Don’t you love how every season there’s something new to discover in the kitchen? Tarts and crisps in the summer; pies in the fall; cookies for Christmas. There are so many baking blogs with great ideas for gifting treats. I love Half Baked Harvest’s cookie box ideas. She has the best recipes and I love looking around her site for inspiration.
This year I had the brilliant idea of making several different kinds of cookies, packaging them in adorable boxes I bought at the craft store, and giving them out to friends. Sometimes brilliant ideas need tweaking. The cookie baking went fine. (Although figuring out where to put everything was challenging!) It was the handing out part that got tricky. Life sometimes does that. Gets in the way of your plans.
By the time I was able to drive around and give them out, they were losing some of the freshness that makes something homemade so good. I really need a bigger kitchen for my creative juices to really flow!
But that’s okay. My heart was in the right place and I really wanted to do something nice for people. Here are a couple recipes of cookies I made and handed out. The chocolate cookies I made two ways – first batch I dipped in melted white chocolate and added christmas-y sprinkles. Second batch I just put a peppermint kiss in the middle of each cookie after cooling for a few minutes. The latter was easier.
I also made some sugar cookies and decorated with royal icing, as you can see here. I didn’t include the recipe or process just because they are time consuming and not something you can do at the last minute. I’ll save those for another post! I love being able to freeze cookies to take out at a later date and sugar cookies freeze beautifully!
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chocolate peppermint cookies with candy kisses
Ingredients
- 2 cups | 10 ounces all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup | 2.5 ounces Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup | 3.5 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 cup | 7 ounces brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup Ghiradelli peppermint chunks
- peppermint kisses
Instructions
- Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter until completely smooth. Add both sugars and continue beating on medium until mixture is light and fluffy, 2-4 minutes. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl.
- Add eggs and peppermint and beat on low until well combined. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Chill dough for at least 1 hour in fridge or 20 minutes in freezer.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to form balls and place 12 on each cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until centers look set. They will puff up while baking and then deflate while cooling.
- While cookies are still warm, press peppermint kiss in center, then continue cooling on wire rack.
gingerbread cookies with chocolate drizzle
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups | 12.5 ounces all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- pinch black pepper
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 1/4 cups | 8.75 ounces brown sugar
- 1/4 cup full flavor molasses (not blackstrap)
- 1 large egg, plus one large yolk
- decorator’s sugar
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate (bar, not chips)
Instructions
- In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a 10-inch skillet, heat butter over medium heat until melted. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking butter until it just begins to brown. Make sure to swirl butter so it does not burn. Process takes 2-4 minutes. Transfer butter to large bowl and whisk in ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, pepper, and cayenne. Cool for several minutes.
- Add the brown sugar and molasses to butter mixture and whisk to combine. Whisk in egg and egg yolk.
- Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour until firm. You can refrigerate over night- just remove dough about an hour before you shape and bake the cookies.
- Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line two rimmed cookie sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside. Place about 1/2 cup decorator’s sugar into a shallow bowl and set aside.
- Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls and coat with sugar. Bake on tray for 15 minutes. While first batch is baking, roll a second batch of dough balls and place on prepared cookie sheet.
- After 15 minutes, move sheet to lower rack, add second tray of cookies and continue baking an additional 10-12 minutes. Cookies should be puffy and look set.
- Remove first set of cookies and repeat process with remaining dough.
- Cool completely on wire rack. Melt chocolate over low heat, pour into decorator bottle and drizzle over cooled cookies. Store in airtight container.
chocolate cookies with peppermint chips and kisses
Ingredients
- 2 cups | 10 ounces all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 1/2 cup | 3.5 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 cup | 7 ounces brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup Ghiradelli peppermint chips
- peppermint kisses
Instructions
- Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter until smooth. Add in both sugars and beat on medium until mixture is light and fluffy.
- Reduce speed and add eggs and peppermint extract. Beat until well combined.
- Add in flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Scrape sides and bottom to ensure mixture is thoroughly combined.
- Chill dough at least 1 hour in refrigerator, or 15 minutes in the freezer.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to form balls and space 12 to a sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until middle is set. It will puff up and then deflate a little while cooling.
- When cookies are cooling, place peppermint kiss in the center of each cookie. Cool completely on wire rack and store in an airtight container.
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