tbs molasses
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c sugar (for finishing)
1 vanilla bean (for finishing)
Preheat oven to 375. Whisk flour, spices and salt together in a bowl. Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar and 1/4 c. sugar until light and smooth. Beat in molasses, then egg and vanilla. Scrape down sides of bowl then mix until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix until dough comes clean from sides of the bowl. Use a small cookie scoop or a spoon to scoop out rounded teaspoonfuls of dough. Using the palm of your hand and the table surface, roll scoops of dough into a log. Then transfer to parchment lined sheet tray and form the log into a crescent. Bake for 10 minutes. While cookies are baking, place 1 1/2 c. of sugar in a shallow mixing bowl. Scrape interior of vanilla bean into sugar and mix together with your fingers until vanilla bean is fully dispersed throughout sugar. While cookies are still slightly warm, toss them into the vanilla sugar to coat and then finish cooling.
Shortbread Stars
8 oz butter
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 c flour
1 c cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
sugar for topping
Preheat oven to 350. Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars until light and smooth. Add dry ingredients all at once and mix until dough comes clean from sides of the bowl. Pour dough out onto work table. Divide into four pieces. Roll out one piece of dough until approximately 1/4 inch thick. Using a star cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place on parchment lined sheet tray. After all stars are cut out, gather dough scraps into a ball and re-roll. Re-roll scrap dough only one time. Chill trays until dough is firm. Sprinkle cookies with topping sugar and bake for 12 - 15 minutes until bottoms of cookies are light brown. Let cool on wire rack.