Calling All Cookie Recipes!

Last year I shared my "12 Days of Baking" recipes on the blog and it was SO much fun! Every year I bake something different the 12 Days leading up to Christmas and even though it sounds like a lot, I could not keep cookies on that plate!

Do you have a spectacular recipe that you would like to submit for The 12 Days of Baking 2010? If so, email me at thebigredpot@gmail.com! I will share last years recipe with the new recipe each time so you can have two recipes to choose from! Also, I am going to start this on December 1st so you can be fully prepared for your very own 12 Days of Baking. It's a really fun tradition and I encourage you to participate!

12 Days of Treats - Day Ten!

I saw these cookies over at OuR KrAzy kItChEn and thought they'd be a perfect, fun addition to the 12 days of treats. I added some almond extract in (just bc I've been looking for an excuse to add some in somewhere) but feel free to make these without it for a more butter/sugar cookie taste. You could also use peppermint extract as Martha mentioned.

Candy Cane Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (optional - green)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, and sugar.Beat in the egg and extract. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended. Cover or wrap dough and chill for at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets (or use parchment paper). Divide dough into halves. Color one half red by mixing in the food color (green for some too if you want).Roll a tablespoon of each dough into a rope about 3 inches long. Place side by side and pinch the ends of the dough together. Twist colors together like a rope and curve the end like a cane. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven.

Check out the rest of the 12 Days of Baking Ideas here!

12 Days of Baking Links!

I went ahead and tagged all of the 12 Days of Baking from this year and last year and put them under this link. If you want to check out everything and get some baking ideas just click here and scroll through! It is also linked on the right hand side for easy access!

Menu Plan 12/14-12/20

We're trying to get back in the saddle here at our house - having a new little one join your family definitely shakes things up! I hope ya'll are enjoying the 12 days of treats...I know our tummy's sure are :)

Here's what we're planning on our menu this week:

Monday: Mock Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday: Beef Stew and bread

Wednesday: Chef Salads and Baked Potatoes

Thursday: Broccoli Cheddar soup and Grilled Cheese

Friday: Baked Ham, MacnCheese and Steamed Veggies

Saturday: Apricot Chicken and Garlic Bread

Sunday: Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Green Beans and Biscuits

Friday's meal is contingent on Aldi having their hams in stock - if not we'll be having Brinner (breakfast for dinner).

Baking will be posted daily as part of the 12 days of baking series. Hope everyone has a tasty week :)

For more meal plans head on over to Orgjunkie.

12 Days of Baking - Day Eight!

Sometimes you make treats that you know are just for others to enjoy. At our house, this is one of those recipes. My husband and oldest son LOVE mint chocolate things. I don't. Not.at.all. Evidently these are fantastic and if you love mint and chocolate then you should definitely give these a try. Take hubs word for it :)

Mint Chocolate Delights
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Nestle Mint Chocolate Chips

PREHEAT oven to 325° F.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels.Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

12 Days of Baking - Day Eleven!

I made these for the first time last Christmas and they are really good. They are REALLY lemony though so if you want to have a more mild tasting lemon bar you can cut the lemon juice down to 1/4 cup and add in 1/4 cup of brown sugar. This is a recipe from Cooking Light so feel free to have more than one at a time :)

Easy Lemon Bars

Crust:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

Topping:

3 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

To prepare the crust, beat 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the butter at medium speed of a mixer until creamy.

Lightly spoon 1 cup flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife.

Gradually add 1 cup flour to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Gently press mixture into bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

To prepare topping, beat eggs at medium speed until foamy.

Add 3/4 cup granulated sugar and next 5 ingredients (3/4 cup granulated sugar through salt), and beat until well-blended.

Pour mixture over partially baked crust. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until set. Cool pan on wire rack.

Sift powdered sugar evenly over top.

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We sure did. After a week of everyone (but me) in our home being sick, it was really nice to have a happy, healthy, busy weekend - hence me not posting very much!

Friday night we had our Sunday School Christmas party. I brought a Caramel Italian Creme Cake and Cranberry Walnut Baked Brie. We had so much fun eating, visiting and playing an ornament exchange.

Our new friends had their brand new baby girl on Thursday so we drove out to see her in the hospital on Saturday and she was just beautiful! They did not find out the sex until delivery and it just drove me insane, I could never do that!

On Sunday, we had some of our new friends from church over to celebrate my youngest's first birthday. Our house was full of food, laughter and friendship and my heart was just overflowing with joy. I'd have large groups of friends and family over to my house every week if I could! My friend Robin made these cute cookies, she is so talented! You should visit her site here and place an order :)

What did y'all do this weekend? Anything fun or exciting. Regardless of what you did, I hope it was full of joy and peace! Now, let's get back to our 12 days of baking...

12 Days of Baking - Day Seven!

Today I wanted to show ya'll something really easy to make in case you aren't a "baker" and need to make something to either take somewhere or have as a treat around your house. These are really yummy and won't taste like you used pre-made cookies. If you want, you could use any type of refrigerated cookie dough you like. You can either bake these on a cookie sheet or in a mini muffin pan.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

12 count refrigerated peanut butter cookies

48 hershey kisses

granulated sugar

Cut each cookie into four sections. Roll each section into a ball and roll in the granulated sugar.Place each cookie dough ball onto a baking pan about 2 inches apart. Press a hershey kiss into the center of the cookie dough ball until the sides raise up around the kiss. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

12 Days of Treats - Day Nine!

Have you ever made something and then thought, "Why have I never made these before?" - this is one of those recipes... Why have I never made these before?!? These cookies were so good I'm going to be making them year round. I put a very slight holiday twist on them to make them festive but you could easily make them the traditional way by leaving off the red and green sugar. I found several recipes that sounded good and got good reviews. I couldn't decide which one to use so I just compiled several and came up with my own. Hope you enjoy!

Holiday Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sugar Roll

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon red and green decorator sugar (optional)

Directions
To make the cookie dough, stir together the dry ingredients, set aside. In a bowl with a paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add the sugar and continue to mix, then add the eggs, honey, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended.

Chill dough 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350.
Roll balls of dough about the size of a walnut then roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat.Place on an un-greased sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes until puffed up and the surface is slightly cracked.*When you take them out, they are going to look like they aren't done all the way but they are. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes on the pan and they will be perfect!*

12 Days of Treats - Day Three!

I saw these cookies in an email and thought they were so cute! Sugar cookies happen to be my absolute favorite so these were a must try. The verdict? These were really good! I didn't have a betty crocker mix so I used a Krusteaz one I had in the pantry and we didn't "snow-cap" them. Evidently the secret ingredient to amazing sugar cookies is almond extract - so, so good. My only warning: really watch your cooking time. If you go just a little bit over then the edges brown pretty quickly. Here's the recipe:

Snow-Capped Tree Cookies Recipe by BettyCrocker

Ingredients
6 oz white chocolate baking bar
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
7 drops green food color
24 thin stick pretzels, broken in half
1 teaspoon shortening

Heat oven to 375°F. Grate 2 oz of the white chocolate. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, egg, flour, almond extract, 2 oz grated white chocolate and green food color until dough forms. (I actually had to knead the dough with my hands to incorporate the food coloring).

Divide dough into 6 pieces. Press each piece into 6-inch round.

Cut each round into 8 wedges; separate wedges.On ungreased cookie sheet, place wedges 2 inches apart. Under each wedge, place half of 1 pretzel stick for tree trunk. Decorate as desired.Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

Directions for snow-caps:

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper. In small microwavable bowl, microwave remaining 4 oz white chocolate and the shortening uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted. Dip top of each cookie in white chocolate mixture, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, decorate with decorator sprinkles or sugars. Place cookies on waxed paper; refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

12 Days of Treats - Day Six!

I saw this recipe and knew I wanted to try it. I'm glad I did because they are so.stinkin.good. Again, I used the smart balance baking sticks - makes you feel better about a recipe that calls for a whole cup of butter. yeeeeesh.

Pecan Meltaways

Ingredients

1 c Butter 
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 1/4 c All purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Finely chopped pecans
Additional powdered sugar for topping

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.

Combine the flour and salt; add to creamed mixture.

Chop Pecans into small bits.

Stir in pecans. Chill about 15-20 minutes.

 

Roll into 1-in. balls and place on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Roll in confectioners sugar while warm. Cool; roll in sugar again. 

Coconut Oatmeal Chewies - Day 1

One of my readers Ginny sent this recipe to me and let me just tell y'all something: You want to make these. Per Ginny's advice I reduced the sugar from the original recipe (it called for 1 cup each) and they were still plenty sweet. They have such a balanced flavor, nothing overpowers the next. These will be a family favorite for years to come!

Coconut Oatmeal Chewies

Ingredients

3/4 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs

2 Sticks Butter, Softened To Room Temperature

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
1 cup Shredded Coconut
1 cup Quick Oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are set but not overly browned (9 minutes was perfect for me)

Have a wonderful baking treat to share with us? Link it up here each day for the next 12 Days!

Smart Balance Baking Sticks

I have used these Smart Balance Baking sticks for all of my 12 Days of Treats. I'll be extremely honest - I could not tell that it was only half butter. Everything turned out wonderfully. I definitely recommend them... if you are like me and want to provide healthier options for your family these definitely make that possible!