thecookieblogger.com

you know december, and the holiday baking season, have arrived, when your inbox is filled with a million links to cookie recipes. I get them all, believe me, and i scour the sites for hours! nothing makes me happier than discovering a new recipe, or re-discovering a new way to make an old favorite!

this year, as every year, betty crockers’ site joins in the fun. take a look, and see some of the fun stuff they’re sharing this year!

happy baking, friends!

well-known for her recipegirl.com site, lori lange put together her 31 favorite christmas cookie recipes from other baking sites, making it super easy for us to add some new cookies to our holiday cookie repertoire.

though many of the cookies listed look amazing, i am completely partial to the bourbon iced molasses cookies from mantitlement.com, and the peppermint bark cookies from inkatrinaskitchen.com (seriously, combining chocolate and peppermint is like having santa’s favorite hot cocoa in cookie form!)

enjoy – and hoping you find some great new recipes to try out this holiday season!

touting 39 brand new cookie recipes, taste of home comes through with a slew of updated recipes to get you baking this holiday season. the penguin cutouts are adorable, and the orange gingerbread tassies sound amazing. but i think my first attempt will be these rosemary shortbread christmas tree cookies. i can only hope they taste and smell as great as they look in the photo!

visit this year’s latest cookie extravaganza at https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/brand-new-christmas-cookie-recipes/ and please tell me which are your faves!

we’ve all done it from time to time. though i usually try to be really good about prepping my work station before i start making the cookie dough, i’ve been known to get halfway through a recipe and realize i’m missing a key ingredient.

well, i bet you’ve done that a time or two yourself! america’s test kitchen came up with this handy little chart to help you stay successful during your heavy baking season! hope it helps you like i know it will help me this year!

looking to try some new cookie recipes this year? why not expand your horizons and see what they’re suggesting in the pages of the new york times?

take a look here: ny times best cookie recipes

i think you’ll be grabbing that flour off the shelf as soon as you wade through more than 100 cookie recipes! i know i am gonna give some of them a try this year! join me!

there are a handful of blogs i loyally follow – and smitten kitchen is at the top of my list.

today’s deb’s baking up holiday cookies, and these unfussy cookies are worth adding into this year’s cookie tray! they are easy to make, even with the kids, they look good, and they taste, well, positively dee-lish! there’s nothing unfussy about the taste of these cookies, i promise you that. they’ll fit well right there alongside the pizzelles and the gingerbread men!

for deb’s video, to watch her create these gems, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2VggcVm1tg

to sign up for deb’s daily blog or to get her weekly newsletter, visit: https://smittenkitchen.com/ it’s well worth a visit!

happy baking!

if you’re like me, you’ve been counting down the days to start baking those holiday cookies! have you made your list and checked it twice? have all the ingredients on hand in your kitchen? do you know who gets the big cookie platters, and who gets their own private stash of pizzelles?

this year’s a bit different for me, because instead of baking in my own seattle home kitchen, i’ll be baking up my holiday cookies in my parents’ home, which also happens to be my childhood home, and where i first learned to bake cookies! one of my very first cookies that i made in this kitchen: mrs. panzer’s pudding cookies!

as you embark on this season’s cookie baking, take a look at this article over on king arthur baking. it’s a good way to give you a jump start on making dough a few days earlier than baking, and even a few days may help your busy kitchen during the holidays.

my recipes for this year’s cookies are coming your way soon. it’s been a challenging year for so many of us – let’s try to share some love and warmth with the world through our cookie baking, ok?

oh, there are so many people that think frosting only belongs atop cakes or cupcakes. but, why shouldn’t the beautiful cookie also get a chance to be topped with this amazing confection? often used to simply dress up a sugar cookie, or as a ‘dip’ for the homemade graham cracker, this deep, dark, chocolate frosting is just sweet enough and just rich enough to elevate even the plainest cookie to a delicacy!

this frosting works beautifully for cakes and cupcakes as well, so feel free to share the frosting love!

deep, dark, chocolate buttercream frosting

ingredients:

3 sticks unsalted butter

2/3 cup dark cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon king arthur baking espresso powder

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 cup half and half (or whipping cream will work well also)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

instructions:

1. melt the butter and the chocolate chips in either a saucepan atop your stove, or in the microwave (25 second increments, whisking in between until almost completely melted, then whisk the rest of the way to liquid.)
2. place the melted butter/chips concoction into your mixing bowl, adding the dark cocoa powder. on medium setting, whisk until smooth.
3. add the vanilla extract until completely mixed into the batter
4. alternating between the half and half and the sifted powdered sugar, add these to the batter in three batches, until you’ve incorporated all of it. after each addition of sugar, taste your frosting to insure it’s not too sweet for your taste. sweetness is a highly personal thing, and you should taste-test to get to your optimum flavor level.
5. once all your ingredients are combined, whisk on medium-to-medium-high for about four minutes, allowing this rich frosting to get as fluffy as it can.
6. enjoy!!

as most of you know, i trust king arthur baking for many of my baking products. they also have regular blog posts on their site that are helpful for all kinds of baking tips and recipes.

today, they’re featuring helpful hints for shipping your holiday treats. take a look – you may learn a thing or two! and your cookies will arrive looking as good as when they left your kitchen!

king arthur flour presents: shipping your holiday treats

happy baking! happy shipping!

if you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ll know i have a soft spot in my heart for baking chocolate sprinkle cookies. i found a cookie recipe on old-faithful king arthur baking company (originally king arthur flour! 2020 is the year they changed their name!), and played around with it until the cookies melted in my mouth!

a word of warning: instead of using regular sprinkles, i used deruyter chocoadehagel puure, which are dark chocolate sprinkles from holland, and because they are real dark chocolate, they get very soft and smooshy when they come out of the oven. give them time to set and cool down, or be prepared to lick your fingers after you’ve eaten one of them!

dark chocolate sprinkle cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 extra large egg (large egg will work, if that’s all you have!)

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups pure dark chocolate sprinkles (i used these deruyter chocolate sprinkles)

Instructions:

1. pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar in your mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
3. add egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract to the mixture, and beat in until well-mixed.
4. combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, then add the mixture to the wet ingredients. do not overmix. just mix until your dry ingredients are incorporated.
5. refrigerate your dough for about 30 minutes, to help you with handling.
6. use a #40 scoop, which is a little shy of 2 tablespoons, i roll a scoop of dough between my palms, creating a ball that then gets dredged in a bowl of the dark chocolate sprinkles.
7. roll around, and don’t be afraid to press too hard. you want the whole ball to be completely covered with those delicious sprinkles!
8. place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, about two inches apart. with a flat-edged glass or spoon, press down on the dough until it’s about 1/2 tall. you want a nice flat top, but don’t want the cookie to be too thin.
9. bake for 10 minutes, until cookies look set. remove from oven and place entire cookie sheet on wire rack. let cookies cool and set for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them carefully too the wire rack to cool completely. remember, if you use real dark chocolate sprinkles, they will be very soft, so give them some time to set!
10. enjoy!

yield: 40 cookies