Hot Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

These cocoa shortbread cookies taste just like hot chocolate in a cookie form.  They are fabulously rich yet light.

Ingredients:

- 1/2c cold butter

- 1/2c powdered sugar

- 1/4c cocoa powder

- 1/4t coarse salt

- 1/2t vanilla

- 1c flour

- 1/4c heavy cream

- 2oz white chocolate

In the bowl of a food processor combine the sugar, cocoa, and salt and process to combine.  Cut the cold butter into small pieces by cutting it in half length-wise and then each half of the stick in half length-wise again so you have 4 small sticks.  Then cut the sticks into about ten pieces so you have small pats of butter.  

With the blade running, add the butter a few pieces at a time until the butter is fully mixed and the dough is crumbly.  Add the vanilla.  

Pack the dough together into a ball.  If the dough is too dry to hold together you may have to add about one tablespoon of water.  I also found that it helped to let the dough sit in the blender for a few minutes and then process it again after the butter has softened slightly.   

Roll out on a surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar.  Cut out cookies and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Cool.

Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a very soft simmer, the add the white chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.  When smooth, turn off the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.  Then dip a spoon in the chocolate and let drizzle over the cookies.

Brown Sugar Shortbread with Cinnamon Sprinkle

These shortbread cookies are sweet, crumbly and almost melt in your mouth. 

 

Ingredients:

- 1c butter, rom temperature

- 1/2c sugar

- 1/2c packed light brown sugar

- 1t vanilla

- 1/8t salt

- 2c flour

- Sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar

Combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream until blended.  Add vanilla and salt and mix.  Then mix in the flour 1c at a time.  

Compact the dough into a ball - you may have to press it together to get it to all stick in one ball.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut out and place on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with a mixture of equal parts cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 7 minutes. 

Minty Meringue Kisses

These meringue kisses are sweet, minty, and melt in your mouth!  They are relatively easy to prepare, but require about four hours of oven time, so you can't be wanting to make anything else all afternoon!  

Ingredients:

- 2 egg whites, room temperature

- 1c powdered sugar

- 1/8t mint extract

- Crushed candy cane bits

In a stand mixer, whip your egg whites on medium high speed until soft peaks form.  This may take several minutes. 

Add 1/2c powdered sugar and beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form.  Mix in the mint extract.  Gently fold in the remaining 1/2c powdered sugar.

Put the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.  If you don't have a pastry bag, you can put the meringue into a ziploc bag with one corner clipped off.  Squeeze out the meringue into kisses about 1 inch in diameter onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with crushed candy canes mixed with about equal amount of powdered sugar.

Cook at 175 degrees for 3 hours.  Then turn off your oven and leave the kisses in the oven for at least an additional hour.  (I left mine in overnight, which worked great.)

Peel off of the parchment paper and serve!

Candy Cane Wreaths

These candy cane wreaths are minty, buttery, and pretty.  You can make them in a candy-cane shape, or twist them into circles.  I prefer the circles because they fit better into a cookie tin or treat bag that includes other round cookies.

Ingredients:

- 1c butter, room temperature

- 1c powdered sugar

- 1 egg

- 2t vanilla

- 2 1/2c flour

- 1t salt

- Finely crushed candy canes

- Red food coloring

To make the dough, cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer using the cake paddle attachment.  When the butter and sugar is creamed - it will be lighter color and fluffy looking - add the egg and vanilla and mix.  Add the salt and the flour about 1/2c at a time.

Separate the dough into two lumps.  Dye half with the red food coloring.  Return to the refrigerator until you're ready to shape it and cook it.  

When you're ready to make you wreaths, pinch off a small piece of the white and red dough - about the size of your thumb.  Roll out the pieces into "snakes" about 5 inches long.  Place them side-by-side.

Twist the two snakes around each other.

Shape into a circle and press the seams together.

Place the cookies on a Silpat and sprinkle with the crushed candy cane bits.  

 

Cook in a 350-degree oven for about 12 minutes.

Chocolate Mint Snowflake Sandwiches

These cookies are putzy and have three distinct steps, with cooking and cooling times in between, but they are definitely crowd-pleasers!  If you have a weekend to do your christmas cookie baking, this could be a good option to add to the mix as you can complete the various steps in between baking the other cookies in your lineup.

I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's website.  She shows them in a circle shape (like an oreo), but I was tired of my circle cookie cutter by the time I got to these, so I made them snowflakes.  After painstakingly coating each "arm" of the snowflake with melted chocolate, I know why she made hers circles!  Feel free to use any shape you desire but remember: (1) you are going to have to coat all surfaces with melted chocolate, and (2) your cookies will change shape/size ever so slightly while they bake, so if you choose an intricate shape the two pieces of your sandwhich may not line up perfectly when you go to assemble them. 

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
- 1c cocoa powder
- 1/2c + 2T flour
- 1/2c (1 stick) butter, room temperature
- 1/2c granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- Confectioners' sugar (to lightly dust your work surface before rolling out the cookies)

For the Chocolate-Mint Ganache:
- 1/4c heavy cream
- 6oz semisweet chocolate chips (i.e. half of a normal sized bag)
- 1/2t mint extract (Martha calls for 3/4t - adjust to your mint preferences!)


For the Chocolate Glaze:
- 6oz semisweet chocolate chips (i.e the other half of the normal sized bag)


Directions

Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg until well blended. Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients (mixed together ahead of time); mix until just combined.

Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour (or overnight).

When you're ready to make the cookies, remove the dough from the refridgerator and let it sit for about five minutes just to take some of the chill off.  You still want it to be cold, but not brick-hard.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Roll out the dough on a surface lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar.  I rolled mine out to about 1/4 inch, even though Martha says 1/8 inch.  I think a little substance to the cookie is good, but if go for the crispy, crackery cookie more, you might want to roll it out thinner.  Cut out your cookies and place on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.  Trust me, do not put them right on the cookie sheet; they will stick!

Bake until firm, about 12 minutes.  Let cool completely, then remove from the cookie sheet.

For the genache:  Bring cream to light boil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add chocolate and cook, stirring constatnly until smooth.  Stir in peppermint extract.  Let cool slightly to thicken so you can work with it (about 10 minutes).  Spread onto cookies and make sandwiches.

At this point you're going to want to really get these cookies cold before you try to cover them in chocolate.  I left mine in the fridge for an hour.  To make the glaze, just melt the rest of your chocolate in a metal bowl placed over a pan of simmering water.  Stir constantly - you don't want your chocolate to burn!  (Alternatively, if you have a microwave, you can certainly just melt your chocolate in there.  Just put it in for less than a minute at a time, and stir after each interval until totally melted and smooth.)

Dip one flat side of your cooled cookie into the melted chocolate, place dry side down on a cooling rack and use a knife to "frost" the sides of the cookie.  Refrigerate until set - at least an hour.