Hot Cocoa Bombs

 

I think everybody either made or tried hot cocoa bombs this season. It was the "it" holiday sweet. First of all, I apologize for the length of this post. Once you get the hang of these, they aren't too bad to make at all. However, there is a bit of a learning curve to them. But practice makes perfect! Also, even if they aren't perfect, they will still taste fantastic.

I researched a lot of videos on YouTube before attempting these. Speaking of, I made my own video (my first ever for this blog!) because you really have to see how it is done to truly understand how to do it. Watch this 5 minute video (the link is for those viewing the mobile version, or if you are viewing the web version, you can click on the same video below, which for some reason, won't even appear on the mobile version), and then we can talk about what I learned through this process.

One of the videos I first researched insisted that tempered chocolate was a must because it was far superior taste-wise than using melting wafers.

So, I then studied up on tempering chocolate and even bought a spatula with a built in thermometer (you can find that here). I tried the microwave tempering method (where you keep the chocolate under a certain temperature so that it never becomes untempered), and I am not sure if my thermometer wasn't reading the temperature correctly or what, but my chocolate apparently became too hot (even though my thermometer said I was still okay) and therefore my chocolate became untempered. I know this, because it never regained that snap sound that tempered chocolate makes once it hardens again, it was dull rather than shiny, and it was a little soft.

So, then I did the stove top method to temper my chocolate...and it worked! I had beautifully tempered dark chocolate...and as soon as I tried to remove it from the mold, it cracked and shattered (that beautiful snapping sound that proves that you have correctly tempered your chocolate was totally there. Ha ha). Perhaps if I had done a thicker layer of chocolate or a second layer of chocolate, it would have been strong enough to remove from the mold without breaking. I guess I won't know for now, because at that point, I went to plan B (using melting wafers).

In my research, I learned that tempering milk and white chocolate is even harder than tempering semi-sweet or dark chocolate (because the temperatures that you temper at are different. They are lower temperatures than with dark chocolate).

I learned that chocolate melting wafers aren't really considered true chocolate because they don't contain cocoa butter. Candy melts or melting wafers contain added oils to help the chocolate solidify and hold its shape.

I also learned that chocolate chips can't be tempered. They don't have cocoa butter and they are too soft for tempering. In order to temper chocolate, you have to start with tempered chocolate. Tempered chocolate contains cocoa butter. For instance, a chocolate bar that snaps when you break off a square and contains cocoa butter is tempered. A chocolate chip never really snaps. It is soft, even when it holds its shape. A chocolate chip's composition is specifically made the way it is so that they can be soft and chewy at room temperature so you have a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie instead of a cookie with a chocolate crunch. Tempered chocolates have that snap, shine, solidity, and the ability to hold its shape at room temperature.

You can add vegetable oil to chocolate chips to help it hold its shape at room temperature better, but then that makes them very similar to melting wafers anyway.

So, here's what I learned through a lot of trial and error:

For this particular recipe, tempering is not for me. It might be for you, but it is not for me! I am too much of a chocolate amateur. It just makes this recipe more time consuming and difficult. 

If tempering is for you, and you are a skilled chocolatier, feel free to buy high quality tempered chocolate, chop it up, melt it down, make sure it is tempered again and make your beautiful pure chocolate cocoa bombs.

I, however, wanted something that would not only be delicious, but also faster and easier for me, personally, to assemble and produce on a larger scale.

Straight chocolate chips taste amazing in this recipe, though they melt easily. So, they are hard to handle when you are forming the balls because they will melt in your hands as you are touching them. You can hide a lot of flaws with drizzled chocolate and toppings though. Also, they will retain their shape best if stored in the refrigerator. 

As mentioned above, if you add a little shortening (2 tablespoons shortening for every 2 cups of chocolate chips), you can make your own version of chocolate candy coating that will work better for these cocoa bombs and can be stored at room temperature, rather than in the fridge.

It is easier to make these hot cocoa bombs with bare hands rather than while wearing gloves. You kind of need your bare skin to handle the chocolate. The gloves make things too slippery.

Chocolate chips with or without shortening taste great in this recipe.

Candy melts or melting wafers also taste great in this recipe.

When I made mine, I used melting wafers, straight chocolate chips, and chocolate chips with shortening. I thought all of them were delicious, so I suggest you use what you are most comfortable with.

Finally, you will need a medium size silicone mold. There are bigger ones, but they are way too big for your standard size mug. You can find the one I used here.

Hot Cocoa Bombs

Ingredients:

2 cups chocolate chips or melting wafers
2 tbsp shortening (only if using chocolate chips)
1 scoop hot cocoa (any flavor) per bomb
1 scoop mini vanilla dehydrated marshmallows per bomb
Sprinkles, crushed candy, crushed cookies, etc. for decorative topping, if desired
1 cup steaming hot milk (any kind) per bomb, for serving

Directions:

Melt chocolate chips or melting wafers in a microwave safe container at 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until completely smooth.

Add a spoonful of melted chocolate to each mold indentation. Using the back of the spoon, spread chocolate evenly over each indentation.

Place mold in the freezer for 5 minutes, or until completely set.

Once set, carefully remove the chocolate from the molds.

Gather your hot cocoa and mini marshmallows for easy assembly.

Place a microwave safe glass dish in the microwave. Microwave for 1-2 minutes or until hot.

Carefully place warm dish next to the chocolate shells. Place one shell half, seam side down, on the warm plate to clean up and slightly melt the edges.

Fill that shell half with a scoop of hot cocoa. Top that with a scoop of mini marshmallows.

Place second shell half, seam side down, on the warm plate to clean up and slightly melt the edges.

Carefully place the two shells together, smoothing the seam with your finger and using additional melted chocolate to help seal it together, if necessary.

Repeat until you run out of chocolate and/or you have the desired amount of cocoa bombs.

Let the bombs sit until completely set. 

Using a squeeze bottle or spoon, drizzle completed bombs with additional melted chocolate that has cooled slightly. You don't want to use chocolate that is too hot or it will melt a hole right through your bomb and ruin all of your hard work! (Yes, I am speaking from experience. RIP cocoa bomb that got drizzled with chocolate that was too hot) 

Immediately top with sprinkles, crushed candies, or crushed cookies, if using. If you wait too long, the chocolate drizzle will set and the toppings won't stick to it.

When ready to serve, you can explode your cocoa bomb one of two ways. You can place a cocoa bomb in the bottom of a mug and slowly pour 1 cup of steaming hot milk on top. Or, you can prepare a mug of steaming hot milk and gently place the bomb into your mug of milk.

Source: Holy cow, this is everywhere. All you have to do is Google it to find videos and/or recipe links all over the place. For me, it started when my sister found an ad saying they would be available at Costco. We searched and never found them, so we decided to make our own.

Notes: Please watch the video above, because honestly, these aren't too hard to make once you get the hang of it, but it is a completely visual recipe. You kind of have to see how it is done for it to totally make sense.

I love Ghirardelli melting wafers. That's what I used for the hot cocoa bombs in all but one (the final) picture. Even in that picture, I used the Ghirardelli melting wafers for half of those cocoa bombs. I found them in my local grocery store. If you can't find them locally, you can find them here.

I found dehydrated vanilla mini marshmallows on Amazon, here.

If doing a large batch, a squeeze bottle is easiest for drizzling chocolate. If doing a small batch, a spoon is easier. I used a squeeze bottle similar to these ones here.

The easiest way to steam milk is to put one cup of milk in a microwave safe container and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. After one minute, that is a good temperature for kids. If you like it hotter, microwave for an additional minute.

Also, if you long for the taste of real, tempered, cocoa butter packed chocolate, but can't figure out how to make them work in your molds without them shattering, simply put a couple of squares of high quality chocolate in a mug, add a scoop of hot cocoa, add some mini marshmallows, and then add some steaming hot milk and just enjoy it with the knowledge that you didn't make a huge mess of your kitchen in the process. 

Hot Cocoa Bomb Flavor Combinations:

• Dark chocolate melting wafers, raspberry hot cocoa, red nonpareil sprinkles

• Dark chocolate melting wafers, peppermint hot cocoa, crushed peppermint candies

• Dark chocolate melting wafers, dark chocolate hot cocoa, chocolate sprinkles

• Dark chocolate melting wafers, mint truffle hot cocoa, green sugar or crushed wint-o-greens candies

• White chocolate melting wafers, white chocolate hot cocoa, red sugar

• White chocolate melting wafers, pumpkin spice hot cocoa, cinnamon sugar or a little nutmeg
  

• Dark or milk chocolate melting wafers or chocolate chips, salted caramel hot cocoa, finely chopped toffee, butterscotch candies, and/or coarse salt
  

• Dark or milk chocolate melting wafers or chocolate chips, toasted coconut hot cocoa, toasted shredded coconut, finely chopped

• Milk chocolate chips, peanut butter cup hot cocoa, crumbled Nutter Butter or other peanut butter cookies
  

• White chocolate melting wafers, cookies and cream hot cocoa, crushed Oreo cookies

• Dark chocolate melting wafers or milk chocolate chips, cookies and cream hot cocoa, crushed Oreo cookies

• Milk chocolate chips, English toffee hot cocoa, finely chopped toffee

• Milk chocolate chips, hazelnut hot cocoa, finely chopped hazelnut chocolate candy bar

• Milk chocolate chips, mocha or macchiato flavored hot cocoa, chocolate sprinkles
  

• Milk chocolate chips, Mexican style hot cocoa, cinnamon sugar

• Milk chocolate chips, milk chocolate hot cocoa, mini chocolate chips or chopped chocolate 

• Milk chocolate chips, cherry hot cocoa, red sugar  

• Wherever your taste buds and your creativity take you! 

 

Above: This is the only picture that I took of the hot cocoa bombs that I made as gifts for my family. It was honestly such a process, I had so much to learn, and I was so under the gun to get them delivered on time that pictures didn't even occur to me until I was literally about to drop the last gift plate on my sister's porch. So, I grabbed my cell phone and snapped a few quick pics. Ha ha. Do yourself a favor and have a few trial runs to get comfortable with these before planning to make 50 at once to deliver while you are under a deadline to do it. 

The top two are dark chocolate Ghirardelli melting wafers, peppermint hot cocoa mix, mini marshmallows, and topped with crushed peppermint. The two below that are dark chocolate Ghirardelli melting wafers, raspberry hot cocoa mix, mini marshmallows, and topped with red nonpareils. The two  with red sugar are milk chocolate chips, milk chocolate cocoa mix, mini marshmallows, and red sugar sprinkles. 

The final one with green sprinkles is a mini long story. I ordered Ghirardelli milk chocolate melting wafers on my online pickup order, but then they were unavailable. This was the substitute the store made. Dang online order substitutions! Am I right? They looked like melting wafers, but turned out to be more like chocolate chips. They worked, but I didn't add shortening because I thought they were melting wafers. The result was that these were the hardest to assemble because they were so prone to melting. They exploded nicely when milk was poured on them though. So, that was milk chocolate wafers, milk chocolate hot cocoa, mini marshmallows, and green sprinkles.

I then made three more (the ones in all of the rest of the pictures), just so I could take pictures for this blog post. Ha ha! Those are dark chocolate melting wafers, raspberry hot cocoa, and red nonpareils and dark chocolate melting wafers, peppermint or candy cane hot cocoa, and crushed peppermints.

Above: You can also make them UFO-style. Instead of using the hot plate method to fuse the shell halves together, you pipe slightly cooled melted chocolate onto the edges and then put them together. You then roll the bomb in sprinkles, crushed candy, or chopped cookies for decoration. These are milk chocolate chips (without shortening), raspberry hot cocoa, and red sugar. These were my very first attempt at hot cocoa bombs. You can kind of see that when I handled them, the tops became less shiny and dull. These tasted like ambrosia though.

Again, sorry for the long post, but I hope my errors and learning experiences along the way will help you avoid problems in your own hot cocoa bomb journey.

However you decide to make them, I hope you love them as much as we did!

Scottish Trifle: Old

 

 

This is the old Scottish Trifle recipe that we always had for dessert on Christmas Eve while I was growing up.

Scottish Trifle

Ingredients:

Angel food cake (pre-made from your grocery bakery or homemade)
17 oz. frozen raspberries
4-5 tbsp. orange juice
3 oz. raspberry Jell-O
4 oz cook and serve vanilla pudding, with milk called for on package instructions
1/2 pint whipping cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar, or to taste
1/2 cup blanched sliced almonds
Maraschino cherries

Directions:

Thaw and drain raspberries, reserving juice.

Crumble cake on bottom of large serving bowl or trifle dish. Pour orange juice over cake. Spoon drained fruit over the top.

Using reserved raspberry juice, prepare Jell-O using slightly less water (about 3/4 cup boiling water and 3/4 cup cold water/juice mixture). Pour Jell-O liquid mixture over raspberries and crumbled angel food cake. Chill to set.

Prepare cook and serve pudding according to package instructions. Chill completely.

Spread chilled pudding on top of trifle. Chill completely.

Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add in sugar and continue beating until incorporated.

When ready to serve, spread whipped cream on top of trifle and sprinkle with almonds (toasted or untoasted, according to your preference) and maraschino cherries.

Source: My mom found this in the recipe section of the Deseret News around 30 years ago. I couldn't find it on their site, but you are welcome to peruse their recipe archives!

Notes: We always use a store-bought pre-baked angel food cake. It is just easier that way, and they are delicious. The original recipe also says that you can used canned raspberries. In that case, you wouldn't drain or strain them. You would just use water to prepare the Jell-O. After trying the new version and the old version of Scottish Trifle, we decided that we would probably try to make a new hybrid version next year. The consensus was that we loved the homemade custard and fresh raspberries in the new version, but we loved the added flavors from the orange juice and raspberry juice in the old version. So, stay tuned for December 2021 for yet another version of Scottish Trifle. Ha ha!

Scottish Trifle: New

 

Scottish Trifle: New Way

Ingredients:

1 angel food cake (pre-made by your grocery bakery, or homemade)
1 recipe homemade custard, fully chilled (see below)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar, or to taste
Slivered blanched almonds
2 pints fresh raspberries

Directions:

Beat heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in sugar and continue beating until incorporated.

Cut or tear angel food cake into bite size cubes. Spread a layer of angel food cake onto the bottom of a trifle dish or large bowl. Sprinkle evenly with fresh raspberries.

Top angel food cake and raspberries with homemade custard. 

Top custard layer with whipped cream. Chill until ready to serve.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spread slivered blanched almonds onto foil covered baking sheet. Bake almonds, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and toasted. Let cool completely.

When ready to serve, sprinkle top of the trifle with toasted slivered almonds and fresh raspberries.

Source: This was a combination of this recipe that I found and the old one, found here, that we used to make while I was growing up.

Notes: I used a pre-baked angel food cake from my grocery bakery. It is just nice to simplify things when everything else has so many steps. The reason my trifle bowl doesn't look very full is that I split this recipe in half and separated it into two trifle bowls so I could keep one half for our family and give the other half to my mom. Pictured is the one I gave to my mom. If I put the entire recipe into one trifle bowl, it would fill it to the top. You could even alternate layers, if desired, and do six layers instead of three (1. angel food cake and raspberries, 2. custard, 3. whipped cream, 4. angel food cake and raspberries, 5. custard, 6. whipped cream, raspberries, and toasted almonds).

Homemade Custard

Ingredients:

4 cups heavy whipping cream, scalded
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Beat the yolks with the sugar until it is light and forms a ribbon when the beater is lifted.

Add the scalded cream slowly in a stream, stirring. (You can also use the mixer on low speed)

Transfer the custard to a heavy saucepan and cook it over moderately low heat, stirring until it thickens, but do not let it boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in vanilla. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a metal bowl. Set in a bowl of ice. Let it cool, stirring occasionally, then chill, covered.

Source: My sister-in-law, Angie Adams.

Notes: The longer you let it chill, the thicker it will be. I recommend making it a day before you need to assemble the trifle, and letting it chill overnight. This is rich and heavenly stuff.

Mom's Snickerdoodles

You know the saying, "Nobody makes 'em like mom?" This is true of snickerdoodles. I still haven't figured them out. My mom made us a batch of snickerdoodles in a Christmas care package, and they tasted like childhood and heaven. Light, fluffy, and cakey. Soooo good. Here is her recipe.

Giant Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

1 cup margarine, softened (use a good brand that is preferably marked "good for baking")
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl with mixer at medium speed, cream butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture until well blended, but do not overmix. 

Refrigerate at least 1 hour to chill dough.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a flat open bowl. 

*Important: Prepare balls of dough for one batch of cookies at a time. Keep unused dough refrigerated. The texture of the cookies is dependent on the dough remaining chilled right up until baking.

Shape dough into 2-inch balls and roll in cinnamon-sugar. Place 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Snickerdoodles will puff up at first, then flatten out to giant size during baking. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Source: My mom got this recipe from a Ladies Home Journal magazine about 40 years ago.

 

Notes: You cannot substitute butter or shortening for this recipe. You need margarine, and not just any margarine, but a good quality margarine. Some margarine brands water their formula down, so that will alter the outcome of the recipe as well. Look for a brand of margarine that specifically claims that it is "good for baking." Also, do not overmix the batter. Finally, it is imperative that you keep the dough chilled in the refrigerator right up until it is ready to be rolled into a ball and baked, otherwise the cookies will spread. They will lose their thick, light, fluffy, and cakey texture and instead be flat, chewy, and quickly become hard. If this happens, the cookies are still edible, of course, but you will want to warm them in the microwave for 7-10 seconds per cookie prior to eating to soften them up.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies

We have two amazing chocolate chip cookie recipes on this blog. One of them can be found here. The other one can be found below. We posted it nearly a decade ago, here, but my mom made a batch for us for Christmas, so I felt it deserved another post.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 lb. butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
6 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
2 bags (4 cups) chocolate chips)
Walnuts, if desired

Directions:

Cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar.

Then add eggs, flour, salt, baking soda, and vanilla. Once incorporated, add chocolate chips, and walnuts, if using.

Mix well. Put on ungreased cookie sheet with small ice cream scoop. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.

Source: My mom found this in a ward/church cookbook about 30 years ago. She mentioned in the comments below that it was a recipe either submitted by Jo Hatch and/or Sharon Boam.

 

Notes: We originally added pecans to this as well, but since my son developed a tree nut allergy, we have omitted the nuts.

Choose Your Flavor

My mom has mentioned a number of times that her mom used to make candy cane cookies that had anise and almond flavoring. However, her mom never passed on a recipe to them. I decided to try my hand with the internet and see if I can find a recipe that was close to what her mom used to make. She said this one came pretty darn close and brought back a lot of memories.

Now, you can have a lot of fun with the flavorings on these cookies. I found a lot of different options online. Some recipes used 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract for the red dough and 1 teaspoon almond extract for the white dough. Some recipes used 1 teaspoon peppermint extract for the red dough and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract for the white dough. The version my mom always had used 1 teaspoon anise extract for the red dough and 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract for the white dough.

I made these cookies two ways. I made one batch using the anise extract for the red dough and almond extract for the white dough. Then I made another batch where I used peppermint extract for the red dough and vanilla extract for the white dough. It was fantastic both ways. These are light, soft, and chewy butter cookies. I think you will love them. Besides being delicious, they were also adorable.

Christmas Candy Cane Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (or more, to get your desired color)
1/2 cup peppermint candy, crushed, optional
1/2 cup sugar, optional

Flavorings:

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla

Or:

1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Or:

1 teaspoon anise extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter, and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Divide dough in half; mix the food coloring into 1 portion. Then mix in the extracts: almond, peppermint, or anise into the red dough and vanilla or almond into the white dough.  

Cover each portion of dough separately and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle. I put each into a separate zip top bag.

Just before removing dough from the refrigerator, mix crushed peppermint candy and sugar together, if using.

Shape 1 teaspoon plain dough into a 4-inch rope. Shape 1 teaspoon red dough into a 4-inch rope. Place ropes side by side; pres together lightly and twist carefully. Be gentle to avoid breaking or cracking the dough. Place on an ungreased baking sheet; curve top of cookie down to form handle of cane. Repeat with remaining plain and red dough, placing cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets. I kept the dough I wasn't currently working with in the refrigerator to keep it chilled.

Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes or until set. Sprinkle the candy mixture lightly on top of the warm cookies. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Nutrition information: 1 cookie: 86 calories, 4 g fat, 48 mg sodium, 11 g carbohydrate (6 g sugars, 0 g fiber), 1 g protein.

Source: I found variations of this cookie recipe all over the internet. I followed this one from Taste of Home. you can find it here. However, here are some more versions of the recipe. Another Taste of Home version, here. This Taste of Home version is cinnamon flavored with crushed red hots! You can find it here. Don't feel like making dough? This version, here, uses refrigerated sugar cookie dough. This was the only one I found that used anise flavoring. You can find it here. I am not sure why it was so poorly reviewed. Probably someone who doesn't like anise flavoring. But I love it! A cute three color candy cane with red, green, and white, here. Version one from Allrecipes.com, here. Version two from Allrecipes.com, here. Version three from Allrecipes.com, here.

 

 Above: I could have spaced them a little more and fit nine cookies to a pan, all facing the same direction, but this is how I did mine this time.

 

Notes: I LOVED the anise and almond flavor combination. The anise flavoring was not overpowering. This is not eating a black jellybean cookie, I promise. It is subtle and just such a lovely flavor combination. It was so good. I also loved the peppermint flavored cookies as well. Though the almond and vanilla flavor combination might be the most kid friendly. As you can see from all the versions I found, you can experiment with what works best for you! Also, definitely check out the tricolor candy canes (red, green, and white). Those were really fun and cute too!

Christmas Cookie Plate Exchange Part 2

As promised, here is the second half of our cookie plate exchange recipes! Enjoy!

 

Kisses Candy Cane Blossoms

Ingredients:

48 Hershey's Kisses brand candy cane mint candies
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
1/3 cup red and/or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar, or powdered sugar for rolling

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove wrappers from candies.

Heat butter, granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red or green sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. 

Makes about 48 cookies.

Source: Hershey's website. You can find it here.

Notes: These were so cute and delicious. We did put the candies on to the cookies too soon. We should have let them cool a little longer before pressing the candies into the cookies to avoid the candies from melting the way they did. Oh well!

Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (increase to 1 tsp. if you love cinnamon)
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar (light brown sugar may also be used)
1 large egg, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Directions:

Stir the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a medium size bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the egg and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft, yet thick. Cover the dough and chill for 2 hours, or up to 3 days.

If dough was chilled for longer than 2 hours, allow it to soften at room temperature for ten minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

Pour the granulated sugar into a bowl. Take 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball, then roll into the sugar. Bake for precisely 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently press the top of the middle of each cookie down with the back of a spoon. Place back into the oven for 1-2 more minutes. Cookies will be puffy and still appear very soft in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for ten minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookies stay soft and fresh for 7 days at room temperature. Cookies may be frozen up to 3 months. Frozen rolled cookie dough may be baked directly from the freezer for 13 minutes.

Source: Sally's Baking Addiction. You can find it here.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (dark brown sugar may also be used)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tbsp red food coloring
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined and creamy, about 1 minute. 

Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract. Once mixed, add in the food coloring and continue mixing until combined.

Continue mixing while slowly adding in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until fully incorporated and soft dough has formed. Add in more red food coloring, if desired. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spoon.

Cover the dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

Scoop 1 1/2 tbsp dough and roll into a ball. Bake for 10-11 minutes.

If the cookies are still puffy and haven't spread, lightly press down with the back of a spoon. If desired, sprinkle a few additional chocolate chips onto the tops of the warm cookies.

Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Sally's Baking Addiction. You can find it here.

Notes: All of my pictures turned out blurry. I will have to make these again sometime soon and get a picture of them.

Molasses Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups shortening
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt

Directions:

Melt the shortening in a large pan on the stove, and cool.

Add sugar, eggs, and molasses; beat well.

In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together and add to the pan. Mix well and chill 3 hours or overnight.

Form into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.

Store in an airtight container.

Source: Allrecipes recipe by Karin Christian. You can find it here.

Notes: Another one that I didn't get a picture of. I will have to add a picture after I make them again.

 

Toasted Coconut and Lime Shortbread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, baked in a 325 degree F oven until golden, about 5 minutes
1/2 lb. unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp lime zest
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugar in your mixer at low speed for about 30 seconds. With the mixer running, beat in the lime zest and egg yolk, followed by the flour, cornstarch, toasted coconut, and salt. Beat just until the mixture holds together.

Shape the dough into a log and refrigerate or freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Slice 1/4-inch cookies and place on baking sheets. Bake until cookies are barely firm, but still very tender, about 30 minutes--do not brown. Cool for a minute on the cookie sheets before transferring cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Source: Donuts, Dresses, and Dirt from The New York Times. You can find it here.

Sweet and Salty Corn Puffs

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks, or 1 cup)
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon corn syrup
8 ounces corn puffs

Directions:

Stir first four ingredients together in a saucepan and heat on high heat until mixture reaches 250 degrees.

Meanwhile, pour corn puffs into a large bowl. When the butter/sugar mixture reaches 250 degrees, pour mixture over corn puffs and stir to coat. Spread onto waxed paper to cool.

Source: My mom got this recipe from her friend, Karrie. I found a very similar recipe online here. We also posted about it once before. You can read the original post here.

Notes: Yes, I know these aren't cookies, but we included these little gift bags in our cookie packages. They weren't plates so much as they were cookie filled cake boxes. Ha ha.

Christmas Cookie Plate Exchange Part 1

I am very behind on blogging. We did this a few years ago, but we all made a bunch of different kinds of cookies and then put together plates for our neighbors using each others' cookies, so we had an amazing variety of cookies.

Here are the cookie recipes we used!

Biscotti

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon anise extract, or 3 drops anise oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, and anise flavoring until well blended. Combine the flour and baking powder, stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough. Divide dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a roll as long as your cookie sheet. Place roll onto the prepared cookie sheet, and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. When the cookies are cool enough to handle, slice each one crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices cut side up back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6-10 minutes on each side. Slices should be lightly toasted.

Source: Allrecipes, recipe by JANDEE. You can find it here.

Notes: You can substitute almond flavoring for the anise extract, if you prefer. Your rectangles should be about 4" wide and about 1/2" thick. 

Watch cookies carefully, it may take less than 25 minutes to bake, depending on your oven. Remove the cookies when they are a nice golden brown color.

Do not let the cookies cool completely before slicing them. Slice them while still warm with a pizza cutter.

Peppermint Pinwheels

Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Red food coloring paste or gel

Directions:

Beat butter with a heavy-duty stand mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg and extracts, beating until combined.

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating on low speed just until blended.

Divide dough in half; add desired amount of red food coloring to 1 portion, and knead until color is distributed. Shapre dough halves into disks; wrap in plastic wrap, and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Divide each half of dough into 2 equal portions. Roll out each portion on floured wax paper into an 8-inch square, trimming edges, if necessary.

Invert 1 white dough square onto 1 red dough square; peel wax paper from white dough. Tightly roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion, peeling wax paper from red dough as you roll. Repeat with remaining dough squares. Wrap rolls in plastic wrap, and chill 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove dough from refrigerator, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices; place slices 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. (Keep unbaked dough chilled while baking cookies.)

Bake, in batches, in preheated oven until bottoms are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove cookies from pans to wire racks, and cool completely.

Source: Southern Living, recipe by Iain Bagwell. You can find it here.

 

Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Andes peppermint crunch baking chips (or crushed peppermint candies)

Directions:

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Gradually add flour and mix on low until combined. Add Andes baking chips and continue mixing on low until fully combined.

On wax paper or parchment paper, form into a 12- to 14-inch log and freeze at lease 30 minutes, or until firm.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the shortbread dough into 1/4-inch slices and bake for 13-15 minutes on parchment lined baking sheets.

Note: if you freeze the dough for longer than 30 minutes, you may have to let it sit out at room temperature until it thaws slightly before you are able to slice it.

Source: Rachel Cooks. You can find it here.

 

Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions:

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and zest. Mix until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, and salt; mix until well combined, about 3 minutes. Halve dough; shape each into log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300 dwegrees. Place remaining 1/4 cup cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper. Roll log in cornmeal to coat. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and space them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until pale golden, 25-30 minutes. Cool on sheet on a wire rack.

Source: Martha Stewart Living. You can find it here.

Notes: Pay no attention to the low reviews on the Martha Stewart website. I swear she has people trolling her. This is a great recipe and does not deserve the low rating it has.

  

Susan's Italian Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies:

4 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon or anise extract
4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 cups flour

Frosting:

3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Milk, as needed
Colored sprinkles and or colored sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, and lemon or anise extract.

Mix in the baking powder, salt, and flour until well combined.

Roll dough into 1" galls and place about 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake 9-11 minutes (cookies should not brown).

Place on wire rack to cool.

Make frosting. Whisk together the butter and vanilla and then whisk in enough confectioners sugar to make a frosting. Add about a tablespoon of milk at a time until you get a good consistency for drizzling.

Drizzle frosting over cookies and immediately sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles. Leave until frosting sets.

Source: The View from Great Island. You can find it here.

Fancy Sugar Cookies

A few years ago, we made sugar cookies using edible wafer paper to add pretty pictures to the top of the cookies. It was kind of a process, but they made for the prettiest cookies. I used royal icing here, but wafer paper also works with fondant, in case you ever want to use it that way.

Karrie's Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
2 cups butter or margarine, softened
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla (or almond flavoring)
1 pinch salt
7 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixed with baking powder and salt. Roll out the sugar cookie dough and cut out cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake (in fact, you don't even want these cookies to start to brown).

Source: My Mom's friend, Karrie. When we got the recipe from her, she called them "John's Sugar Cookies." I don't know who John is, but he knows how to make a good sugar cookie.

Notes: Who doesn't love sugar cookies? These are awesome. This is the recipe I used this time.

No Fail Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Cream sugar and butter until fluffy, about five minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.

Put a handful of the freshly made dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to desired thickness. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Put the rolled dough, including the parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. Your dough will be chilled and ready to cut and bake with no wait and no added flour! Repeat with scraps after cutting cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Let cool. Recipe makes 8 dozen 3" cookies.

Source: Fancy Flours website. You can find it here.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Wilton Meringue Powder
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 1 lb.)
5 tablespoons water

Directions:

In large bowl, beat all ingredients at medium speed of stand mixer until icing forms peaks and loses its sheen, 7-10 minutes. If using a hand mixer, beat at high speed 10-12 minutes. If peaks are not forming, increase the mixer speed and continue to beat.

To prevent drying, cover the bowl with a damp cloth while working with icing.

Makes about 2 3/4 cups of icing.

Source: Wilton. You can find it here.

Notes: I prefer to use an egg white substitute meringue powder for royal icing for cookies. It's just easier, and then you also don't have to worry about consuming raw egg. If you aren't planning to eat it (like for a gingerbread house), royal icing using egg whites is great.

Fancy Wafer Paper Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

Baked sugar cookies (using your preferred recipe, cut the cookie shapes to match the wafer paper shapes and the number needed)
Royal icing
Wafer paper pictures
Scissors
Light corn syrup or clear piping gel
Decorator brush
Wax paper
A lot of free counter space

Directions:

Frost cookies by first piping an outline around each of the cookie's edges. Once all of the cookies have an outline frosting border, pipe frosting within the border of each cookie, using a fine knife or toothpick to spread the frosting evenly over the cookie. Avoid overfilling with frosting. You don't want the frosting to spill over the border. Don't stack the cookies until after they have dried. They need to be laid out in one layer while the icing dries.

Allow iced cookies to dry completely overnight.

Cut the wafer paper that you plan to use to size using scissors.

Brush corn syrup or clear piping gel onto the back of the wafer paper (like you would glue) with your decorator brush. Carefully place the wafer paper onto the cookie to center it as desired. Press down the edges to make sure that the wafer paper completely adheres to the cookie. Use a paper towel to smooth the surface of the wafer cookie. Turn the cookie over onto a clean piece of waxed paper to allow the picture to set for about 10 minutes. Turn the cookie back over and allow to dry completely.

Once the wafer paper is completely dry, you can pipe, frost, or decorate borders onto your cookie, if desired. Or you can leave it as is.

Source: Fancy Flours website. They have step by step pictures with their instructions that are very helpful. You can find it here.

Notes: Here are a couple of links for edible wafer paper that I used. They have so many options. They even have great ones for Halloween, Valentine's Day, the 4th of July, and more. If you just search for "edible wafer paper," you will see all of their selections. 

North Pole Postage Stamp edible wafer paper.

Merry Christmas Wreath edible wafer paper.

White Chocolate Cherry Christmas Cookies

 

 

The first time I tried these cookies, it was at a cookie plate exchange over five years ago. Everyone brought some cookies and we made cookie plates to give out to others (or to keep for our own families). We also encouraged people to share their recipes as well. Some remembered to do that, and others didn't.

I tried these fantastic cookies and instantly fell in love...but I didn't know who brought these cookies, and they didn't share a recipe either. Cue the internet! Google to the rescue! I knew I couldn't live the rest of my life without eating these cookies again, so after a quick Google search, I found multiple instances where the recipe (almost identical in each case) was found. I will share all of the sources I found below. If you combine all of the names for this cookie, you could call it a White Chocolate Dipped Cherry Shortbread Cookies, but that is kind of a mouthful. I used the recipe from Taste of Home, which was submitted by Ruth Anne Dale of Titusville, Pennsylvania.

I hope you love them as much as I do.

 

Dipped Cherry Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar, divided
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 cup cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup finely chopped maraschino cherries, patted dry
12 ounces white baking chocolate, finely chopped, divided
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (use artificial almond extract to make it tree-nut free)
2 teaspoons shortening
Coarse red sugar, red edible glitter, red and/or white nonpareils, and/or red and/or white sprinkles (I used coarse red sugar this time)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine flour and 1/2 cup sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Knead in the cherries, 2/3 cup white chocolate, and extract until dough forms a ball.

Shape into 3/4-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a glass dipped in remaining sugar. Bake at 325 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

In a microwave, melt shortening and remaining white chocolate; stir until smooth.

Dip half of each cookie into chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; sprinkle with coarse red sugar or edible glitter. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

Sources: Taste of Home, you can find it here. Better Homes and Gardens, posted twice, here and here. Also found on Mel's Kitchen Cafe here. You could probably also find other sources on Pinterest.