One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is baking all my favorite holiday recipes. I love baking with my mom and sister for all of our friends and family because I love trying new recipes and making them my own. These two recipes below are some of my favorite recipes to make. Both are super easy and fun to make because they are very customizable to your own tastes. You can create so many different variations of these recipes using the same basic recipes and adding your own decorations.
Crushed Candy Cane Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients:
1 box of chocolate cake mix
2 large eggs
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Crushed candy canes for decoration
Instructions:
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
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Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper to prevent the cookies from sticking
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Thoroughly mix together the cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil in a large enough bowl until they are fully combined. (Pro tip: add the eggs to the bowl before all the other ingredients in case you accidentally get a piece of the shell in the bowl)
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Using a spoon or an ice cream scooper, form roughly 2 tablespoon portions of cookie dough on the parchment paper and make sure to leave enough space between the portions so the cookies will not expand and combine to form one giant cookie (I have definitely had this happen to me before)
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Bake cookies for approximately 10 minutes or until the edges are slightly darker than the center. They should be slightly crispy around the edges but still soft in the middle.
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Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
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Once the cookies have cooled completely, you can start on the candy cane decorations!
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Melt the chocolate chips until they have a very thin consistency (I usually do this in the microwave for convenience)
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Dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate, and then place the cookie on a platter of crushed candy canes flipping it so that both sides are coated with the crushed candy cane.
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Place the cookies back on the cookie sheet or another plate and allow it to chill in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens
Holiday Oreo Truffles
Ingredients:
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1 package of Oreo cookies (16 oz.)
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1 package of cream cheese (8 oz.)
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2 packages of chocolate chips (8 oz. each)
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Optional Decorations: Chocolate chips, sprinkles, crushed nuts, crushed candy cane
Instructions:
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Crush oreo cookies until they are in fine crumbs, this can be done in a food processor or using my personal favorite method of putting the cookies in a large Ziploc bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. Personally, I think the second option is more fun but that’s just me.
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Combine the oreo crumbs and cream cheese in a medium or large bowl and mix well.
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Roll the mixture into small balls using your hands and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or wax paper. I recommend making them about 1 inch in diameter but that is up to your discretion.
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Refrigerate for at least an hour or two, but often I will do even longer than that just to be sure they are fully chilled before I move on to the coating.
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Melt chocolate chips, once again I usually do this in a glass bowl in the microwave
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Place each chilled truffle one at a time in the bowl of melted chocolate and use two forks to rotate the truffle so that it is completely coated and lift it out of the bowl, letting excess chocolate drip off the truffle.
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The next part is completely up to you as there are many ways to decorate the truffles.
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You can top them with sprinkles, crushed candy canes, mini chocolate chips, cookie crumbs, or any other topping you desire. Another idea would be to completely coat the truffle in one of these toppings and then dip the truffles in another coat of chocolate.
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However you choose to decorate your truffles is completely up to you, so after you decorate the truffles, put them back on the baking sheet and allow them to completely harden in the refrigerator.