Christmas Baking

See, I have this problem.

I have this little sister Lola.

Oh wait, maybe I've read this book a few too many times in the past week. Ahem. Let me start over.

I have this problem. I REALLY love to bake. You might not think that's a problem, but it is. Because I am afraid it might turn me into a 600-pound woman who can't get through her front door.

Thankfully, I have a whole dorm of high-school boys that I send baked goods down to at least once a week. It's an excellent way to try out recipes.

With all the Christmas decorations coming out, I am just itching to bake. I'm taking suggestions in the comment sections on what I should make (and home addresses, for shipping?!). Here are ten ideas from my readers or recipes that I love!

Hello Dolly bars

Source: homesicktexan.blogspot.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Chocolate Chip Almond Cookie Bars

Source: stolenmomentscooking.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Oreo Truffles

Source: onceamonthmom.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Pumpkin Cookies

Source: vanderbiltwife.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Peanut-Butter Ball Cupcakes with PB Cream Cheese Frosting

Source: vanderbiltwife.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Buckeyes (these are slightly nontraditional, but don't they look ah-mah-zing?)

Source: passthesushi.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Andes Mint Cookies

Source: newlyweds-blog.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Christmas Bark (AKA Saltine Candy or Christmas Crack ... Cannot. Stop. Eating.)

Source: amysfinerthings.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Eggnog Cookies

Source: crumbsandchaos.blogspot.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies

Source: pauladeen.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Do you have a holiday baking list? Or do you break-and-bake or not at all?

Added to Top Ten Tuesday at OhAmanda.

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Pecan Doodle Cookies

Do you suffer from grocery amnesia? I can't count the number of times I've gotten halfway through a recipe and went to reach for that ingredient I was sure I had just to find it wasn't there after all. My short-term memory is just nonexistent, so this is a regular occurrence in my kitchen.

Solutions?

A. Beg Send husband to store to pick up forgotten ingredient(s), while trying to maintain quality of already-cooked recipe.

B. Go to neighbor's house. This works if you have friendly neighbors with well-stocked cupboards. If you live in a dorm with others who eat in a dining hall and are rarely home during the day anyway? Not so much.

C. Improvise or substitute.

The frequency with which I use Option C is the reason why I can't direct my husband to just prep a recipe. It's sad.

I was in the middle of prepping my Secret Recipe Club find for the month when I was forced to pursue Option C. Barb's Almond Doodle Cookies looked delicious to me. And then I went to grab that bag of sliced almonds I was sure was in the freezer ... and alas, it wasn't there. Anywhere.

So I used pecans.

Fascinating story, right?

Barb's blog, Mom's Fridge, is full of monthly menu plans, simple recipes, and COOKIES. I love cookies. I don't do much normal cooking anymore since we generally eat in the dining hall, but I do bake for us and for the boys who live in our dorm.

These delicious, puffy, sugary cookies will definitely be in my repertoire now. The cinnamon-pecan blend is a little unusual but absolutely mouthwatering.

Pecan Doodle Cookies

makes 3 dozen

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. almond extract (or vanilla)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 T cinnamon, for rolling

With a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, almond extract, and eggs. Add flours, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt and mix until well-combined. Stir in nuts.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake on greased cookie sheet 12 minutes at 375F (do not flatten balls).  Cool on wire racks.

Obviously Libbie (3) helped with making some of the cookies.

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Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies

Remember how I said that I don't like pumpkin spice lattes? These cookies have convinced me that I need to give them another chance. I still don't like pumpkin-flavored brewed coffee, but maybe the extra milk and stuff makes it tolerable. Honestly, I'm not sure I've ever had one of the Starbucks PSLs; I just haven't ever liked pumpkin and coffee together.

These cookies change everything!

I was baking some of my regular pumpkin cookies as a treat for my husband, who is having a crazy week at work. I started thinking about these coffee chocolate chip shortbreads I made for Bible study this weekend ... and how I had some extra instant coffee hanging around ... and how much people like those pumpkin spice lattes ...

I couldn't resist trying out a variation on my regular cookie, even though I knew it might make Mr. V hysterical. (I've mentioned his opposition to my changing anything about his mama's meatloaf recipe, right?) I kept the cookie recipe the same but added some coffee pizzazz to the icing, along with a shot of heavy cream for that "latte" feel.

The result: delicious! Make some. Now. If you don't have any instant coffee, just put some strong brewed coffee in there and see what happens. I bet it's still delicious.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies

makes about 3 dozen cookies


2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter (can sub shortening or use a mixture of the two)
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Sift the first five ingredients together (flour through salt).

In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Beat well.

Add dry ingredients all at once and stir gently to form a smooth batter.

Drop by tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use a small cookie scoop.) Bake 12 to 14 minutes at 350.

Let rest on cookie sheets for a few minutes when they come out of the oven; then transfer to cooling racks and let cool.

Frosting:

3 T butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 T heavy cream

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add milk, brown sugar, and coffee granules and bring to a bubble over medium heat. Once bubbling, cook two minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. (I transfer to a bowl and refrigerate.)

When cool, stir powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream into the sugar mixture. Spoon or drizzle over cooled cookies.

Are you a pumpkin spice kinda person?

Added to Tasty Tuesday and Sweet Tooth Friday.




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Cranberry-Citrus Cookies and Care Packages

A while back, we did a post on ParentLife Online about mailing care packages overseas to active military troops.  It's one of those things I've meant to do for a long time and just never have. The next time I was at the post office, I went ahead and got a flat-rate box and promised myself I WAS going to follow through on something this time!

My thoughts went to a new friend of mine whose husband has been overseas the whole time I've known her - and most of her son's life. Her baby is two days younger than David, and I can't imagine spending most of that first year on my own. No help with night wakings. No "please take the baby so I can take a 10-minute bath." It's all her.

I never hear her complain, though, and she has been nothing but an encouragement to me as our parenting styles are similar. I wanted to bless her family and show our thanks by sending her husband a package. My friend insisted it go to his whole unit, since they don't all get packages. She is so kind!

I searched the Internet for cookies that would hold up to being mailed overseas during the dead of summer. No chocolate. Nothing soft. I finally found these Cranberry Cookies and modified them slightly. They are chewy, citrusy, and delightful; and from what I heard, the unit in Iraq thought they were pretty darn good, too!

Cranberry and Citrus Butter Cookies

Adapted from Blisstree.com
Makes about 6 dozen

1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup milk
2 T lemon juice
1 T orange zest (dried or fresh)
1 large egg
3 cups AP or white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans
1 to 1-1/2 cups dried cranberries (sweetened is fine, and you can sub any dried fruit you like, although I don't think raisins would work very well)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy and combined. On low speed, mix in lemon juice, orange zest, and egg.

Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add pecans and cranberries and fold to combine well.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, until edges are brown. Let sit on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks.

To package for shipping, put cookies in gallon plastic bags. Pop popcorn and cool; then put it in additional plastic bags. Pad the bag of cookies with the bags of popcorn inside a box. Add letters, cards (kid-decorated are fun!), magazines, or toiletries items. Send off!

Added to Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum and Sweet Tooth Friday at Alli-N-Son. 

I recommend:

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Heaven and Fall in One Little Cookie

When my husband and I were dating, he introduced me to this, his favoritest cookie in the whole world. And my Mr. V, he is a COOKIE MONSTER. So saying it is his favorite is no small thing.

These cookies scream of Fall and I can't wait to make my first batch soon.

Pumpkin Cookies

makes about 3 dozen cookies

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shortening or butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Sift the first five ingredients together (flour through salt).

In a separate bowl, cream sugar and shortening. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Beat well.

Add dry ingredients all at once and stir gently to form a smooth batter.

Drop by teaspoonful on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350.

Frosting:
3 T butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla

Combine butter, milk, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil slowly and let boil for two minutes, stirring constantly. Cool completely.

After cool, stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.

One and a half recipes of frosting will ice two recipes of the cookies.

(Ice the cookies once they are slightly cool. Don't put away until icing is well set.)

Family Recipe Friday posts:
Yellow Squash Casserole at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
Smoky BBQ Brisket at Cozy Kitchen by the Sea
Creamy Cabbage at The MawMaw



Recipe submitted to Share Your Life at Kelly's Korner, What Did You Bake Today?, and It's a Blog Party.

Delicious and Pretty Chocolate Drop Cookies

It's been a while since I had a recipe post, so here we go with some wonderful chocolate drop cookies.

I'm going to a friend's house this afternoon and I like feeding people, so I opened up good ole Betty Crocker to see what I had ingredients for and could whip up in a flash.

So I wound up making these pretty things. Which are infinitely easier than the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, although not quite as good. I love the pretty frosting on these! I might have added some vanilla to the frosting though, had I tasted it before plopping it on its cookies.

Chocolate Drop Cookies

from Betty Crocker's Big Red Cookbook, 2001 edition

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts
Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or spray with cooking spray.
2. Beat sugar, butter, buttermilk, vanilla, egg, and chocolate in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or with spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in nuts.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost with chocolate frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
2 T butter or stick margarine
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 T hot water

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat in a saucepan or in microwave, remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and hot water until smooth. Add more water or sugar as needed to get good spreading consistency.