Christmas Cookie Exchange

We decided to start a new Christmas tradition in our new home, a cookie exchange. We do do a lot of entertaining this time of year, but mostly in the fall. We both felt a Christmas cookie exchange would be a fun thing to do as a family. And as Oscar grows older had an help prepare cookies and invite his friends down the road to be a part of it all.  

Holly and I each came up with a new recipe to share. It was fun perusing many cookbooks and looking online. I decided to to a traditional chocolate chip cookie, but added a bunch of toffee bits and pretzel chunks into the batter. It came out to be a nice salty-sweet concoction.

Holly made a really rich & dark chocolate cookie with chunks of peppermint and white chocolate chunks in it. The fun thing about a cookie exchange is you can try all sorts of new things and add some new recipes to your cooking repertoire.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Holly Craven

1-1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 ounces good quality semi sweet chocolate coarsely chopped

4 to 6 ounces peppermint chunks (such as Andes baking pieces)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1-1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla or pure peppermint extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Melt the 4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate with the butter in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Let it cool slightly.

Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs and extract in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce the speed to low and gradually fold in the flour mixture. Fold in the peppermint chunks.

Using a 1-1/2 inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto silpat or parchment lined baking sheets spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces are cracked, about 15 minutes. Cookies should be soft. Let cool on parchment lined wire racks to prevent sticking.

Cookies can be stored between parchment layers in an airtight container. Best if eaten within 3 days, or frozen.

Yields 2 to 2.5 dozen cookies. 

Pretzel Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Dan Craven

2-½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1/2 to 3/4 cup toffee bits (such as Skor baking pieces)

1 cup roughly chopped pretzel chunks

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. In mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter till light and creamy. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add dry ingredients ¼ cup at a time until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips, toffee bits and pretzel chunks. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto Silpat lined baking sheet.

Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield 4-dozen cookies. 

With our house full of friends old and new, I also made a big batch of Aztec Hot Chocolate. This was pretty much milk & cream based, with spices and some chopped-melted chocolate to the simmering milk.

Lastly I made a big pitcher of Cranberry Shrub. Holly and I both like Cranberry Shrub, and it stems to our time we spend in Williamsburg, VA. We honeymooned there, as well as spending our 10th Anniversary there. Many of the traditional tavern recipes can be enjoyed in King's Arms Tavern, or Christiana Campbell's Tavern to name a few. Cranberry Shrub traditionally is spiked with your liquor of choice, but we typically make it alcohol free. It's a very tart & refreshing combination of 100% juices and lots and lots of fresh lime juice. It was a fun new tradition to start and we look forward to doing this in the years to come.