Gingerbread Drops

 

This recipes comes from a booklet: Better Homes and Gardens “Cookies for Santa”. It's great if you're looking for a Christmas cookie recipe that doesn't need rolling and cutting and frosting (and don't have room for that as I didn't for many years). But I might make the cookies a bit bigger than suggested because I've never gotten 90 cookies - more like 4 1/2 dozen. Last night I got 50. Also, I've always used butter and not shortening and last night I used dark brown sugar as that's what I had open - I don't think it matters.

1 cup shortening

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp ground ginger

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

⅓ cup molasses

2 eggs

1 Tbsp milk

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup raisins

½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.  Beat till well combined.  Beat in molasses, eggs, and milk till combined.  Beat in as much flour as you can with mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon.  Stir in raisins and nuts.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

2.  Bake in a 375* oven about 8 minutes or till bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool.  Makes about 90.

Chai Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

 A number of years ago the boyfriend found a page with about a dozen cookie recipes on it.  This recipe came from Serious Eats, however the site no longer has this recipe (at least not when I looked this holiday season to send it to a friend).  I'm so glad I had it printed out so I could make it again the day after new year's.   Anyhow, if you're looking for a new way to make oatmeal raisin cookies, these could be for you.  Chai spices in the dry ingredients and the raisins steep in chai tea before being added to the dough.  So I'm adding the recipe here so it can be found again.

Chai Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Abt 4 dozen cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp cardamom

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

3 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup raisins

1 chai teabag

2 cups boiling water

Let chai tea steep in boiling water for 5 minutes. Discard teabag. Let raisins steep in chai tea for 15 minutes, then drain.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, dark brown sugar, and granulated sugar until fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. And flour mixture to sugar mixture in two additions, beating until just combined. Stir in oats and raisins. Let dough chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350oF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough in rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.

Caroling Cookies

I found this recipe a number of years ago in a book called All Occasion Cookies (ISBN 1-57954-952-7). I used M&Ms for the candy bits. And as you can see, they look so festive. And even better, no matter the name of the cookies, switch out the color of the M&Ms and you can make these for any holiday - pastel for Easter, orange and black for Halloween, red and pink for Valentine's Day. And being a drop cookie, they're a lot less time consuming than cutouts (which I do love, but usually don't have time for).

Caroling Cookies

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 package (10 ounces) white chips

⅔ cup butter or margarine, softened

⅔ cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 package (10 ounces) holiday candy bits

Preheat the oven to 325*F.   Combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a bowl.  Melt 1 cup of the white chips.

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in the melted chips.  Stir in the remaining chips and the candy bits.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until very light brown.  Transfer to racks to cool.

Source: All occasion cookies.

Kellie’s Mom’s Sour Cream Cookies

I haven't made cut out cookies in ages (no room in the old place for rolling and cutting), and I've never made a sour cream cookie before, so I was intrigued by the recipe I found on Kellie Martin's blog. The cookies came out delicious and are definitely being added to the cookie collection. And yes, the frosting might look more peach than orange - my food colorings were the pastel ones. And no, I didn't have any other decorations to put on them... besides, I only wanted to spend so long on decorating - I wanted to try them!

3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla
½ cup sour cream

- Combine flour, soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

- In the bowl of a mixer mix the butter, sugar, and egg on a medium speed for about 2 minutes, until smooth.

- On low speed add sour cream and vanilla to butter mixture.

- Add half of the flour mixture and mix for about 1 minute. Turn off mixer and add the rest of the flour stirring with a wooden spoon.

- Roll dough out to ¼ inch thick. Use cute Christmas cookie cutters!

- Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (do not allow the cookies to brown).

Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookies

Chris made these AMAZING peanut butter cookies for me today!  They are the BEST I've ever had!  Peanut butter cookies with peanut butter chips -- what could be better?

I found the recipe in a Betty Crocker mailer trying to get me to buy a cookbook. 

Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 1/4 flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup peanut butter chips
granulated sugar

1.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  In large bowl, beat brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy.  On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in peanut butter chips.

2.  Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls.  Dip tops of balls into granulated sugar.  On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls, sugared side up, about 3 inches apart (do not flatten).

3.  Bake 9-10 minutes or until light brown.  Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling racks.