One of the many things I love about the Christmas season is the excuse to bake all kinds of delicious treats. There are holiday events that are just begging for baked goods, Jarrod's office to surprise with cookies, and my annual gift of treat plates to the neighbors. And the base hosts a Cookie Caper homemade cookie drive each December for the single airmen living in the dorms. I bake more in December than the entire rest of the year put together and I love it!
I made these triple chocolate cookies with cream cheese/white chocolate/peppermint frosting (and a crushed candy cane garnish) for the gingerbread house decorating gala we attended this weekend. The cookies are so rich and chocolate-y and the frosting is aboslutely sinful. I had to force myself to stop swiping little (i.e. huge) fingerfuls from the leftover frosting in the bowl as I was cleaning up. I made these pretty much as the recipe called for, but I used a little more cream cheese and added some mint extract to the frosting. I used Ghirardelli semisweet and 60% cacao baking chips, which are my favorite chocolate chips. They always appear at the commissary around Christmastime and I stock up so I'll have them on hand all year!
These almond-raspberry thumbprint cookies, which I made for the Cookie Caper cookie drive, were also a winner. The recipe calls for ground hazelnuts but I had three half-full pouches of slivered almonds in my pantry and thought I'd use those up instead. These were really yummy and fun to make, and they'll probably be awarded a spot on the the neighbor cookie plates this year. I think I'll increase the spice level a bit on the second go-round, though.
Happy baking!
Happy baking!
Ummmm, yum! I wish I lived next to you so I could get some of those tasty looking cookies.
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