Christmas Baking 2012

Yes, I know...Christmas was almost two weeks ago.  I am a little behind...when you catch a cold 3 days before Christmas and it blossoms into a raging sinus infection for New Years...you don't spend a lot of time blogging.  I'll be honest...the last few evenings, I have spent most of my time napping.  I am finally returning to the land of the living so I can recap the baking extravaganza of 2012.  These are my finished trays.

They look yummy, don't they?

I started, as I always do with my mini loaves of bread.  This year I made chocolate chip banana and cranberry pecan.

Then I got going with the cookies...

The top photo of the three above is a new recipe this year.

Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies
Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup broken up pretzel pieces
• Preztel Salt or Sea Salt

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and vanilla extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and preztels. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 10 minutes. If you prefer crispier cookies increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing.

The second photo are malted milk ball brownies...I wasn't impressed with these, they were just OK.  It was just a Betty Crocker brownie mix with crushed malted milk balls in them.

The third photo is Peppermint Kiss Sugar Cookies and they are the BOMB!

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups butter, room temperature
1 tsp peppermint extract (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped Candy Cane flavored Hershey’s Kisses
Granulated Sugar
About 30 unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make room in either refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.

2. In large mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes). In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly. Stir in chopped Kisses.

3. Shape dough into ¾-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside. Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator, so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.

4. Store in a covered container- at room temperature for up to a week. In the freezer they should be good for a couple of weeks.

I have a side by side freezer and putting a cookie sheet in the freezer is not a realistic expectation the week before Christmas so my kisses were a bit mushy but  they still tasted good!