12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies Archives - Page 2 of 3

Easy Toffee Almond Bar Cookies

October 4, 2012 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 21 Comments

Here we are in the second week of our 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats! I hope you were inspired by amy recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Bites and also by all the other bloggers that participated. I know I found lots of new recipes to add to my “must try” list!

In case you’re joining us for the first time this week, here’s a brief rundown of how it works. Each week starting today and for the next 12 weeks, I and a bunch of other bloggers will be sharing some of our favorite holiday treats with you. The idea is that not only will you get a lot more recipe ideas but ideally you can make up these treats ahead of time and freeze so that you will have goodies ready to go for gift-giving, hostess gifts and even your own holiday tables. Be sure to check out our Pinterest board for all the great ideas too—it’s a great way to keep track of your favorites.

This week’s recipe is for Toffee Almond Bars. I have been making these for many, many years. You see, I have a December baby and when I was pregnant I REALLY wanted to bake something for the holidays but knew I couldn’t manage a lot of bending and standing for a long time. So I looked for a bar cookie and these were it. The recipe is originally from one of those mini-Gold Medal holiday recipe books you find on the newsstands. I love a good, simple bar cookie and just about anything toffee flavored so these fit the bill nicely. Turns out my father-in-law really enjoyed them too as I had baked them right before delivery…and he enjoyed them when he came to meet his new grandchild!

These are so simple and delicious and freeze well too. What more could you ask for? I hope you enjoy them too!

Easy Toffee Almond Bar Cookies {12 Weeks of Christmas Treats}

Yield: 4 dozen bars

Serving Size: One bar.

Ingredients

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
4 oz. milk chocolate, broken into pieces
½ cup sliced almonds

Instructions

Heat oven to 350º. Beat brown sugar, butter, vanilla and egg yolk in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour and salt. Press (or spread) in ungreased pan, 13x9x2 inches.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until very light brown (crust will be soft). Immediately place milk chocolate pieces on baked crust. Let stand about 5 minutes or until softened; spread evenly. Sprinkle with almonds.
Cool 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows while warm.

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Simple ingredients = a great tasting treat!

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the warm bars–easy!

Just a few minutes is all it takes for the chocolate to soften and it’s easy to spread before sprinkling the almonds over top.

Be sure to check out all the other bloggers who are participating this week in the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog hop… you’ll have no excuse of “I don’t know what to make!” And if you’re a blogger and want to join in on the fun, check out this post for the form to fill out to start baking along with us!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, recipe ideas, Recipe-Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Bites

September 26, 2012 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 17 Comments

Welcome to week one of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats! I know, I know, it IS still only September but before you know it the holidays will be upon us. Some of you may already know how this works but here are the basics.

Each week starting today and for the next 12 weeks, I and a bunch of other bloggers will be sharing some of our favorite holiday treats with you. The idea is that not only will you get a lot more recipe ideas but ideally you can make up these treats ahead of time and freeze so that you will have goodies ready to go for gift-giving, hostess gifts and even your own holiday tables. Be sure to check out our Pinterest board for all the great ideas too—it’s a great way to keep track of your favorites.

My recipe this week is a simple one. It’s actually one that I discovered on Pinterest much earlier this year and I just knew I would need to make it! I can’t remember a time that I didn’t love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter—yum! But these have a salty twist to them from the pretzel that make them the perfect combination of salty & sweet.

Sorry I don’t have any step-by-step photos…I’m not sure what I was thinking other than “how quickly will I get to taste test these!” So I forgot to take any pictures along the way. But I bet you all are smart enough to figure it out too!

They are so simple and easy to prepare and are a great sweet bite for all sorts of occasions but even for your own family. I hope you enjoy them too!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Bites {12 Weeks Christmas Treats}

Yield: 60-70 bites

Ingredients

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
recipe originally from [Two Tiny Kitchens|[ http://twotinykitchens.com/]
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp softened butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar (maybe more)
3/4 cup brown sugar (maybe more)
Pretzels
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Combine peanut butter and softened butter in a large bowl with a fork or whisk, or in a stand mixer. Add the sugars and mix to combine. At this point if the filling will roll easily into balls without sticking to your hands you’re ready to go. If not, add a little more of each sugar until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll (I used about 3/4 cup of each sugar).
Use a teaspoon measure to scoop the filling. Roll each portion into a small ball, then sandwich them between two whole pretzels. When all the balls are rolled and successfully sandwiched, stick the whole tray in the freezer for about half an hour.
Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30-second intervals, stirring occasionally until completely melted. Remove the pretzel sandwiches from the freezer and quickly dip each half-way into the melted chocolate. Return to the tray and repeat with remaining sandwiches. When all are dipped, return the tray to the freezer to set up completely. Store the sandwiches in the refrigerator until serving time.

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http://www.mealplanningmagic.com/2012/09/peanut-butter-chocolate-pretzel-bites-12-weeks-christmas-treats.html

1. Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

2. Candied Spiced Nuts

3. Gingerbread AdventureofaLife

4. Puppy Chow Cookies

5. Gooey Chocolate Almond Squares

6. Autumn Brittle

7. Cherry Amaretto Jam

8. Butterscotch Bars

9. Apple Pie Bread

10. Almond Crescents

11. Candy Cane Brownies

12. Individual Apple Crisps

13. Gingerbread Cupcakes

14. Vanilla Bean Biscotti

15. Heath Bar Cookies

16. Cinnamon Roll Cookies

17. Almond Butter Balls

18. Pineapple Ground Cherry Jam

19. Cinnamon Cream Cheese Mints

20. Chocolate Toffee Brownies

21. Oreo Cookies & Cream Bark

22. Pumpkin Apple Pie

23. Triple Chocolate Cookie Mix

24. Chocolate Caramel PretzelBites

25. Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies

26. Glazed Cinnamon Toffee Bars

27. ribbon cookies

28. Apple Cinnamon Scones

29. Grain Free Pumpkin Cupcakes

30. Surrpise Cookies

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Get the code here…

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, recipe ideas

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats is Almost Here!

September 22, 2012 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 24 Comments

These cinnamon chocolate balls were one of the treats I baked last year!

Can you believe that the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats is less than a week away? Yes, that’s right, starting on Thursday, September 27th, I, along with over 40 other bloggers (and more joining weekly!) will be baking and cooking up some great ideas for the next 12 Weeks leading up to Christmas. Just like last year, we’ll be sharing ideas to get you ready for the holidays. But the twist this year is that not only will we be baking cookies, other treats like candy, food gifts, and other sweets will be included (some might also be a mix of sweet & savory). Basically anything you might have out on a holiday table for munching on or serving at your holiday parties!

Whether your a blogger or a follower, it’s not too late to join in! Read on for details:

BLOGGERS:
Fill out the form below and I’ll send you more details in late August/early September with all the link codes, graphic, etc. But the guidelines are simple:
–Each week, on Thursdays starting September 27th, make a different Christmas treat and blog about it. It can be a cookie or perhaps something (like spiced nuts) that you might serve at a holiday gathering.
–Put them in the freezer (most cookies freeze well for up to three months)
–Link up each week using the link code I’ll provide.
–Link back to my blog and use the Blog Hop graphic I’ll provide.
–Interested but not sure you can commit to ALL 12 Weeks? That’s ok. Go ahead and fill out the form anyway so you’re in the loop on the weeks you CAN participate!
–That’s it!

Oh and don’t forget to have fun too! At the end, you’ll be able to breathe easy knowing you’ll be prepared for all those parties, cookie exchanges and hostess gifts you’ll need treats for throughout the holiday season.

READERS:
Bake along with us! Hopefully you’ll find some inspiration to get some baking done early and in the freezer. And I’ve set up a 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats Pinterest board just for many of the treats you’ll find on the hop so get ready to pin away and start keeping track of all the great recipes we’ll be sharing!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, recipe ideas

Easy Peppermint Bark

December 15, 2011 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 3 Comments

It’s hard to believe that here we are at the end of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies. Back when we started in September, December 15th seemed so far away. I have so enjoyed hosting this blog hop these last few months, reading everyone’s updates and collecting so many terrific new recipes.
For my last sweet treat, I’ve saved a simple but delicious candy that everyone loves: Easy Peppermint Bark. The recipe is not rocket science but I’m always surprised at how many people can’t believe I made it myself! I love to make this up in big batches and give away to teacher, friends and neighbors. It’s great because it is so quick and easy to make for last minute gifts or holiday parties.

Here’s how to make it yourself!

Easy Peppermint Bark
One package of chocolate bark (I use Kroger brand)
One package of white chocolate bark
2 tsp. peppermint extract
About ½ cup crushed peppermint candies or canes

Line 11×15 jellyroll style pan or baking sheet with edges with aluminum foil. Melt chocolate bark according to package directions. Add peppermint extract and mix until well blended. Spread melted chocolate mixture evenly into pan reaching to all edges and corners.

Place baking sheet in freezer for 5 minutes. Do not leave in any longer or your second layer will not stick to the chocolate.

In the meantime, melt white chocolate bark according to package directions. Once the 5 minutes is up, take tray out of freezer and spread melted white chocolate over chocolate layer.

Immediately sprinkle crushed peppermint candies over white chocolate and pressing in candies if necessary.

Let bark harden at room temperature, about 30 minutes (or you can put it in the freezer again for a quick freeze). When harded, remove bark and foil from pan and break up bark into chunks. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks or in freezer for up to three months.

Gather all the ingredients--simple though!

I used my food processor to crush the peppermints which were already broken candy canes I bought on clearance last year!

Just a few pulses and they're crushed in a flash!

Spread the melted chocolate into foil-lined baking sheet (with edges!)

After chocolate is set, work quickly to spread white chocolate. If you're too slow, the white chocolate will begin to harden too!

All the layers are there--just leave on the counter to harden (or put in fridge/freezer if you want to speed it up).

This is our final week of this blog hop and it’s now over, but be sure and check back in the New Year for details on the two new Blog Hops that I’ll be hosting. The first is an Eating The Alphabet Challenge—all about fruits & veggies and the second is a New To Me Recipe Challenge to help us try out recipes from all those that we’ve collected in cookbooks, magazines, online or wherever! And as always, happy baking!
Be sure to visit all the other bloggers shown below to see what they’ve baked up today!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, General

Toffee-Pecan Bars

December 8, 2011 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 10 Comments

I think I’m in denial that we’re almost at the end of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies. When we started back in September it seemed like SO far away to actually get to December and now we’re nearly to the end. I got to reap the rewards of my baking this week though at a cookie exchange I hosted in my home. I just pulled out a variety of cookies from the freezer for the exchange and still have lots leftover to wrap up for friends and neighbors. Love it!

This week’s selection is again courtesy of my son (he was busy that afternoon a few weeks ago when he was marking recipes!) And I cannot resist a good toffee bar so these looked delicious. They are like a butter cookie with toffee and chocolate on top. With all the butter they are certainly not low-cal but definitely delicious. I hope you enjoy them too!

TOFFEE-PECAN BARSThis recipe is from Betty Crocker Kitchens

Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Total Time: 2:00 Hrs
Makes: 48 bars

Crust
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

Filling
1 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

1 cup swirled milk chocolate and caramel chips (from 10-oz bag)

Heat oven to 375°F. Grease bottom and sides of 15x10x1-inch pan with shortening or cooking spray (do not use dark pan).

In large bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg; beat until well blended. On low speed, beat in flour until dough begins to form. Press dough in pan.

Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar and the corn syrup to boiling over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil 2 minutes without stirring.

Quickly stir pecans into corn syrup mixture; spread over partially baked crust. Bake 20 to 23 minutes or until filling is golden brown and bubbly.

Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over hot bars. Let stand 5 minutes to soften. With rubber spatula, gently swirl melted chips over bars. Cool completely, about 1 hour. For bars, cut into 24 squares (6 rows by 4 rows), then cut each square in half to make triangles. Store in refrigerator.
Makes 48 bars

My notes:
When you are boiling the butter sugar mixture for the filling, do not leave the stove. It can burn easily if you’re not careful. Once in the bar pan, the edges of my bars got a little extra brown—I’m not sure if that’s the sugary mixture on top or what. So I guess just pay attention to that when baking. Also, I couldn’t find the swirl chips so used a combination of chocolate and butterscotch chips.

Each week we’ll be bringing you lots of new inspiring recipes. Put on your baking cap and collect all those recipes from your recipe box, magazine cuttings, cookbooks or online. Now is the time to make those cookies you’ve always wanted to. And feel free to make a bar or even a candy—any sort of sweet treat will do!

TO JOIN/LINK UP: Add your link using the linky tool below. Link-ups require approval so if you don’t see your link appear right away, that is why. When adding a link it MUST be a post dated 2011 and your post must mention the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hop. No links from previous years to any old random Christmas cookie recipe just to get extra traffic to your blog, sorry! If you want to join the blog hop for future weeks and add the thumbnails to your blog for future weeks, please email me and I will send you the code and .jpg image to use. Thanks so much!

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers shown below to see what they’ve baked up today!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

Cinnamon-Chocolate Chip Butterballs

December 1, 2011 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 12 Comments

The 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies is rolling right along and before you know it, we’ll be all done and enjoying sharing our cookies with family and friends. There’s still time to begin your baking if you haven’t already and I hope you’ve been inspired to try some new recipes.

This week’s selection is another one that my son picked from the cookbook he looked through. I thought the combination of cinnamon and chocolate sounded interesting so I couldn’t wait to try them out. He helped me make them all the way up until the rolling in the powdered sugar when a better offer came along—a chance to play with a friend!

One word of warning…these have a whole cup of butter in them so they are certainly not low-cal! But they are worth the indulgence in my opinion. My family had mixed reviews but I did love the cinnamon chocolate combination and will be adding these to the permanent holiday cookie baking list. I hope you enjoy them too!

CINNAMON-CHOCOLATE CHIP BUTTERBALLS
This recipe is from Betty Crocker Kitchens

PREP TIME: 35 Min
TOTAL TIME: 1 Hr 25 Min
SERVINGS: 36

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold butter
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400°F. In large bowl, mix flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and the salt. Cut in butter, using pastry blender or fork, until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla (mixture will be crumbly).

Using hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 1 inch apart.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool slightly, about 20 minutes.

In small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Roll cookies in sugar mixture, shaking off excess back into bowl. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

My notes:
When the recipe says the dough will be crumbly, they are not kidding. We found it better to work as a tag team—one person scooped the dough in the mini-scoop and the other person did the rolling of the dough balls. We had to kind of squeeze the dough to get it to combine enough to roll it.

They balls did kind of flatten out during baking so don’t expect them to stay totally round. Still tasty though!

Gather all the ingredients.

Measure out the cinnamon.

Using a pastry blender, cut in butter pieces to form a crumb mixture.

Measuring chocolate chips for crumb dough mixture.

Using scoop tool, press crumb dough mixture into it to form a ball.

Use hands to form dough ball.

Cookie balls after baking--they spread a bit!

After waiting 20 minutes, roll cookies in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on rack to continue cooling.

TO JOIN/LINK UP: Add your link using the linky tool below. Link-ups require approval so if you don’t see your link appear right away, that is why. When adding a link it MUST be a post dated 2011 and your post must mention the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hop. No links from previous years to any old random Christmas cookie recipe just to get extra traffic to your blog, sorry! If you want to join the blog hop for future weeks and add the thumbnails to your blog for future weeks, please email me and I will send you the code and .jpg image to use. Thanks so much!

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers shown below to see what they’ve baked up today!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, General

Buckeye Delights

November 23, 2011 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 9 Comments

Here we are in the 9th week of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and also Thanksgiving week! I’m posting one day early as I figure most people will be busy on Thanksgiving spending time with family and friends. And that means that Christmas is a little over one month away! We’ll be wrapping up this series the week before Christmas so you’ll have plenty of time to either make up some extras or sit back and relax if you’ve been baking along with us.

Now on to this week’s cookie selection: Buckeye Delights. Again, this was a selection by my son. I first tried the related candy, Buckeye Balls several years ago. Whew! Are those sweet with all that confectioners sugar in them! I thought these might be a little less sweet since they have more chocolate than peanut butter and I was right! They are more chocolatey with only a hint of the peanut butter taste. But wow, the chocolate topping sure is sweet an these are quite rich! And while not difficult to prepare, they do take some time because of some waiting time (see my notes below). My daughter ended up helping to make these about half way through until the end when she ended up going over to a friend’s house so I had to do the filling and toppings myself. All in all, I’m glad I tried them!

I hope you enjoy them too!

BUCKEYE DELIGHTS
This recipe is from Betty Crocker Kitchens
Prep Time: 1 hour, 5 mins
Total Time 2 hours, 40 mins
Makes 36 cookies

Cookie Base
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg

Filling
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping 1
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 tablespoon peanut butter (for topping 2)

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 36 mini muffin cups with mini foil candy cups (about 1 1/4 inch). In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until dough forms. Press about 1 tablespoon dough into each foil cup. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until puffy and set. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Remove from pan.

In small bowl, mix filling ingredients until well blended. Press about 1 teaspoon mixture on top of each cooled cookie.

In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream just to boiling over low heat, stirring occasionally; remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until cooled. Spread about 2 teaspoons chocolate mixture over each cookie cup.

Place remaining 2 tablespoons chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon peanut butter in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag. Microwave on High 30 to 60 seconds or until softened; knead to mix. Cut off small tip from one corner of bag. Squeeze bag to drizzle chocolate mixture over each cookie cup. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until set. Store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 36 cookie cups

My notes:
–As I have said before, pay attention to how long these take. There are two 30 minute waiting periods between steps and that’s something I didn’t notice when I started these in the later afternoon. Thankfully they didn’t interfere with making dinner (like the last time) but I was starting to feel the crunch to just get them done and the kitchen cleaned up.
–Also, I kept forgetting to buy heavy whipping cream and since it only called for a little bit I ended up using skim milk instead. That worked out just fine—good to know!
–I did not have the right size mini cupcake liners so only used them for a dozen and then sprayed the remaining twenty-four cups with cooking spray. The cookies that were not in the foil cups came out a little drier than those that were so if you choose the same method, I’d suggest decreasing the baking time by a minute or two.
–If you use the snipped baggie method for drizzling the second topping on your cookies, make sure you snip a micro amount. I thought I had but nope. So I only got about eight of them done before I ran out of drizzle topping. Next time I’ll break out the pastry bag and one of my extra small decorator tips.

Gather all the ingredients (I forgot to show the powdered suger here).

Mixing the cookie base ingredients.

Mixing everything together.

Filling ingredients!

Measuring out the salt (this was a lesson I needed to remind--only pour as much as you think you will need--and double check the amount first!)

Using my handy press tool from Pampered Chef to push the dough into the cups--easy!

After the cookie cups are baked, drop in the filling by teaspoons.

And the first ganache-style frosting goes on top.

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers shown below to see what they’ve baked up today!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, Bake Sale Ideas, holidays, Recipe-Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread

November 17, 2011 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 19 Comments

(if you visited my blog earlier today you may notice the picture is different--I like the lighting better in this one!)

Hard to believe that it’s the 8th week in the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies Blog Hop! If I don’t get my act in gear with non-blog stuff I’ll really be feeling the crunch of the holidays. Hoping the rest of the week proves to be a bit more productive for me!

Now on to this week’s cookie selection: Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread. Each year I love to sit with the kids and all my holiday cookbooks as we browse through the ones that look yummiest to us. Of course we won’t be able to make all of them but it helps me narrow down our selection. This year my son took one of the books and put sticky notes on the recipes that looked good to him. Nearly half the book had sticky notes!

One of my many grocery store holiday cookie cookbooks!

Just a few of the sticky notes my son added throughout the book.

I love traditional shortbread so was anxious to try out the chocolate version. My son did most of the measuring and mixing and I finished up the process as it was getting late. These were SO easy! And the chocolate taste is subtle as there is not much sugar in these either. I think these will look so pretty on a holiday cookie tray. So off to the freezer they go (after a bit of sampling of course!

I hope you enjoy them too!

This recipe is originally from Betty Crocker

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT SHORTBREAD
Shortbread
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, melted, cooled
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

Glaze and Topping
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons chopped miniature peppermint candy canes

Directions:
1 Heat oven to 325°F. Spray 2 (9-inch) glass pie plates with cooking spray.
2 In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, chocolate and peppermint extract with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. On low speed, beat in flour and 1/3 cup cocoa. Divide dough in half. With lightly floured hands, press dough evenly in pie plates.
3 Bake 22 to 24 minutes or until edges just begin to pull away from sides of pie plates. Cool in pie plates 5 minutes. Carefully cut each round into 16 wedges. Cool completely in pie plates on cooling rack, about 30 minutes.
4 In small bowl, mix powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa and enough of the milk until glaze is smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over wedges; sprinkle with candies.

Gather all your ingredients first to make sure you have it all!

Using the food chopper makes it a breeze to chop the peppermints.

Adding the melted chocolate.

Measuring out the flour.

Press the shorbread dough into the prepared pie plates--easy!

Are you a blogger that would like to join our blog hop? Then join us every Thursday (or any Thursday you can make it!) from now until December 15th. And if you’re not a blogger or just not up for blogging about it, then join us anyway and fill your freezer. Each week we’ll be bringing you lots of new inspiring recipes. Put on your baking cap and collect all those recipes from your recipe box, magazine cuttings, cookbooks or online. Now is the time to make those cookies you’ve always wanted to. And feel free to make a bar or even a candy—any sort of sweet treat will do!

TO JOIN/LINK UP (REQUIRED!): Add your link using the linky tool below. Link-ups require approval so if you don’t see your link appear right away, that is why. When adding a link it MUST be a post dated 2011 and your post must mention the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hop. No links from previous years to any old random Christmas cookie recipe just to get extra traffic to your blog, sorry! If you want to join the blog hop for future weeks and add the thumbnails to your blog for future weeks, please email me and I will send you the code and .jpg image to use. Thanks so much!

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers shown below to see what they’ve baked up today!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

Cheesecake Pops

November 10, 2011 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 16 Comments

Here we are at the 7th week in the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies Blog Hop! I have to admit that although I had planned to keep my baked stash of cookies primarily for the Christmas holidays, I found them to come quite in handy recently! Last night I hosted a committee celebration/get together last night and pulled out some of my Cherry Chocolate Kiss Cookies from the freezer and to add to a plate of goodies for everyone to munch on. Love it!

This week I made Cheesecake Pops, a recipe I found in Taste of Home’s Fall Baking book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006584RGY?ie=UTF8&tag=meaplamag-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B006584RGY

I saw these and knew I had to try them! I LOVE cheesecake and since my cake pop efforts had been pretty sad, I thought these would be easier. And other than the extra time involved, I’d say they were much easier and totally worth it for the yummy little bites.

I did learn a few things along the way though….here are my lessons learned from this week’s adventure:
1) Always read the whole recipe through and pay attention to how long things will take. Ok, unlike last week I DID know that I needed to give myself some extra time to get these made. But what I didn’t realize was the amount of in and out of the freezer time.
2) Do not try to make these when you have a lot of distractions. Or during busy after school/homework/dinner time. I thought I could do that a little bit. It didn’t work so great.
3) Try to make these when your hand are cool. Run them under cool water if you need to. My hands were warm and they got a little gooey when rolling the balls. Still ok, just a little messier than I thought.
4) Even if something doesn’t turn out exactly like you think they should (i.e. mine were not perfectly round), they can still taste delicious—which these did!

All in all, although these take some time to make, if you like cheesecake you’ll love these sweet and festive little bites!

CHEESECAKE POPS
recipe from Taste of HomeS

Ingredients
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 teaspoon Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
45 lollipop sticks (4 inches long)
3 packages (10 to 12 ounces each) vanilla or white chips
3 tablespoons shortening
Toppings: grated coconut, grated chocolate, assorted sprinkles and chopped nuts

Directions
Line the bottom of a 9-in. springform pan with parchment paper; coat paper and sides of pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in sour cream and vanilla until blended. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into prepared pan.

Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Cover and freeze overnight.

Remove from the freezer and let stand for 30 minutes. Place cracker crumbs in a shallow bowl. Working quickly, scoop out 1-in. balls of cheesecake; roll each in cracker crumbs and insert a lollipop stick. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm.

In a microwave, melt vanilla chips and shortening at 70% power; stir until smooth. Place toppings in shallow bowls. Dip cheesecake pops in vanilla chip mixture; allow excess to drip off. Roll in toppings. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set. Store in the refrigerator.

Yield: 45 cheesecake pops

The ingredients for coating and decorating the cake pops. Missing the graham cracker crumbs though--oops!

Are you a blogger that would like to join our blog hop? Then join us every Thursday (or any Thursday you can make it!) from now until December 15th. And if you’re not a blogger or just not up for blogging about it, then join us anyway and fill your freezer.
Each week we’ll be bringing you lots of new inspiring recipes. Put on your baking cap and collect all those recipes from your recipe box, magazine cuttings, cookbooks or online. Now is the time to make those cookies you’ve always wanted to. And feel free to make a bar or even a candy—any sort of sweet treat will do!

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers shown below to see what they’ve baked up today!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, recipe ideas

Cherry Chocolate Kiss Cookies

November 3, 2011 By Meal Plan Mom (Brenda) 13 Comments

Seriously, I cannot believe we’re halfway into the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies Blog hop! What I am especially loving is the fact that I’m filling my freezer with these yummy treats. A friend today just asked me if I was hosting my annual cookie exchange again. You bet. And I thought to myself I might actually be able to attend one of the other ones I’m usually invited to but stress out about making cookies the night before!

This week’s cookie is Cherry Chocolate Kiss Cookies. It’s another recipe from one of those seasonal grocery store cookbooks. I’m noticing a cherry trend considering the last three things I made had cherries in them! I think it must be a subliminal craving since I didn’t really plan it. Although I was glad to be able to use up that leftover half jar of cherries from the Merry Cherry Swirl Brownies I made a couple of weeks ago. Yay for me for meal planning without really planning! Although I did learn a couple of things this week:
1) always read the recipe the WHOLE way through (because these required 30 minutes of chilling which I did not plan on)
2) because of not doing #1, I had to push back dinner which was supposed to also bake in the oven for about 30 minutes—ooops!
3) And another because of not doing #1, do not put the kisses on BEFORE you bake…do it after like it says to do. Although they still turned out ok.

Just like the Chocolate Cat Face Cookies I told you about last week, this week my daughter pretty much took over and made these cookies herself. I was right there but she wanted to do most if it alone. I could get used to this baking-for-me trend. Although there are cherries in the dough, the flavor is subtle and I’d say these are more like a shortbread cookie. The chocolate kiss on top is just the right touch. A few years ago, Hershey’s would sell unwrapped kisses during the holidays. I’ve not been able to find them in about four years so I think they stopped making them. Boy, were they handy for cookies like these! With their festive color and the kiss, I sometimes make these cookies for Valentine’s Day too. I hope you like them!

CHERRY CHOCOLATE KISS COOKIES
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cherry juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2-3/4 cup chopped or crushed maraschino cherry
1 cup granulated or decorator sugar (as needed)
12 ounces Hershey’s chocolate kisses (1 per cookie) or 12 ounces Hershey’s Hugs chocolates (1 per cookie)

Directions:
Beat butter, add sugar and salt. Beat in cherry liquid and almond extract. Beat in flour. Fold in cherries.
Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes (you don’t have to, but dough is easier to work with when cold).

Roll dough into balls, coat in sugar and place on cookie sheet. These cookies will flatten on their own, but I typically put a thumb print in the center to flatten some.

Bake at 325 degrees for 14 minutes. Let cool on pan for 1-2 minutes.

Add Hershey Kiss/Hug to center of the cookies. (Hugs melt especially fast, you may want to let the cookies cool a little longer before adding Hugs, but cookies should still be warm so chocolate can melt into the cookie).

Transfer to wire rack to cool.

TO JOIN/LINK UP (READ THIS FIRST!): Add your link using the linky tool below. Link-ups require approval so if you don’t see your link appear right away, that is why. When adding a link it MUST be a post dated 2011 and your post must mention the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hop. No links from previous years to any old random Christmas cookie recipe just to get extra traffic to your blog, sorry! If you want to join the blog hop for future weeks and add the thumbnails to your blog for future weeks, please email me and I will send you the code and .jpg image to use. Thanks so much!

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers shown below to see what they’ve baked up today!

Filed Under: 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, General