Five Delicious Christmas Cookie Recipes
The Christmas season brings many different kinds of sweet treats, including holiday cookies. The Christian Post has collected five different Christmas-inspired cookie recipes for readers to try this year.
For starters, try this Chewy Molasses-Spice Cookies recipe from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia which yields 36 cookies.
Ingredients
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2 cup(s) all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 ½ teaspoon(s) baking soda
1 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon(s) ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon(s) salt
1 ½ cups(s) sugar
¾ cup(s) (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
¼ cups(s) molasses
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl, place ½ cup sugar; set aside.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until combined. Beat in egg and then molasses until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms.
2. Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 tablespoon. Roll balls in reserved sugar to coat.
3. Arrange balls on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges of cookies are just firm, 10-15 minutes (cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly). Cool 1 minute on baking sheets, transfer to racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 4 days.
Next, is a Shortbread Cookie recipe from baker and blogger Esme Jones in Phoenix, Ariz. The recipe follows.
Ingredients
2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup(s) (2 sticks) butter, softened
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine ingredients in mixer on medium speed until blended.
2. Lightly flour surface. Remove dough from bowl and roll about ½ inches flat using a rolling pin. Using cookie cutouts, place cookies evenly spaced on baking sheet.
3. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden.
For a chocolate Christmas cookie recipe, try the Chocolate Pinwheels from Good Housekeeping magazine. First, use this Basic Cookie Dough Recipe.
3 2/3 cup(s) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon(s) baking soda
¼ teaspoon(s) salt
1 cup(s) (2 sticks) butter (no substitutions), softened
¾ cup(s) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
Directions
1. In large bowl or mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar 1 minute, or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg and vanilla; beat until well mixed.
2. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour mixture until just blended, occasionally scraping bowl.
For the Chocolate Pinwheels, you will need:
1/3 cup(s) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup(s) confectioner’s sugar
1 ounce(s) unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tablespoon(s) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoon(s) all-purpose flour
Directions
1. Prepare Basic cookie dough. Divide in half; transfer half to another bowl. Stir chips, sugar, chocolate, and cocoa into half. Stir flour into plain dough.
2. On sheet of waxed paper, roll chocolate dough into 14” by 10” rectangle. Repeat with plain dough. Turn over plain rectangle, still on waxed paper, and place, dough side down, on top of chocolate rectangle so that the edges line up evenly. Peel off top sheet of waxed paper. If dough becomes too soft to work with, refrigerate 10 minutes. Starting from the long side, tightly roll rectangles together, jell-roll fashion, to form a log, lifting bottom sheet of waxed paper to help roll. Cut along crosswise in half. Wrap each half with plastic wrap and freeze 2 hours or refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. With sharp knife, cut 1 log (keep other log refrigerated) crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place slices, 2 inches apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining log. Store cookies in tightly sealed container at room temperature up to 1 week or in freezer up to 3 months.
Next, these Chocolate-Espresso Snowcap cookies from Martha Stewart Omnimedia are a sure hit during Christmas. Rolled in confectioner’s sugar and baked, they resemble snow-covered mountains. The recipe is as follows.
Ingredients
½ cup(s) all-purpose flour
¼ cup(s) unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoon(s) instant espresso
1 teaspoon(s) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon(s) salt
4 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
2/3 cup(s) packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon(s) milk
Confectioner’s sugar, for coating
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in an egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat in milk until just combined. Flatten dough into a disk, wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 43 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Our confectioner’s sugar (about ½ cup) into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.
3. Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have spread and coating it cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Lastly, enjoy this White Chocolate-Coconut Cookie recipe by Paula Deen, which was featured in an episode on the Food Network.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ¼ cup(s) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oats
¾ cup shredded coconut flakes
For Garnish
2 ounces white chocolate, melted
¾ cup toasted, shredded coconut flakes
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together baking powder, baking soda, flour, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy with a hand held electric mixer. Beat in the egg. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Fold in the oats, vanilla extract, and shredded coconut flakes.
2. Form walnut-sized balls of the mixture and drop 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined sheet pans. Bake in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
3. When cookies are cooled, dip them halfway into the melted white chocolate and then into the toasted shredded coconut flakes. Set them down onto parchment paper-lined sheet pans to dry completely.
