Double Delights

Christmas Cookie Countdown Day 4 – Double Delights 

I know I’ve told you I collect Christmas magazines, but I’m not sure I mentioned I buy and collect every Christmas cookie magazine I can find every year. I love cookie magazines. I usually start looking at my cookie magazine collection and planning what I’m going to bake around Thanksgiving weekend, and I keep the magazines out all season long.

Better Homes and Gardens has been putting out cookie magazines for years, and I love looking through their yearly Christmas cookie issues. Taste of Home also started putting out Christmas cookie issues in the last three years, and I have been gravitating toward those recipes more and more. The recipes are creative and fun since they come from subscribers. It must be satisfying to see your cookie recipe published.

Double Delight cookies are in the 2015 Taste of Home Ultimate Cookie Swap issue, and it is my favorite cookie recipe of 2015. The recipe makes a large batch of cookies. The original recipes says it makes 15 dozen, but I can’t seem to slice my cookies thin enough to achieve that yield. The cookies are deliciously rich and chocolaty, but the vanilla side keeps them from being too rich.

Christmas Cookie Countdown Day 1 - Norwegian Chocolate Chip Cookies
Christmas Cookie Countdown Day 2 - Gingerbread Bark
Christmas Cookie Countdown Day 3 - Russian Tea Cakes 

Double Delights 
Adapted From Taste of Home Ultimate Cookie Swap
Printable Recipe

Chocolate Dough
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
4 ounces white baking chocolate, chopped

Vanilla Dough
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
4 ounces German sweet chocolate, chopped

Chocolate Dough
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, and beat in vanilla. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix until combined. Stir in pecans and white chocolate. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Vanilla Dough
In another large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, and beat in vanilla. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix until combined. Stir in pecans and German chocolate. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Both Doughs
Divide both doughs in half, and shape each portion into a 12-inch roll. Wrap the rolls in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.

Unwrap and cut each roll in half lengthwise. Place a chocolate half and vanilla half together pressing to form a log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour or until the dough holds together when cut.

Using a serrated knife, cut the logs into ¼ inch slices. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 9 dozen

Russian Tea Cakes

Christmas Cookie Countdown - Day 3
 
Do you have a favorite cookie? I usually pick out a “cookie of the year” which happens to be my favorite cookie from the new cookies I’m making during the Christmas season, and the cookie changes each year, but I have to admit I have a cookie that is my all time favorite. Russian Tea Cakes are the cookies I reach for most on any platter of cookies in front of me. Russian Tea Cakes are my all time favorite cookies.

My mom always made Russian Tea Cakes at Christmas time, so maybe it’s partially my memories helping make them my favorite, but I still really love the buttery powdered sugar goodness of my favorite cookie. This is my mother’s Russian Tea Cake recipe, and I still make them and love them.

Russian Tea Cakes
Printable Recipe
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup finely chopped nuts (I use pecans or walnuts)
¼ teaspoon salt
powdered sugar

Beat butter and ½ cup powdered sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in flour, salt and nuts until dough holds together. Chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, and place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack. Roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar. Cool on a wire rack and then roll in powdered sugar again to coat.

Christmas Cookie Countdown - Day 1 Norwegian Chocolate Chip Cookies
Christmas Cookie Countdown - Day 2 Gingerbread Bark

Gingerbread Bark

Warm, fragrant cookies coming straight out of the oven is an integral part of my Christmas memories and traditions. That being said, there is always room for an easy no-bake treat on my Christmas cookie platter.

The December issue on Taste of the South Magazine has a candy bark section with recipes for White Chocolate Peppermint Bark, Butterscotch Bark and Dark Chocolate Bark, but the bark that really caught my eye was the Gingerbread Bark.

I have loved decorating gingerbread houses since my high school friend and I created houses out of graham crackers that we decorated with pounds of candy we bought at the drugstore. The medium doesn’t really matter; it’s all about the decorating.

With this recipe, you don’t decorate by making windows, doors and pathways like you do on a gingerbread house, but it is really fun to decorate the bark with candy and sprinkles. I used spice drops instead of the gumdrops called for in the recipe, and I think that works to help keep the bark from becoming too sweet. This would be fun to make with small children.

If you are looking for another easy Christmas treat, check out Caramel Heavenlies.

Christmas Cookie Countdown Day 1 – Norwegian Chocolate ChipCookie 

Gingerbread Bark
Adapted from Taste of the South Magazine
Printable Recipe

1 pound vanilla flavored candy coating
12 thin gingersnap cookies
½ cup of spice drops
3 tablespoons chopped crystalized ginger (optional)
1 tablespoon sprinkles

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt candy coating according to the package directions. Set aside ¼ cup of melted candy coating covered in a small bowl. Spread the remaining candy coating in a 12x18-inch rectangle on the prepared pan. Gently press cookies 1 inch apart in the candy coating. Scatter with the spice drops, ginger (if using) and sprinkles, and gently press them into the candy coating. Drizzle with the reserved ¼ cup of candy coating. Let stand until set, and then break into pieces. Store covered for up to 2 weeks.

Norwegian Chocolate Chip Cookies

2015 Christmas Cookie Countdown - Day 1

Are you ready for Christmas? Me? Not quite. I still have a few gifts to buy, menus to plan, and my daughter isn’t home from college yet, but I’m getting there. I have been making cookies, and that always helps me feel more prepared. I missed doing the Christmas Cookie Countdown last year, but I’m ready to get started again (I did bake cookies last year, so my family didn’t go without. I just didn’t have the capacity to blog).

Norwegian Chocolate Chip Cookies start off 2015’s Christmas Cookie Countdown. I was looking for a recipe that reminded me of Grandmother’s brand of Angel Chocolate Chip cookies. I found this recipe in the Taste of Home Cookie Magazine, and I made them for the first time last year. This recipe wasn’t quite what I was looking for, but I loved them anyway (maybe even more than the Grandmother’s).

Norwegian Chocolate Chip Cookies are tender and light, and the flavor of the cinnamon-sugar topping with the chocolate chips create a perfect cookie to enjoy with coffee or tea.

Check out 2013’s Christmas Cookie Countdown for more cookie ideas.

Norwegian Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Taste of Home Cookies and Candies
Printable Recipe

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups plus 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
 ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and add the vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Gradually beat into the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Divide the dough into quarters. On a lightly floured surface, roll each quarter into a 15-inch rope. Place two ropes on each lined baking sheet 4 inches apart. Flatten each rope with a fork to ¼ inch thickness. Mix the cinnamon and the remaining sugar, and sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the mixture over each of the flattened cookie ropes.

Bake 15-17 minutes or until the edges are light brown. Cool on pans for 2 minutes, and then immediately cut each rectangle cross way into 1-inch slices. Remove to wire racks to cool.