Christmas Cookies!!!

Merry Christmas 🙂 I look forward to making Christmas cookies all year. I think about them for weeks ahead of time, planning just the right mix. I haven’t posted anything in a few weeks – honestly because I haven’t made anything post-worthy. My dinners have been boring and quickly thrown together, and I haven’t baked a thing. But this week was a different story.

My Christmas “baking” began on Tuesday night with Oreo Bark from How Sweet it Is. I was impatient and my bark ended up a little marbled, but ridiculously delicious none the less. On Thursday morning I made 3 batches of dough, and baked them off in the afternoon. This year I went with Chocolate Mint Cookies (modified from Amy’s Bread), Ginger Molasses Cookies (which I have FINALLY perfected the recipe for), and Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies (still needs some work on the type/amount of bacon, but the dough is perfect).

LOTS of dough!  I always chill my dough wrapped in plastic wrap for several hours before baking.

Chocolate Mint Cookies….

Ginger Molasses…

Peanut Butter Bacon… Check out the delicious bacon pieces in there!

All of the goods! (well, just one tin of each 😉 )

Recipes anyone??? Here goes…

Chocolate Mint Cookies (adapted and modified from The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread)

1 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
3/8 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 bag (10 oz) andes mint pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave (50% power for 3 min). Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl frequently. Pour in melted chocolate and continue mixing until the batter is uniform in color. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add in the extracts and mix again until just combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients in stages, mixing until just combined with each addition. Stir in the andes pieces on low speed or by hand. Chill dough for several hours.
6. Weigh dough into 2 oz balls (or divide into 23 even cookies). Press down lightly on the top, don’t flatten. Place dough on prepared cookie sheet with several inches between the cookies (I fit about 8 per sheet). Bake for 16-18 minutes. Cool on sheet for 8 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 23 cookies.

 

Ginger Molasses Cookies (adapted from several unremember recipes, but changed to make it my own after several tries)

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla
extra sugar for tops of cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Mix in the molasses and vanilla until the dough is uniform. Add the dry mixture in stages mixing until just combined with each addition. Chill dough for several hours.
4. Weigh dough into 3 oz balls (or about 16 even cookies). Gently press the top down (don’t flatten), and dip the top of the cookie into sugar. Place on baking sheet with LOTS of room for spreading ( I did about 5-6 per sheet). Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 16 cookies

 

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies (my own created and tweaked peanut butter cookie recipe)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp maple extract
8 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. Using a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the peanut butter until combined. Add the egg and mix well. Add the extract and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until the dough just comes together. Either by hand or low speed, mix in the bacon. Chill dough several hours.
4. Weigh dough into 2 oz. balls (about 15 cookies). Press down into a semi-flat oval, but not completely flattened. Bake on prepared cookie sheet for about 16 minutes. Cool on sheet for 8 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 15 cookies.

 

Have you ever baked with bacon?

What was your favorite cookie this holiday season?