cookie recipe

December 16: Sugar Cookies

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These are the best damn sugar cookies you’ll ever have.

What makes me so confident? I’ve had a lot of cookies. I’ve run a cookie blog for 8 years. I’m not exactly the 120 lb. daughter my mother always wanted, and I can tell you, I didn’t get this way eating salads. I’ve conducted sugar cookie research I didn’t even know I was doing, since I was 8 years-old.

As far as Christmas cookies go, they are number 1. Fight me bro. What makes them so good are the combination of both vanilla and almond extracts.

Jessica’s Best Sugar Cookies

  • 1 1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar
  • 1 c. butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1/2 t. almond extract
  • 2 1/2 c. flour
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1 t. cream of tartar

Directions

  1. 1. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in egg and extracts. Blend dry ingredients and stir in.
  2. 2. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Divide dough in half and roll out. Cut out desired shapes.
  3. 3. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes.

My little buddy Emmett again helped me with these cookies, since my own kids are large and old and mostly uninterested in cookie decorating these days. Emmett’s dad is one of my very best friends, and has been for 30 years. So when I need an expert kid cookie-decorator, Emmett is my go-to kid.

Emmett did a great job with decorating and saying please and thank yiu and also showing off his reading skills by taking his turn reading Christmas trivia to us.

I made these before Emmett and his chauffeur, I mean Dad, came over, just so we’d have more time to decorate them.

The day Emmett and his dad come over to do Christmas cookies is my favorite cookie day of the year. Maybe we can even do it twice this year. Love this kiddo, and his dad is pretty okay too.

December 15: 1-2-3 Cookies

Sweetened Condensed Milk Cookies
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We’re over the halfway point now. Am I sick of cookies yet? I wouldn’t say that. I’m not exactly excited by them, but I’m not dreading them. It also helps that my work told us we could work from home for awhile–since last week–and that means I can make dough at lunch, which definitely helps my motivation!

Today I did another new recipe, though I’ve seen them on Christmas cookie platters since I was an off-key kid singing at a Christmas pageant. I just didn’t know what they were called.

They are so easy, I feel dumb that I’ve never made them before!

1-2-3 Cookies

  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1/2 c. cold butter, cubed
  • 1/4 c. Sweetened Condensed Milk
  1. In a mixing bowl rub the flour and butter until it resembles a wet sand like texture.
  2. Add the condensed milk and combine to form a dough. If the dough feels sticky then feel free to add additional tbsp of flour to make it into a cookie dough.
  3. Using a tbsp as the measurement, take out the portion of dough, shape it into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
  4. Using the back of your tsp make a well in the center of the cookie dough. Smooth any cracks if any.
  5. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 350 for 8 to 10 mins until the bottom of the cookie is golden brown and the top is pale in color.
  6. Once baked and still warm fill it with condensed milk or whatever filling you want
  7. Let the cookies cool completely and then transfer to an air tight container and store for 1 week at room temperature.

I like condensed milk as much as the next person, but what I remember as a kid was that these were filled with chocolate. I melted some chocolate chips and mixed it with a little sweetened condensed milk and it’s yummy. I also did some with the sweetened condensed milk alone too.

Sweetened Condensed milk

I made these two hours ago, and I think I’m down to five. Kids say the cats like them. I think they might be telling me stories. But then I saw my 25lb cat licking his chops, so maybe they are telling the truth…

December 14: Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

best christmas cookies ever
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I realized I haven’t added as many new cookies to my rotation this year, so I went to the Google machine to look up some more creative Christmas cookies.

I found a list of like 25 Christmas Cookies You HAVE to Make Right Now or You Will Die a Painful Slow Death at the Hands of a Marketing Assistant Whose Job Depends on You Clicking The Link.

I’m in marketing. While that may not have actually been the list’s name, it’s the subtle subtext around it.

So I clicked. (Side note: it’s a shallow life goal to be included on one of these lists someday.)

And that’s where I found today’s beauty. Well, I found it on that list, but then went to the real site.

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

  • 1/2 c. butter softened
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
  • 2/3 c. cocoa
  • 1/4 t. salt
  • 1/4 t. baking powder
  • 1/4 t. baking soda
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  • 2 t. cherry juice (from maraschino cherry jar)
  • 30–36 jarred maraschino cherries
  • 1/4 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 T. sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 T. cherry juice (from maraschino cherry jar)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cream butter and both sugars with mixer. Add eggs one at a time and mix in.
  3. Combine flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add 1/2 cup dry mixture to butter mixture at a time. Blending after each addition just until combined and scraping side of mixer bowl as needed. Add vanilla and 2 teaspoons cherry juice and mix just until combined. Remove bowl from mixer and refrigerate for 30 minutes
  4. Butter hands and roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Using thumb press small indentation in center of cookie and place maraschino cherry in hole.
  5. Bake for 10 minutes.
  6. Melt chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk on low. When melted add 1 tablespoon cherry juice. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

I was intrigued by the ingredient list. I like cherries. I like chocolate. I like sweetened condensed milk, and I wanted to see what a recipe was like that called for salt, baking powder, and baking soda all at once, that wasn’t me at 8 years-old “making” my own recipe.

Penzey's Cocoa
Shout out to Penzey’s once again!
chocolate cherry cookies

In the interest of time, I’ll tell you. It turned out pretty darn well.

Now, as for that Marketing Assistant whose job I saved (and ultimately did not have to kill me), how about a little gratitude and include me on a cookie list?