Gingerbread Man Cookies

My friends laughed at me when I told them I didn't know people ate gingerbread cookies. I seriously thought they were just for decoration. These were great, so I am glad I was wrong.  Charlie's a big fan too! I got this particular recipe from Simply Recipes online.

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed

1 Tbsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup usulfured molasses

Royal Icing:

1 egg white

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter.  Add sugar and beat until fluffy.  Mix in eggs and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture; combine on low speed.  Divide dough in thirds; wrap each third in plastic. Chill for at least an hour or overnight.  Before rolling out, let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.

3.  Heat over to 350 degrees.  Place a dough third on a large piece of lightly floured parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick.  Use a cookie cutter or stencil to create desired shapes.

4.  Transfer to ungreased baking sheets.  Bake until crisp, not darkened, 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Let sit for a few minutes ad then use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. To make the royal icing beat the egg white and lemon juice together, adding the powdered sugar until the mixture holds stiff peaks.  Have fun decorating.

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

I made these for a playgroup Christmas party I am having tomorrow.  It's from The Joy of Cooking. I frosted some with E and have some for the kids to decorate tomorrow.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flower

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp (I used salted because I was too lazy to go shopping. Don't do what I did.)

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

2. In another bowl blend together the sugar and butter until fluffy and well combined (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the vanilla extract and eggs. Blend together until well combined. Add flour and beat until you have a smooth dough.

3.  Divide batch in two. Wrap each in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for an hour or so, until firm enough to roll.

4. Preheat the oven to 350.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick.

5. Bake 8-10 minutes, until edges are starting to brown.

Royal Icing Ingredients:

2 large egg whites (salmonella, what?)

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

Directions:

Using hand mixer, beat together egg whites and lemon juice.  Add confectioners sugar. Mix well on low until it reaches desired consistency.

Notes:

Royal Icing dries very quickly so use it immediately. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.  I created small batches with various food coloring and put them in ziploc bags, then used those to pipe onto the cookies.

Magic Cookie Bars

You can get a variation of this recipe every where.  This is the one that works for me!

Yes, I taste tested a piece. Now let's see if I can resist anymore before dinner!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 pkg (8 squares) semi-sweet bakers chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup butterscotch chips

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Heat over to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

2. Mix butter and graham crackers. Press into bottom of pan.

3. Pour condensed milk over crust. Top with remaining ingredients. Lightly press down.

4. Bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen from the sides of the pan.  Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Coating: I had a cinnamon sugar mix already on hand so I just used that.

1/3 cup white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla extract.

3. In a separate bowl sift the flower, salt and baking powder together. Add flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.

4.  Shape the dough into 1 inch round balls.  Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar coating and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, about two inches apart.  Using the bottom of a glass, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch thick.

5. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Notes:

This made about four dozen cookies for me.  Take care not to leave them in too long because they get hard quick. If you take them out when just the edges are starting to turn the cookie firms up nicely keeping the center soft and chewy.  Now let's see if they last me the week like I need them too!

If the dough isn't forming balls nicely, refrigerate for one hour and try again.

Rice Crispy Bon Bons

My MIL raved about these after my SIL made them.  She told me about them when I went in search of holiday treats for "Operation Make My Neighbors Fat" aka tins of sweets for the holidays that I will be handing to my neighbors. Isn't that neighborly of me?


I must confess that I only tried one of these, but was already so stuffed to my gills from Hubby's birthday dinner that I didn't even enjoy it. I sent the rest to work with Hubs and he said they passed the taste test.  Making them was easy enough, though I do think dipping things in chocolate is a total pain in the ass.  Let me know if you try them!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Rice Crispy Cereal

1 1/4 cups crunchy peanut butter

1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/2 cup powdered sugar

12 oz white or dark chocolate

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine cereal, peanut butter, graham crumbs and powdered sugar.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Shape crumb mixture into balls, using one level tablespoon for each.

3. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate.  Dip balls and put on wax paper. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Golden Eggnog Cake

I sent out a request for new Holiday recipes via Facebook the other day and received this recipe from an old friend from high school.  I don't enjoy drinking eggnog, but I sure do recommend eating it in baked goods!

This is a mini loaf that Hubs will be bringing to work with him.
The mini cupcakes I made were delish!

Cake Ingredients:
1 box pudding added yellow cake mix
whatever additional ingredients your boxed mix calls for omitting water (mine wanted eggs and oil)
1 tsp nutmeg (not gonna lie, I totally missed this and it still tasted great)
eggnog, substituted for water according to your cake mix directions

Eggnog Glaze Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp eggnog (I used more than this, but start with this amount and add until you achieve your desired consistency)

Directions:

1. Bake your cake according to your cake mix box directions, substituting eggnog for required water and adding the nutmeg.

2. When the cake is finished and is cooling, throw the ingredients for the eggnog glaze together in a medium bowl.  Mix until well blended, adding addition eggnog until you reach your desired consistency.

I know, too simple, right?!?