Sweets of Christmas - Cream Cheese Mints

The first time I had these my Aunt Debbie had made a variation when I was a kid and we used to travel to Spokane A LOT to visit. (Some of my best memories of childhood, by the way!) She pushed them into those cute little candy molds but since I do so many cookies I go the quick route!

Cream Cheese Mints

3 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
3-4 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. granulated sugar
food coloring

Chocolate topping:
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
household wax
1. Line large cookie sheet with waxed paper.
2. Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, peppermint extract, & food coloring until smooth.
3. Gradually beat in powdered sugar on low speed until well combined. (I end up kneading it by hand at the end)
4. Roll cream cheese mixture into balls. Roll balls in sugar. Flatten ball with bottom of a glass to make a patty.
5. Refrigerate until firm.
6. Melt chocolate and wax in a heavy duty Ziploc bag in the microwave on 50% until melted. When melted snip tiny corner of bag off. Use the bag as a pastry bag to drizzle chocolate over mints. (Hint - if you want a decorative chocolate swirl put a plastic decorator's tip in the bag before you microwave OR snip the corner two ways to give a fluted look.)

I store these in the fridge after they have set. As long as you put waxed paper in between layers your chocolate designs shouldn't get messed up in a tupperware container.

Sweets for Christmas - Biscotti

Biscotti is my absolute FAVORITE cookie. In fact, I rarely share it. You won't normally find it on my cookie trays at Christmas or set out at the house if you come by for a visit. If you do, know that you are extremely special!

Biscotti

1/3 c. butter
3/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp zest of orange
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. toasted almond slivers
Optional: chocolate for drizzling or dipping biscotti in

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, almond and zest.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in almonds.
3. Divide dough into 2. Form into long flat loaves approx. 1/2 inch tall and 12 inches long.
4. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 25-27 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
5. Cut diagonal slices 1/2 inch thick. Lay flat on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, turning over once. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
Optional: when done baking can dip biscotti into chocolate or drizzle chocolate over top.

The Most Sentimental Part of Christmas....For Me

There is no sweeter memory of Christmas for me than making cookies with my Momma when I was a little girl. We would get out the Betty Crocker Cookie Book (a book I still have not gotten a copy of despite it's re-release MOM!), sift through the pages and find our favorite recipes. Now my Momma's book was so loved that almost none of the pages were actually still bound, it was more like a folder that we would have to divide up and sort through, searching for our favorites. Every year I would beg to make candy cane cookies, and every year Mom would say, "Oh, those are so much work, do we HAVE to make them?" But they were my favorite and so she would always relent and we would painstakingly make the dough, divide it and dye it, roll the dough into little "worms" and twist them together. I LOVED cookie day! I haven't made those cookies since I was a kid, maybe they should be on the cookie menu for 2011?

Anyway, this year I shared with you some pictures of my cookie making adventures. I promised to post recipes and so here they'll start! I will post a new recipe in each post so one post isn't a million miles long! I hope you like them Jennifer!

Holly Joys

2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg plus 1 yolk
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
green food coloring
Red Hots

1. Whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl
2. Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, then add vanilla.
3. Stir in the flour mixture. Tint dough with green food coloring. Put dough in Ziploc bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough into logs approximately 2 inches long. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. (You can place these fairly close together as they don't spread much)
5. With food scissors snip 3 times, approx 1/2 in. apart, at an angle. Do not cut completely through dough. Twist cut pieces in opposite directions. this should make your dough look like four holly leaves. Repeat with all "logs". Add a Red Hot to each joint so that there are 3 Red Hots on each cookies.
6. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Transfer immediately to cooling rack.