Christmas time is here and in the Warford house, it means it’s time for the annual Christmas cookie baking weekend! This tradition, like most of mine, started with my mom when I was growing up. She used to bake all of her cookies from scratch and make a ridiculous amount of them to put on plates and deliver them to all of our local friends and family.
Now, I have to be honest, I HATED this weekend growing up! Mainly because most of my memories come from my teenage years – delivering these cookies door to door while my mom waved from the driver’s seat of her minivan. But, like most things I found annoying growing up, I do them now as an adult with a whole lot of pride because it reminds me of home. My mom is probably rolling her eyes reading this right now… sorry Mom, I came around eventually!
Okay, enough of the reminiscing… let’s get into these recipes because I know that’s what y’all are really here for. Each year, I try to make six different kind of cookies to give a lot of variety in the cookie boxes that I deliver to our friends and family. I tend to stick with 3 or 4 of the classic recipes that Larry and I love and then add a few new recipes to keep things interesting (mainly for me). So let’s start with the classics and then get into the new recipes we are trying this year.
The Classics
Buckeye Pretzel Bites
Ingredients
- 1 8 oz bag Snyders Pretzel Snaps (squares) I prefer squares because they don't break as easily
- 1 lb Powdered sugar
- 1 stick Butter (softened)
- 12 oz Peanut Butter (smooth)
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 12oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
- 2 tbsp Crisco shortening
Instructions
- Prepare two baking trays lined with parchment paper. Prepare space in freezer to temporarily place trays.
- Combine powdered sugar, butter, peanut butter, and vanilla in stand mixer. Add more peanut butter or powdered sugar for desired consistency.
- Roll mixture into small balls.
- In a small saucepan or top of double broiler, melt chocolate and Crisco over hot water. Stir well to mix thoroughly.
- Sandwich peanut butter balls in between two pretzel squares.
- Dip pretzel sandwiches diagonally into melted chocolate and place onto parchment paper lined baking tray.
- Place tray of peanut butter pretzel bites into freezer for 5-10min to become solid.
Gumdrop Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (softened)
- 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp cold water
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups oats
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup fruit gumdrops (chopped) not spiced gumdrops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cream shortening and butter and add sugars.
- Add cold water to baking soda and stir to combine.
- Combine beaten eggs with baking soda/water mixture and add vanilla.
- Combine egg mixture with shortening and sugar mixture.
- Sift flour with baking powder and salt.
- Stir flour mixture into creamed mixture.
- Fold in remaining ingredients.
- Shape into small balls and place onto lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
Notes
Raspberry Marzipan Bars
Equipment
- 9×13 baking pan
- parchment paper optional
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups flour a little less
- 1/3 cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp
- 3/4 cup butter (softened)
Glaze
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp almond extract
Filling
- 1 cup raspberry preserves
- 1 cup flour + 2 tbsp
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 6 tbsp butter (softened)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add parchment paper to pan for easy cutting when complete.
- Blend crust ingredients until crumbly.
- Pour crust ingredients into pan and press until firm.
- Bake crust for 15-20min.
- Mix together filling ingredients (except for raspberry preserves)
- Spread raspberry preserves evenly onto warm crust.
- Pour filling mixture over preserves and pat down gently.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Combine glaze ingredients (adding milk to make mixture thinner if necessary).
- After bars are completely cool, drizzle with glaze.
- Remove bars from pan by lifting the parchment paper and cut into small 1" pieces.
The 2022 Additions
Since all three of these recipes are pulled from other places, I will simply add the link to make it easy. We tried two of these recipes last year and one is brand new but all three are winners in our book! I have added suggestions and lessons learned under each cookie, so keep an eye out for those, but if you try them out at home please leave a comment below to let me know how you like them!
Olive Oil Sugar Cookie with Lemon Glaze and Pistachio Crumbles
Grab the recipe! *See below for modification I made
Last year, I added three new VERY fancy cookie recipes and this was the only one that is making a comeback. I have made a few changes to the recipe but I was surprised to find out that they were one of Larry’s favorites last year. They are absolutely STUNNING as a finished product and make the perfect addition to the cookie box. The only change to the recipe that I made was that I split the oil into half olive oil and half avocado oil to minimize the olive oil taste in the finished product and I think it worked really well.
Toffee
Grab the recipe! *See below for tips I learned while making the toffee
This is year two of making this toffee recipe and I must say I have had different results. First, when the directions say to whisk consistently, they aren’t lying! Stretch that forearm because it’s going to get a workout. Also, I have had the butter separate twice and I got very discourage, but don’t be. Stick with the whisking and it SHOULD come back together in the end. I also think we had much better results on a gas burner rather than electric. I’m not sure why but it could be because the electric burner doesn’t get hot enough. Clearly I like them enough to make them for the second year in a row, but I must say that the main reason for making them is to add a different texture and shape to the cookie boxes.
Gingerdoodles
Grab the recipe! *See below for a suggestion I made after making a few batches
Holy smokes is the only phrase to describe these! I am such a huge fan of Snickerdoodles and this recipe just takes it to the next level! I made two rounds of these and each set turned out a bit different. The recipe gives a tip to not pack the flour. However, I found that packing the flour gave for a better texture and finished product.
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