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!
RECIPE:
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:
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.
RECIPE:
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.
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.
RECIPE:
DAY 3: Lemon Cookie Cups
If you like lemon bars, you will love these cute little lemon cups! They are made with a rich, buttery cookie cup base and filled with homemade lemon curd filling.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving and decorate as desired.
Sweet and tart, and perfect for adding to cookie plates.
RECIPE:
DAY 2: Chocolate Chip Chocolate Pudding Cookies
This year I did some experimenting with adding pudding mix to cookie recipes. The pudding mix helps keep the cookies soft and chewy and adds a rich flavor to the dough.
This is a chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough. I dipped them in white chocolate and decorated with seasonal sprinkles for Christmas cookie plates.
RECIPE:
Filed under Cookies
These sweet rolls are light (not in calories, unfortunately) and soft with a slight tang from the addition of sour cream and fresh orange juice. A nice change from a traditional cinnamon roll.
To keep your rolls light and airy, do not add too much flour to your dough, and knead only until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl. I roll my dough out on a buttered silicon mat (instead of a floured mat). Greased hands will also help in handling the slightly sticky dough.
An easy way to cut your dough logs into rolls without crushing the dough and having the knife stick to the dough is to use dental floss (not mint!) or a strong sewing thread. The (really out of focus) picture below shows the floss in action.
I like to first make shallow knife cuts in the dough so that I have a cutting guide. Then place the floss UNDER the dough. Cross the ends of the floss over the top of the dough (lining up with the knife cuts) and pull crossed floss ends until the dough is cut through.
RECIPE:
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
3 Tbs butter
1 cup sour cream
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
about 4 – 4 ½ cups flour
1 Tbs instant yeast**
2 tsp salt
Filling:
6 Tbs butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 tsp orange zest
Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs butter, softened
3 Tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbs heavy cream
1 tsp orange zest
dash salt
Combine orange juice, 1 tsp orange zest, 3 Tbs butter and sour cream in a small saucepan or microwave safe bowl. Heat slowly until butter melts and mixture is warm to touch, but not hot (do not allow mixture to boil).
Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer with a dough hook attached. Mix in ½ cup sugar. Add eggs all at once and mix well. Mix in flour (start with 4 cups), yeast and salt. Knead dough, adding additional flour if necessary, until dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl, but is still soft and slightly sticky. Cover and let dough rest 10 minutes.
Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl; stir well.
Divide dough in half. On a buttered surface, roll each dough half into a large rectangle about ½” thick. Spread each with half of the filling. Roll dough beginning with the long edge; press edge to seal seam. Slice each dough roll into about 12 rolls (use dental floss or sewing thread for easy cutting). Place rolls in a buttered pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Bake at 375°F for about 15-20 minutes, or until barely golden brown. Cool at least 15 minutes before spreading with glaze.
Combine glaze ingredients and mix well. Add additional cream or orange juice if glaze is too thick to spread. Spread on warm, but not oven-hot rolls.
**NOTE: If you are using regular, and not instant yeast, proof yeast for 5 minutes in ¼ cup of the orange juice (or water), warmed, before mixing into the dough. Allow dough to rise in a covered bowl until doubled before rolling and shaping into rolls.
Yield: about 24 rolls
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Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts
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