Christmas Cookie Selection

I almost didn't bake any cookies this year. It seems like everyone is watching what they eat so I didn't want to make cookies that no one will eat.

I was going to just make the 2 favorites, peanut blossoms and mint chocolate chip. Then I decided to make some not-so-traditional cookies for Christmas. 

Here are the ones that made the cut. 

1. Candy cane Hershey's Kiss sugar cookie bars
2. Gingerbread chocolate chip cookies
3. Ricotta cheese cookies
4. Mint chocolate chip cookies
5. Peanut butter blossoms
6. Oreo cream cheese cookies

This cookie is in a separate photo because I forgot it :(

~Enjoy

Michelle

Candy Cane Kiss Sugar Cookie Bars

These are the bars that inspired me to make some different Christmas cookies this year. I saw this recipe and thought that would be great for Christmas and I happen to have the candy cane Hershey's kisses on hand and this is a great way to use them.

adapted from the recipe here

Ingredients

Bars

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups finely chopped Hershey's candy cane kisses - about 45 kisses

Frosting

1 1/2 cup vanilla chips
1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

For the bars:
In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla until combined. In a separate bowl whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Gently fold in the chopped Hershey kisses.

Press dough into the pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges begin to have a golden brown look. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan.

For the frosting:
In a double boiler, or microwave, melt the chocolate chips and the shortening until smooth. Add the extract and stir. Pour over the bars in the pan. After the topping is hard remove from the pan using the parchment to lift them out. Slice into bars.

~Michelle

Chocolate Cream Bars

I am always on the hunt for something to bake and another reicpe to try. I decided to go back to and old cookbook. This is another recipe from Pillsbury - Simply From Scratch cookbook, circa 1978. I made one of my favorite take along snack cakes from this book. You will love it too. It is a Chocolate Chip Cake.
I thought I would try something else from the book. 

These looked tasty even in this old looking photo. 

These bars are on the left. Is that a candle in the background?

Cut into bars.

The topping really fell off as I was cutting it into bars. Hmmm

Chocolate Cream Bars

Crust / Topping
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter softened

Filling
12-oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine first six ingredients; mix at low speed until crumbly. Press 4 cups crumb mixture into ungreased 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan.

In medium saucepan, combine first four filling ingredients. Heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla and nuts.

Pour filling over crumb crust. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over filling.

Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Cool; cut into bars

~Michelle

Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Bars

I love trying recipes that I find in cookbooks or online. And here is another one.This is a pretty quick and easy recipe. They tasted best the day I made them. You know how you can cover your brownies in the pan with foil? Well I covered some left overs of these cake mix bars and they were pretty hard. But, for a day of event they are worth it. Hope that helps.

They were nice and chippy and had great flavor. Maybe you could try different flavors of cake mix. My co-workers of course loved them.

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz.) box yellow cake mix
2 eggs, beaten
5 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 bag (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. degrees
Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray

In a mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix with melted butter and beaten eggs. It will be easier if you use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer because the batter will be very thick. Stir in a bag of chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into greased baking dish. I used a rubber scraper with some nonstick spray to spread the batter since it is pretty thick.

Bake it in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.

The edges started to brown quickly so I added some foil to the edges of the pan to prevent them from burning while the center cooked throughly.

recipe from here

~Michelle

Snickerdoodle Bars

I thought I would try this recipe that came over my email from the Betty Crocker website.  I am always up for a new recipe.  It was a pretty cool evening and the boys and a friend were watching a movie so I decided to bake.  The great thing about this recipe is that the ingredients are things that I already had on hand. After I took it out of the oven I thought it was going to be under-baked however as it cooled it had a chewy, soft and very delicious texture. I also didn't use the glaze.  I wrapped some for the boys' friend to take home and took some to work the next day... Everyone loved them. Yeah

recipe from Betty Crocker

Snickerdoodle Bars

Ingredients
2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter softened. (I used cold butter and just sliced it into tablespoons before beating)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Cinnamon Filling
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Glaze - I didn't put any glaze on mine.
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 Tablespoons milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray or grease bottom only of a 13x9-inch baking pan with cooing spray. In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside

In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on hight speed until creamy. Beat in sugars. Gradually beat in eggs and vanilla into sugar mixture until combined. On low speed, add dry ingredients until well combined.

Spoon half the batter into pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over batter.

Dollop teaspoon size amounts of remaining batter evenly over cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

(Glaze) - In small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over bars.

Cut and serve
~Michelle

Chocolate Raspberry Bars

I searched high and low for my recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Pretzel bars and I just could not find it.  It was one of those situations where whenever I am looking through my cookbook cupboard I see this printed piece of paper and think, I should make these.  Well, I'm ready to make them and I have no idea where the paper with the recipe went.  So, I googled it to see if I could somehow find it.  No luck.  I did find this recipe and it turned out amazing. The original recipe called for strawberry jam, however, who can resist the combination of chocolate and raspberry, not me.

I made it for my friends at work who have been laid off. We went out for dinner to a local Italian restaurant, that my grandma happen to work at many, many years ago.  Then we came back to work and enjoyed some sweet snacks on their last day.  Sad to see things end this way but I know they will all find better jobs.

recipe from Very Best Baking

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INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups (12-oz pkg.) semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 jar raspberry jam 10 oz)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

Beat butter and 1 cup granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy.  Beat in egg.  Beat in 2 cups flour.  Stir in 1 cup chips.  Spread mixture in prepared pan.  Spread jam evenly over mixture in pan, leaving 1/2-inch border.

Combine 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in medium bowl.  Cut in 1/4 cup butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly.  Stir in remaining chips.  Sprinkle streusel evenly over preserves.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Cut into bars.

Combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in small bowl.  Drizzle over bars; let stand until set.

YUMMY

~Michelle