Tag Archives: baking

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Salted Caramel Rice Krispies Treats

Christmas Salted Caramel Rice Krispies Treats

DAY 9: Salted Caramel Rice Krispies Treats

Looking to take your Rice Krispies Treats to the next level? This recipe fits that bill perfectly. I adjusted the original recipe to use an entire box of Rice Krispies (since we don’t have any cereal eaters left at home), which makes them extra thick. The addition of salted caramel to the mix adds a rich delicious flavor.

After cutting into squares, you can decorate the tops with different colors of melted chocolate/candy coating, or add even more caramel goodness by drizzling with extra salted caramel.

Salted Caramel Rice Krispies Treats

I make my own Salted Caramel Sauce, but you could also use a prepared jar.

Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

RECIPE:

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Pudding Christmas M&M Cookies

Chocolate Pudding Christmas M&M Cookies

DAY 8: Chocolate Pudding Christmas M&M Cookies

Dark chocolate cookies filled with milk chocolate m&m’s: always a crowd pleaser. And simple to make. Chocolate fudge pudding makes the dough especially rich and delicious.

I usually like to use the mini baking m&m’s; they do not bleed as much into the dough. But you can also change the flavor profile by trying one of the multitude of m&m’s flavors that are available at Christmas time.

Mini Baking M&M's

RECIPE:

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Christmas Funfetti Pudding Cookies

Christmas Funfetti Pudding Cookies

DAY 7: Christmas Funfetti Pudding Cookies

Another experiment adding pudding mix to a cookie dough. This festive cookie has vanilla pudding added, along with white chocolate chips and Christmas sprinkles.

NOTE: Be cautious when baking with sprinkles. Some are made to hold their shape when baking, but some melt and dissolve when heated. Unfortunately, sprinkle makers do not always label them as such. If you are unsure, make a test cookie: Remove one scoop of dough from batter before stirring in the sprinkles. Mix about 1/2 tsp of sprinkles into that ball of dough and bake.

If I have extra sprinkles at the end of my baking, I always mark the container so that I know whether they can be baked or not.

RECIPE:

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Turtle Cookies

Chocolate Turtle Cookies

DAY 6: Chocolate Turtle Cookies

Turtles contain one of my favorite flavor combinations: chocolate, caramel, and pecans.

This is a basic chocolate drop cookie dough with chocolate chips, caramel pieces, and chopped pecans mixed in.

You can unwrap and chop Kraft caramels, or use these Caramel Bits and save TONS of time!

Caramel Bits

RECIPE:

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Peanut Butter Paw Prints

Peanut Butter Paw Prints

DAY 5: Peanut Butter Paw Prints

These are fun cookies to make with kids. Use regular-sized chocolate chips for the small pads of the pawprint, and larger chocolate disks (I used dark chocolate melting chocolate wafers) for the large pad.

Use a very small cookie scoop (or make 1” balls)  so that the paw print pattern covers most of the cooked cookie.

These cookies are made from a peanut butter cookie dough. If you want a nut-free cookie base, try this recipe:

Bear Paw Cookies 2

For a more anatomically correct bear paw print, you should use 5 small chocolate chips, but I thought that looked too crowded, so I stuck with 3.  For puppy paw prints, use 4 small chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Paw Prints 2

RECIPE:

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Sandwich Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Sandwich Cookies

DAY 4: Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Sandwich Cookies

These are similar to whoopie pies, but not quite as rounded. Made with a cake mix, the cookies are quick to put together.

The filling is a peppermint cream, with crushed candy canes baked into the top cookies and in the peppermint filling.

Crushed Candy Canes

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Sandwich Cookies 1

I tinted the filling pink to complement the candy canes. Alternately, you could leave out the crushed candy canes and tint the mint frosting green. Or leave out the mint extract all together for soft homemade Oreo cookies.

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Sandwich Cookies 4

RECIPE:

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