Peppermint Bark Cocoa Crinkles

I love a good bet.  I really don't like to gamble, but if I had to make a wager, I would bet that you will love these cookies. Last year I created the base of these cookies, a Peppermint Cocoa Crinkle, but this year they've been taken to a whole new level. Because if there's one thing better than a chocolate and peppermint cookie, it's a chocolate and peppermint cookie with peppermint bark inside. Obviously this is a delicious combination. Don't believe me? Try them! I dare you. 

1 cup shortening

1 & 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. peppermint extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

peppermint bark - homemade or store bought. I got mine from Trader Joe's. 

Candy canes - crushed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs, peppermint and vanilla and beat until nice and fluffy. 

3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add to wet mixture and mix in thoroughly. 

4. Chop peppermint bark into small pieces, about 1/2" by 1/2". Roll dough into 1-2" balls with a piece of peppermint bark inside.

5.  Bake on cookie sheet for 8-9 minutes. Let cool on the pan. While cookies are still hot, sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

Note: These are really good warm when the chocolate in the center is all nice and gooey, but they also can be enjoyed at room temperature. 

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Sugar Cookies

I have a confession to make. I love prepackaged cookie dough. I more than love it - I adore it. It's amazing! And it just comes in so handy! Baked, unbaked, any way you like it, always just waiting for you in the refrigerator in case you have a cookie craving and don't have the time or energy for baking. It's just such a wonderful invention. I really can't say enough good things about it. But as a self proclaimed cookie connoisseur, I feel a little guilty about this addiction. I feel like I should be a purist, someone who only accepts the homemade goodness of a made-from-scratch goody, with a palate too sensitive for something store bought. But alas. I am not. 

My favorite prepackaged cookie dough are the Pillsbury sugar cookies that come on a little tray and have seasonal pictures on them. You know, the kind marketed to children. Both times when I was pregnant my husband would always bring these home for me on at least a weekly basis for me and pop them in the oven around bedtime. I found that the ideal consumption is precisely six cookies in one sitting, complete with milk and probably a little TV. Now I'm not promoting this habit for all seasons of life. But sometimes you just gotta.

Well, I have finally found the homemade version of those delectable, six-at-a-time Pillsbury store bought sugar cookies from http://www.aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com. They are utterly delicious. And the thing is, no - they don't offer the ease of ready made cookies, but they do offer the goodness of home cookin' and ease my mind from store bought guilt. Because even if it's not actually healthy, everything's better for you if it's made from scratch, right? At least you know what's in it. AND you can make a big as batch as you want! Win win.

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 cup white sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

4 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together the butter, oil,  and sugars. Then add eggs and vanilla and beat well until light and fluffy.

3. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add to the butter mixture and combine until completely incorporated and smooth.

4. Chill the dough in the fridge until easier to work with, at least 30 minutes.

5. Drop the batter by the tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes. Do not over bake!

Enjoy your homemade guilt-free-guilty-pleasure cookies!

Ninjabread Men

Who says you can only enjoy gingerbread at Christmastime? I understand that little gingerbread men and women have become a symbol for the holidays and a favorite Christmas past time for many. So I can understand why people associate this particular cookies with the holidays. But it's such a delicious flavor, it really shouldn't be relegated to just one or two months. The injustice! Now - how to break out the gingerbread sooner than yuletide? NINJAbread! These delicious warriors can be enjoyed anytime! I made them in the Halloween spirit because it felt like ninjas are a great go-to costume but you can enjoy a Ninjabread man anytime. Here's just one example:

When I was little we used to have something called Family Home Evening. Every (or most) Mondays we gather together as a family and talk about Gospel topics, do activities, and have treats together. One particular Monday we were learning about doing kind deeds for others. We read a variation of the Gingerbread Man in which you can never catch him because he is doing good deeds in secret for others. My mom had made a little plush gingerbread man and she had us do nice things for each other and then leave the gingerbread man as a calling card. For example, we would make somebody's bed for them and leave the gingerbread man on their pillow. When they would find it, they would do something nice for somebody in secret, and again, leave the little plush gingerbread man. It was adorable. Well, ninjabread men are even more sneaky then gingerbread men. They can do Service Without A Trace (S.W.A.T.!) You can wrap up these little cookies in cellophane or even ziplocks and have your kids use them as calling cards for good deeds that they do for each other. I see this as a win-win situation. Think of the satisfaction of a made bed AND a cookie simultaneously. The possibilities are endless!

You can purchase the cookie cutters here: here. I just used the recipe on the back of the box for my gingerbread. It was a pretty classic and standard recipe that also holds up well in the freezer. Besides frosting, I only used licorice and sprinkles for the decorations so you might even have everything on hand. Overall they were a fun and festive cookie to make!

Ninjabread Men

1. Cream together the shortening, sugar, spices and salt. Blend in egg and molasses.

2. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix into molasses mixture. Stir until blended and then chill dough until firm and able to roll out.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

4. Roll dough to 1/8 or slightly thicker on lightly floured surface. Use ninjabread cookie cutters to cut out. 

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

6. Decorate any way you like - I outlined them with frosting or sparkle gel then filled in the middle leaving the eyes and hands open; then cut small licorice pieces and apply as shown in picture to create uniform. Use sprinkles for eyes.

Note: The Sparkle Gel was extremely easy to use and cute but I did not like the taste near as much as the straight cookie icing. It tasted very Gel-like, if you can imagine.

Recipe Source - Fred and Friends

Ginger Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches

I feel like I've seen a plethora of pumpkin recipes everywhere lately. Pumpkins on Pinterest, pumpkins on Instagram, pumpkins in snickerdoodles, pumpkins in patches...you feel like that, also? Probably because they ARE everywhere. But if pumpkins everywhere are wrong, I just don't want to be right. Pumpkin recipes are delicious! and festive! and healthy? Regardless, it has become clear that everyone loves fall and everyone loves pumpkins, the inherit mascot of fall. I am jumping on the bandwagon with my own fun pumpkin creation. What are your favorite pumpkin recipes?

Ginger Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches

Homemade Ginger Molasses Cookies - recipe found here

Pumpkin flavored ice cream (shouldn't be hard to find this time of year!)

1. Make Ginger Molasses cookies according to recipe, omitting the white chocolate for dipping. Allow cookies to cool completely.

2. Soften ice cream in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Place cookies face up on cookie sheet. Scoop heaping spoonful of ice cream onto center of the cookie. Your personal ice cream to cookie ratio preference may vary. Scoop as little or as much as you like.

4. Press second cookie on top of ice cream. Serve immediately.

5. If not serving immediately - after pressing second cookie on top of ice cream, quickly wrap individual sandwiches tightly in saran wrap and return to freezer. Thaw in fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

Note: if you serve these cookies immediately the cookie will be soft and chewy and the ice cream will be fairly soft as well. This is a delightful combination, but also fairly messy. Ice cream will inevitably get all over your hands, but you will enjoy every minute. If you freeze the cookies, the whole cookie will be more set (obviously) but the cookies won't be as chewy. It will be a more firm gingersnap and frozen treat. Don't worry, I tried them both ways and they are both great.

Orange Stick Cookies

My Uncle Jim used to advise us to eat orange sticks when we had a cold. As a health professional and a human being, I fully supported this concept. I was recently saddened to find that orange sticks do not actually have an iota of Vitamin C. They do, however, have a thin dark chocolate coating, chocolate has been linked to increasing serotonin levels, serotonin is linked to happiness, happiness is scarce when you have a cold...Uncle Jim was onto something.

There is a very good chance you have boxes of orange sticks lying around from the holidays. Even if you don't have a cold, these little goodies shouldn't go to waste and, boy, do I have the solution for you. I have been dreaming up these cookies for some time now and am quite pleased with the results. Let's be frank: they taste like an orange stick in a cookie. Which is delicious. And necessary.

P.S. Even if you don't have leftover Orange Sticks, you can find them at Trader Joe's year round.

Orange Stick Cookies

6 TBLS. butter

12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips, divided

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

2 eggs

2 tsp. orange extract

3/4 cup sugar

1 TBLS. orange zest

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

10-15 orange sticks, chopped into chunks

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or baking mat. 

2. In a heat proof bowl over simmering water, melt the butter, 6 oz. chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate, stirring occasionally until completely melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, use a stand or hand held mixer to beat eggs, orange extract and sugar on medium high for 2-3 minutes until batter thickens. 

4. With mixer on low, slowly add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture.

5. Mix orange zest, flour, baking powder and salt separately. With mixer on low, slowly add it to the batter. Do not over mix.

6. Fold in remaining chocolate chips and orange stick chunks.

7. Using two large spoons, drop onto cookie sheets. The batter will be wet, but should easily set into a mound.

8. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on sheets. Remember to allow cooling before eating because the gelatin will be piping hot!

9. Enjoy. And get over that cold. :)

Peppermint Cocoa Crinkles

Christmas is over, I know, I know. But these were maybe my favorite cookies of Christmas. Soft, chewy, minty, chocolaty - my, oh my. But ladies and gentlemen, do not be fooled. Just because they were taken in front of a Christmas themed background does not mean they can only be enjoyed during Yuletide; they can actually be made any time of year! Truth! And quite necessary. In fact, I might go make some right now. With milk. To aid in my New Year's Resolution to drink more milk. Oh, 2013 - you're lookin' bright!

Peppermint Cocoa Crinkles

1 cup shortening

1 & 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. peppermint extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Powdered sugar for dusting

1. Cream together shortening and sugar using hand held or stand mixer. Add eggs, peppermint extract and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

2. Slowly add dry ingredients. A lot of recipes have you mix dry ingredients together separately and then add slowly to wet ingredients. I rarely do this. I just add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing between every cup of flour.

3. Roll into 1-1&1/2" balls. I prefer mine on the bigger side. This guarantees the center will be soft and gooey.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. 

5. Let cool on wire racks.

6. Dust with powder sugar. 

Delish!

Dipped Ginger Molasses Cookies

I inherited my sweet tooth from my dad. It's one of my favorite qualities about us. Wait, is it a quality to like sweets? Why yes...yes, it is. And it has led us to numerous delicious sweets and treats. This recipe is one that Dad used to make for us. If I remember correctly, he also was the one who started dipping them in chocolate, which makes sense, because everything's better with chocolate on it. Right, dad?

Dipped Ginger Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 tsp. soda

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

Additional sugar (for rolling)

8 oz. white chocolate chips

Cream together shortening and sugar. Mix in molasses and egg. Add all dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

Roll into 1"-2" balls. Roll in sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. After done baking, if they still seem too puffy and tall, drop the pan. Transfer from baking sheet to racks until completely cooled.

Melt white chocolate chips in microwave at 15 second increments until smooth. If it starts to seize, just add a little bit of shortening to smooth it out (about 1 TBLS). Dip cookies in white chocolate and set on wax paper to dry. Sprinkle chocolate side with sprinkles for an extra dash of Christmas cheer.