Christmas Cookies

♥Christmas Cookies♥

19 December 2012

Yesterday I spent the day with my mom baking Christmas cookies and I thought I would share a few of the recipes with my readers. These recipes aren’t “family” recipes in the sense that they were passed down from grandparents and so on, but all of them are family traditions.

For as long as I can remember my family has made an obscene amount of Christmas cookies. Actually for as long as I can remember I have been in the kitchen baking with my mom.

I swear baking is how I learned fractions backward and forward.

Anywho yesterday my mom and made Peppermint Pinwheel cookies, Caramel Candy Bars, and Crescent cookies (which I think are Mexican wedding cookies and I forgot to grab the recipe for).

Honestly, there isn’t anything better than a little Christmas baking to get you in the spirit of Christmas.

♥Peppermint Pinwheels♥

Ingredients:

1 Cup butter

1 Cup sugar

½ Teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1 Teaspoon vanilla

½ Teaspoon peppermint extract (I add a bit more for a more intense mint flavor)

2 Cups all-purpose flour

Red food coloring

Green food coloring

Clear fancy decorating sugar

Instructions:

Step 1:

In a large mixer (like a kitchen aid) beat the butter (1C) on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar and the baking powder (½t); beat until fluffy.

Step 2:

Beat in egg, vanilla (1t), and peppermint extract
(½-1t).

Step 3:

Beat in flour (2C) in 3 parts (this part isn’t imperative for the cookies to turn out right I just recommend you don’t dump all the flour in at once…otherwise your kitchen may end up in a white cloud of flour).

Step 4:

Divide the dough into three (3) equal portions. Mix one with red food coloring, one with green and leave the one plain. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.

Step 5:

After the three (3) portions have chilled divide each color into four (4) equal portions.

Step 6:

On a lightly floured surface roll each portion into a ½-inch-diameter (or there about, thick enough not to break but thin enough to twist with other colors).

Step 7:

Take one of each color and lay side by side. Then twist together. This part is a bit tricky. I recommend putting one of the colors on top of the other two and twisting the whole rope from one end. After you get them semi-rolled together wrap the three strands in plastic wrap and smooth them together. The plastic wrap helps because it prevents you from tearing the dough, make sure the plastic wrap is lightly dusted with FLOUR!

Step 8:

Chill twisted ropes for another 30 minutes. Once chilled cut the ropes into ½ or ¼ inch slices (depending on the size cookies you want). Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Next sprinkle a small amount of the fancy decoration sugar on the top and squish with the bottom of a glass until cookie is ¼ inch thick.

Step 9:

Bake cookies at 375°F for 8-10 mins for larger cookies and 6-8 for smaller cookies.

These cookies are delicious and very pretty! I hope you enjoy them if you decide to make them. Tweet me a picture if you do!

♥Caramel Candy Bars♥

I only put nuts on one side

Ingredients:

1 Cup all-purpose flour

1 Cup quick-cooking oats

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup butter (preferably unsalted)

¾ cup sugar

1 14-ounce package of caramels

¹/₃ evaporated milk

            ½ of a 5-ounce can

½ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

1 cup butterscotch chips or semisweet chocolate pieces

Instructions:

Step 1:

For the cookie crust:

Combine flour (1C), oats (1C), baking soda (½t) and salt (¼t).

Step 2: In a large electric mixing bowl (like a kitchen aid) beat the butter (1C) for 30 seconds, add sugar (¾C) and beat until fluffy. Beat in oat mixture until crumbly. Do not over mix.

Step 3: Reserve 1 cup of this mixture, then press the remainder of the mixture onto the bottom of a 13x9x2 inch baking pan. Bake the crust layer in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Step 4: Meanwhile, in a double boiler (you can just use a saucepan if you don’t have a double boiler, just be even more diligent in stirring because it will burn) cook the unwrapped caramels with the 1/3 cup evaporated milk until smooth and creamy. Step 5:

Pour caramel over crust. Sprinkle nuts on top, reserved crumble and then butterscotch or chocolate. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until top crumbs turn golden.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post! and like I said, if you try out any of these recipes tweet me the results! Thanks. Until next time.

xox,

Arae

Disclaimer: I am not taking ownership of these recipes, they were both found in cookbooks. I change them a little bit, but I do not take credit for coming up with them.