What’s one of my favorite parts of the holidays? Think about when you are already home from school. There is Christmas music on the family stereo, perhaps a fire in the family room, the tree twinkling in the front window, and a smell lofting down the hall from the oven-warm kitchen. It’s you and your mom head-to-toe covered in flour after baking dozens of holiday treats meant to fill cookie tins and festive platters. Now everyone has “their” Christmas cookie recipe, but don’t you think Mr. Claus would like a little variety on his plate this year? Below are four recipes that are go beyond the expected cookie and might make Santa leave a little something extra in your stocking.
(1) The Buckeye Cookie. Recipe provided by ChristmasCookies.com and traditionally loved by all people from Ohio.
Ingredients
2 lbs. Peanut butter
1 pound butter
3 pounds powdered sugar
two 12-ounce packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Use a high quality chocolate.
1/2 of one bar of paraffin wax
toothpicks for dipping
waxed paper
Directions
Place wax paper onto cookie sheets and set aside. Cream peanut butter and butter until combined. Add sugar a little at a time. Make sure it is mixed well. Roll peanut butter mixture into approximately 400 1-inch diameter balls. Insert one tooth pick into each small peanut butter ball. Set all of them aside. Melt chocolate and paraffin (parafin helps the chocolate become shiny when it cools) in a double boiler. Be careful not to over-heat the chocolate. Dip the ball into the chocolate so as to ALMOST cover the entire ball. Leave small portion of ball uncoated. Let cool on waxed paper. Store in a cool place.
(2) Angel Turds. Recipe provided by The Slow Cooker, Blog at http://mariehegler.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/and ort of a funny name.
Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 stick margarine, at room temperature
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
Powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, margarine, sugar and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix until everything comes together and a dough is formed. Add nuts and mix until evenly distributed.
Shape into 1-inch crescents and place on greased baking sheets. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly brown around edges.
Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar. Yield: approximately 4 dozen (depending on the size of the cookies)
(3) Nana Bessie’s Whoopie Pies. Recipe Provided by allrecipes.com and approved by Nana Bessie.
Ingredients
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups milk
3 cups milk
9 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups butter
2 1/4 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
To make cookies, beat 2/3 cup of vegetable shortening with 2 cups of sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until the mixture is creamy. Beat in eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract until thoroughly combined. Whisk together 4 cups of flour, the cocoa powder, and baking soda until thoroughly mixed, then beat the flour mixture into the vegetable shortening mixture in several additions, alternating with the milk. Beat dough just until smooth.
Drop dough by tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart, making the cookies as round as possible. Recipe should yield about 48 cookies.
Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are set in the middle, 15 to 20 minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burning the cookies. Allow cookies to cool for several minutes on baking sheets before removing to finish cooling on racks.
To make the filling, pour 3 cups of milk into a large saucepan over low heat, and whisk in 9 tablespoons of flour until smooth. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer, whisking constantly, until as thick and smooth as pudding, about 3 minutes. Place the thickened mixture into the refrigerator to cool, about 30 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, beat 1 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening with the butter until thoroughly combined, then beat in 2 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Beat the cooled milk mixture into the butter mixture until smooth and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
Choose 2 cookies of the same size, and spread a thick layer of filling on the flat side of a cookie; top with remaining cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and frosting.
(4) Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps. Recipe provided by Martha Stewart and sure to give Santa an extra Jingle in his Bell.
Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons instant espresso
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon milk
Confectioners’ sugar, for coating
Directions
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat in milk until just combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Pour confectioners’ sugar (about 1/2 cup) into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.
Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Cool cookies on a wire rack.