The holidays are abuzz with excitement, from decorating, shopping, to holiday events but few hold as much anticipation for my family as a holiday table, laden with treats! It simply brings out the child in everyone.
What Christmas would be complete without cookies…sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, gingerbread, cookies of every kind? I’m sure your family has their favorites so instead of rehashing old recipes, I’ll simply offer a few tips and tricks.
Tip: When using cookie cutters, etched rolling pins or molds, omit the leaveners like baking powder and soda. The cookie will taste just as great but will also hold its pristine shape.
Decorating cookies with royal icing can be daunting as royal icing can be tricky. If you aren’t up for the battle, try using candy melts instead. They come in various flavors and colors, easy to color yourself and sets quickly. Simply melt in the microwave and scoop into a piping bag. No piping bag? Scoop the candie melts into a ziplock bag and clip the corner. Another great way to decorate cookies is to microwave a container of frosting. It’ll melt into a ganache consistancy for easy piping or pouring.
Speaking of leaving out the leavening agents from cookie recipes and using candy melts, another fun twist is lining a popover tin with cookie dough to form cups. I found this idea on pinterest and it works like a charm! I used chocolate chip cookie dough and after baking, lined the cups with melted chocolate candy melts. When serving, I filled the cups with cold milk for the kiddies and Rum Chata for the adults. If you leave cookies & milk out for Santa, why not try this idea?
Another holiday favorite both at home and among my husbands work mates, who begged me for it each year, is Baklava. The delicate pastry and spiced nuts, soaked in a light honeyed syrup is irresistible!
Baklava
1 lb nuts, chopped. Pecans, walnuts or mixed nuts.
1 tsp ground cinnamon
16 oz package phyllo dough.
1 cup butter, melted.
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1⁄2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest, grated
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.
Toss together cinnamon and nuts. Unroll phyllo and cut whole stack in half to fit the dish. Cover phyllo with a damp cloth while assembling the baklava, to keep it from drying out.
Place two sheets of phyllo in the bottom of the prepared dish. Brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons of the nut mixture on top. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, ending with about 6 sheets of phyllo. Using a sharp knife, cut baklava (all the way through to the bottom of the dish) into four long rows, then (nine times) diagonally to make 36 diamond shapes.
Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes, until golden and crisp.
While baklava is baking, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir in honey, vanilla and lemon zest, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
Remove the baklava from the oven and immediately spoon the syrup over it. Let cool completely before serving. Store uncovered.
At our house, a Christmas without fudge would be something near a cardinal sin but the same old chocolate fudge, peanutbutter fudge and double decker fudge combining the two can become (at least for me) boring. I wanted something different and that captured the colors and flavors of the season. The perfect answer is …
White Chocolate Cranberry Fudge
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
¾ c sour cream (not light)
½ cup unsalted butter
½ tsp salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla extract (clear vanilla extract if you want whiter fudge)
1 (5 oz) bag dried cranberries (Craisins)
1/2 – 1 c. Chopped nuts (Optional)
Instructions
Line a 9×13 baking dish with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.
Combine sugar, sour cream, butter and salt in a heavy 2 qt saucepan. Bring mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, to soft ball stage (238 degrees).
Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until fully melted. This will take a few minutes. Stir in the marshmallow creme and vanilla extract until smooth and blended.
Stir in dried cranberries until evenly distributed and nuts if preferred. Pour into the baking dish, cool to room temperature.
Chill in refrigerator for several hours before cutting into squares, Store in an airtight container.
With all these lovely desserts gracing the table, you may think our holiday baking is complete…but, what about the chocolate lovers? Surely a mere cookie would not do, at least not in this family! My answer is a …
Chocolate Crack Pie!
Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Melt butter in large, microwave safe bowl. Add sugar to melted butter and use a hand mixer or whisk to combine until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add additional ingredients and beat or whisk until well blended.
Pour into pie crust and bake about 25-40 minutes, or until center is set and toothpick has gooey wet crumbs and the top had a nice crackly crust. After cooking, place a paper daily, place or cookie cutters on top and dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream or cooled with whipped cream.
Now for the cake!
Any of your favorite cake flavors will do. For mine, I made a spice cake with real buttercream frosting. I’m not huge on a heavily frosted cake so I created a “Naked Cake” by scraping down the sides to allow the layers to peek through then drizzled it with caramel. The cookies were a basic sugar cookie recipe with leaveners withheld to ensure the shapes but with the addition of cinnamon for color. I decorated the cookies and attached popsicle sticks to the backs with while chocolate.
Enjoy!
What are some of your families favorite holiday treats?
I’ll have 50 of each, please! Do you need my address? ;>)
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😂🤣😂🤣 You do have a sweet tooth!
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My boyfriend made me a homemade strawberries and crème cake for my birthday. Homemade whipped cream is my favorite. For Christmas my Ma bakes all kinds of goodies. She’s a cookie lover. I love cake 🤓😂 not big fans of pie. Anything caramel and green apple, we attempt. Banana nut bread is a given. She finds new amazing recipes every year to try.
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Isn’t that so wonderful? It just makes the occadions and holidays so special and these will be the memories that last forever💕
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Wow 🤩 that’s truly awesome! Time to enter a holiday baking show!! Netflix is calling!!! Looks awesome!!
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🤣😂🤣😂 The kitchen is my playground! Lol
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They look incredibly delicious!!
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Awww…thank you so much, Amy!💕
Ps. Tried your pumpkin rigatoni….smash hit!!! Yum 😊
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Can you believe I’ve never had a snickerdoodle?
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What!!!!!! No way! Cinnamony sugar cookie! You’ve got to hunt some of these down or make some, fresh and still warm from the oven. Delightful!
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I was hoping you could email me some out of the kindness of your heart lol!!
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🤣 They just wouldn’t taste as good!
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Chocolate crack pie…oh my gosh and the Baklava 😋 Saving this for future reference!
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Those are my most requested sweets during the holidays. Even Clay’s colleague’s at work would beg me to send them to work with him. Lol Truly yummy! Enjoy!
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Hi Laura. Everything looks so yummy! Homemade peanut brittle is a family favorite here. The other very simple one that everyone loves is rice crispy treats – drizzled with chocolate of course. Thanks for the recipes. 🙂
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Love rice crispy treats. I cannot imagine why I haven’t had one in years! Though….omgoodness, peanut brittle is THE BEST! I had a recipe where I could make it very quickly and easily in the microwave! Confession: My first try was an epic failure when I place the ingredients into a…get this, A PLASTIC BOWL!!!! You’ve probably guessed what happened. Yes it did melt the bowl and created a colossal mess! HAHAHAHA
Second attempt ( in a glass bowl of course) worked out fantastically!
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LOL! Chalk that up to LESSON LEARNED.
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[…] via A Holiday Sweet tooth […]
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Oh my goodness, your house is a GIANT Gingerbread house in person. Yummy on everything. Love how you put cookies on the cakes, what a creative way to decorate.
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Um, I have to be creative because I’m not a great piper! Really I haven’t actually tried much with piping though…maybe I’m just lazy! Lol pretty ok with fondant, pretty but…I dont really care for the taste of it.
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I love sugar and gingerbread cookies around the holidays. The cookie dough cups with chocolate look delicious. I will have to give them a try. If you wanted some healthy holiday baking tips check out my recent holiday post ☺️ https://thedietduchess.com/2018/12/10/bake-like-a-boss-this-holiday-season/
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Thank you so much! 💕
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omg – homemade fudge, baklava … yes. Yes, please! Thanks for the recipes. I predict this will be made in my kitchen!
I have a question about your cookie dough form cups though. Yours are so perfect while I always manage to break mine when trying to take them out of the pan. I find them very fragile and don’t come out easily.
What are you doing with yours that they come out so perfectly?
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I’m trying to think this through…maybe bake a bit longer ? Cookie still a bit soft? Or removing from the pan? I let mine cool in the pan for about 5 min then lift out. If you flip them out, set a platter over them then flip the pan so the don’t drop? Be sure not to grease the pan though. Wish we were in the kitchen baking them together. We could figure this out. Lol
Maybe try to coat them with chocolate while in the pan for extra support?
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Do not grease the pan? Really? hmmm – maybe this is my problem!!
… but I do love the idea of coating them in chocolate for ‘support’. Yum 🙂
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Oh yes, the cookie dough is already so butter / fat rich that you shouldn’t need to grease the pan. Totally theorizing of course on the crumble problem but I’m liking the chocolate coating solution too….though it may just be that I like chocolate A LOT. Lol
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Amen to chocolate!
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Oh my goodness! This looks absolutely divine!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing the recipes!
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Oh thank you so much! They say that breaking bread together makes good friends but I think cooking together makes even better ones. 😊💕
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❤ I agree- I feel that way every time my siblings and I cook together with mom and dad. 🙂
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[…] A Holiday Sweet tooth on All The Shoes I Wear […]
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Kristian, I am completely honored! Thank you so much! I totally Agree with you on what this award should stand for. Bravo and…congratulations! You deserve it!💕
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You may have seen my gingerbread man cookies in my blog. I love to bake at Christmastime! I need to try those cups. I don’t own a popover tin though.
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I’m going to pop over and check out those gingerbread men! Wondering if you could improvise with a muffin tin with a foil collar to make taller????
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Hmm, I may have to try that!
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this all looks so amazing, Laura! Unfortunately, I can’t eat any of it due to allergies, but I recently made a really good batch of gluten-free date squares.
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That sounds delish! I think there is a niche for recipes that are gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, etc and more would try them and enjoy if we got the recipes from people we know who’ve tried them and give them a thumbs up, first. It’s just out of our experience pool so we’re less likely to risk it but when a friend says it’s great, we’d give them a go. You know?
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That’s true. So much of what is out there is not good. I think I found the recipe on line though – although couldn’t tell you where, lol.
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Hi Laura.
Some wonderful recipes there. Thankyou.
What is a snickerdoodle?
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Hi! Thank you so much!
A snickerdoodle is sort of a sugar cookie that’s rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. Pretty delightful.
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Now that sounds good.
My favourite vape flavour is cinnamon. They have to get it in especially for me. I’m the only customer that they have who likes it.
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Hey! I vape too! I wonder if any of my shops carry it? I’m crushing on pear right now but cinnamon sounds delightful.
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It’s beautiful. I mix it with menthol. I didn’t like the pear I tried before, but each brands flavours are so different.
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You know what I love about you? Baklava is one of those things that in my mind I’d need to go to Chef school for.
But you just put it out so merry, like, “Of course you can do this!”
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😂 I honestly thought the same thing! Really about almost everything I make. Funny thing is….once I tried it, I was like ” WHAT!!! I have got to tell my friends how easy that was!” Lol
They’re all so much easier than one might think….of course you can! 💕
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That was my reaction too! Phyllo scares me.
Now I’m thinking … maybe … I could do this.
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YOU CAN DO THIS! It’s so easy!
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Wow, balaclava! I love balaclava.
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Ahhh…me too! When people say they dont like it, I have to look at them all crazy. Lol
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The perfect texture the perfect level of sweetness. What’s not to love?
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I concur!
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I like baileys fudge, rum and raisin fudge and eggnog fudge! I make a TON of cookies, pies and cakes including a couple of cheesecakes because my family are pigs!
I love baklava and Turkish delight 😊
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Whoa! Britchy does fudge! I’d never even heard of those! But, do you know I tried rum raisin ice cream for the first time while in Ireland? Divine! Oh I bet the fudge is tops! Clay is a huge cheese cake fan. His favorite is a triple chocolate one I make but wow is it rich!
I’d fit right in with your family. Oink! Oink! Lol
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And you have a standing invitation! I’ll make you my rum and raisin fudge And Cheesecake with rum and raisin sauce 😊
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Whoohoo!! Happy dance!
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Baileys fudge sounds wonderful!
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I love Baklava 😋
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😊
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I forgot to mention the Baklava–ooh, I’d love to live next door!! There’s nothing else like it!
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Isn’t it marvelous! I have no idea why I only make it on holidays!
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Well, it kinda deserves to be saved for special occasions–it’s so exquisite! I always order it on my rare occasions “out” 🙂
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Wow, I’m astounded! I don’t go for “dazzle”, just the tried and true, plain things. I have a fudge recipe I call “Cheater Fudge” because everyone loves it, and they don’t believe I’m not standing over a hot stove, laboring to make it…it’s just too easy, and tastes great 🙂 Your things all look so pretty–presentation is everything, yes? If you’re feeling up to it later on, I’d be interested in seeing your fudge recipes 🙂 I do hope and pray you’re feeling improved ❤
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Slaving in the kitchen is just part of my holiday giving, my gift to my family and friends….the presentation on the other hand us a smoke screen…magic. when I see something beautiful and think… “wow! I couldn’t make that!” But, discover that it’s actually much easier than I thought! The presentation makes the simply appear WOW! LOL
now a cheaters fudge? That sounds like a recipe one definitely needs on hand for unexpected get togethers and last minute guests!
I’ll certainly gather some fudge recipes together for you.
I actually felt a bit better this morning and much of the day. The glands under my jaw and down my neck are starting to hurt again this evening but I think I’m slowly recovering at last!
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Oh I’m SO glad to hear your health report, dear heart–just don’t overdo while you’re improving, promise?! I’ll post the Cheater Fudge–you’ll probably laugh, as it’s Sooooo not what you’re presenting here!
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Here’s the Cheater Fudge:
https://vigilhours.com/2018/12/09/cheater-fudge/
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Omgosh! Thank you so much!!!!💕
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You are most welcome–feeling better? ❤
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I felt a little better yesterday for the first time then even better today. Believing I’m finally on the upswing. Thank you so much for asking!💕
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Oh, this is good news! You’ll be tip-top by Christmas Eve 🙂 ❤
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I had Bakalava on my Birtbday this week. So delish!! That White chocolate cranberry fudge sounds very good!!
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Laura!! All of those look amazing! I’ll take a dozen of each lol!!
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🤣💕
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I never cared for sweets… but as get old(er) I can eat my body weight in sweets now…
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Hahaha I have times where I’ll still have Valentine’s candy left from the year before and then times that I can’t get enough. I just roll with it. Hahaha
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I don’t judge you!
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🤣🤣🤣
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