Cookie Party!

I threw a cookie decorating party at my apartment today to help with some of the time-consuming decorating. Last year my family (except for one sister) traveled to Texas to spend Christmas with extended family. Our family tradition has always been to celebrate and open presents on Christmas Eve night. Since my sister and I were the only siblings still here in Georgia, Ashley and her husband came over and the 4 of us had a nice Christmas Eve dinner together. Afterward Ashley and I decorated some cookies I had baked. We had so much fun we decided that we need to make sure to have a Cookie Party the following Christmas with the rest of our sisters (there are 4 of us girls!). Tonight we decorated Gingerbread Men and Sugar Cookies.

My sister's boyfriend, Travis, posing with the undecorated cookies.

Progress.

Stacey was in charge of dipping the pretzels in chocolate.

Ashley putting the finishing touches on a nutcracker soldier cookie.

Vikki's humorous snowmen.

Buckeye Cookies

These have got to be my all-time favorite cookie recipes! They're technically called "Peanut Butter Munchies" but I re-christened them "Buckeye Cookies". My mother-in-law makes fantastic buckeyes every year at Christmastime and these cookies remind me of them. They are a little time-consuming to make (I enlist a baking partner to help roll them out), and I would highly recommend investing in 2 different size cookie scoops if you plan on making these - I use a small (2 tsp) cookie scoop and a medium (1 1/2 Tbs) cookie scoop made by Oxo - they're absolutely wonderful and you'll wonder how you ever baked cookies without them!

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbs granulated sugar (to flatten cookies with)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350º. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside.

In a large bowl beat together butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the 1/4 cup peanut butter until combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can. Stir in remaining flour mixture. Form the chocolate dough into 32 balls** about 1 1/4" in diameter (This is where I use the medium 1 1/2 Tbs cookie scoop, and they're not exactly 1 1/4" in diameter). Set aside.

For filling, combine powdered sugar and 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into 32** balls about 3/4" in diameter (This is where I use the small 2 tsp cookie scoop - as with the chocolate dough balls, these are not exactly 3/4" in diameter).

On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball; top with a peanut butter ball. For each cookie, shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball.

Place balls 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in the 2 Tbs granulated sugar.

Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8 minutes or until just set and surface slightly cracks. Let stand 1 minute. Transfer to wire racks and cool.
**NOTE: Using the Small and Medium cookie scoops, I usually only get about 24 cookies from this recipe. Make sure that you have the same number of chocolate dough balls as you do peanut butter dough balls.

CREDIT: Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publication - "100 Best Cookies - Our Most Popular Holiday Recipes", p.68, c. 2007

Peanut Butter Blossoms

This is my Mom's recipe that she used to make every year at Christmas. Of course, I have to carry on the tradition! I made a double batch this year since my mother didn't have time to do any Christmas baking (oh, the humanity!!) and gave her a batch. Soft, moist, chewy, and deeee-lish!

INGREDIENTS:
1 can condensed milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups Bisquick
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar (for rolling)
1 pkg chocolate kisses

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375º. In a large mixing bowl, beat condensed milk and peanut butter until smooth. Add Bisquick and vanilla; mix well.

Shape into 1" balls (I use a 2 tsp cookie sand roll in sugar. Place 2" apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until LIGHTLY browned (do not overbake). Immediately after removing from oven, press a chocolate kiss into the center of each ball. Let cool. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

CREDIT: My mother!

Christmas Toffee Bars

Christmas Time! My favorite time of year! It's a ginormous excuse to bake lots of cookies!! The Christmas Toffee Bars were a new addition to my holiday repertoire this year. They came out of the Holiday Cookies edition of Cuisine at Home - one of my favorite cooking magazines (although they don't typically have a lot of baking recipes in there, they offer tons of handy tips, reviews, and beautiful photos - I love to find yummy-looking photos of meals for Hubby to make for dinner!) My mom got me the special Holiday Cookies edition as a stocking stuffer but decided to give it to me before Christmas so that I could use it! :) These were a cinch to make and were delicious!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups vanilla wafer cookies, crushed
3/4 cup brown sugar, divided
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, or almonds), toasted

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350º. Butter a 9" x 13" glass baking dish.

Crush vanilla wafers in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin. Combine crushed cookies with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter in a bowl.

Press the mixture into the prepared dish, using a measuring cup to "tamp" it down. Bake for 8 minutes, or just until set.

Melt 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar together in a saucepan, stirring to blend. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil 1 minute without stirring.

Immediately pour the mixture over the hot crust, then return the pan to the oven. Bake an additional 10 minutes, remove, and cool for 2 minutes.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the toffee and let stand until they're glossy, about 5 minutes. Spread the chocolate over the toffee using an offset spatula, then sprinkle the nuts on top. Cool bars completely.

Remove toffee from the pan. To break it into pieces, insert the tip of a paring knife into the toffee and twist the knife.

CREDIT: Cuisine at Home's Holiday Cookies - Gifts From Your Kitchen, p. 86, c. 2006

Chocolate Velvet Pound Cake

Wanting to bring a special dessert to this year's Thanksgiving with the in-laws, I broke out my Southern Living Cookbook and finally narrowed it down to either the Orange-Pecan-Spice Pound Cake or the Chocolate Velvet Pound Cake. The Chocolate Velvet won, since neither Hubby nor I felt like running to the store to pick up oranges! It was absolutely delicious - light and moist - not at all like your typical heavy pound cake.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (16-oz) package light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 (8-oz) container sour cream
1 cup hot water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Chocolate Ganache

DIRECTIONS:
Melt semisweet chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at HIGH for 30-second intervals until melted (about 1 1/2 minutes total time). Stir until smooth.

Beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer 5 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Gradually add 1 cup hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 10" tube pan. Bake at 350º for 60-65 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

GARNISH:

• Sift powdered sugar over top of cake. Serve with Chocolate Ganache and ice cream. I also topped the cake with fresh raspberries (strawberries would be good, too.)

CREDIT: The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, p. 152, c. 2006

Chocolate Ganache

This recipe goes with Chocolate Velvet Pound Cake.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (12-oz) package semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 Tbs butter

DIRECTIONS:
Microwave chocolate morsels and whipping cream in a 2-quart glass bowl at MEDIUM (50% power) 2 1/3 - 3 minutes or until morsels begin to melt. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in butter, and let stand 30 minutes. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 to 4 minutes.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

CREDIT: The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, p. 152, c. 2006

Pumpkin Cake

When Hubby's office had their annual Thanksgiving party, he signed me up to make a dessert. In keeping with the season, I chose to do a pumpkin cake, although I did cheat and use canned frosting since I was so short on time!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and flour a two 9" round pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool. Top with your favorite cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with cinnamon (I cheated and used canned frosting).

CREDIT: Submitted by "Sue Case" on Allrecipes.com