Other Christmas Cookies

Today was cookie making day at our house. The biggest girl helped add the ingredients to the mixer while the littlest girl screamed in protest that she was not able to eat the dough or even reach the mixer. We had fun to say the least.

We made three different kinds of cookies...all types that I have never made before for Christmas, two of which I have never made at all before. They have all been tasted and passed with flying colors!

The first cookie we made was the Homemade Oreos which you can find at Smitten Kitchen and my tips in this post.

The other two I found in my current issue of Ladies Home Journal. (I have no idea how I got a subscription to. It comes in my name but I never paid for one. It is not a magazine I would generally look at but it's free and it comes to my mailbox.)

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (found on a Betty Crocker advertisement in the magazine)
1 pouch or box of sugar cookie mix
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 t. mint extract
6-8 drops green food coloring
1 egg
1 c. creme de menthe baking chips (***see note below)
1. c. semisweet chocolate chunks

Mix cookie mix, butter, extract, food coloring and egg in bowl, until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks. Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Makes 36 cookies.

***I could not find creme de menthe baking chips so I bough a box of Andes chocolate mints, unwrapped them (with the help of two beautiful little girls), and chopped them up.

White Chocolate Thumbprints
2 2/3 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 large egg
1 t. vanilla extract
9 oz. white chocolate, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour and salt. In another bowl beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium high until fluffy, about 4 min. then beat in egg and vanilla. On low speed, stir in flour mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 1/2 hours. Roll 1 inch balls of dough and place 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Flatten each ball slightly; using your finger or a round half teaspoon, make an indentation in the center of each. Bake cookies about 15 minutes until cooked through but not golden. Re-indent center if needed and cool on baking sheets. Melt chocolate in 15 second increments in the microwave, stirring between each pass until just melted, 1 - 2 minutes total. Spoon white chocolate into cookie indents. Let set about 1 hour. Makes 5 1/2 dozen.

***I also sprinkled green and red sugar on the white chocolate before it set. They look really pretty with that.

So...go bake! YUM!