Christmas cookies

[putnam6]

reminds me of SNL's Pete Schweddy's Chocolate Balls or Grandma Dusty Muffins

And I try to stay away from sugar, but damn

My sister does crock pot chocolate peanut butter with dry roasted Planters peanuts and pretzels clusters, and they are so smooth and chocolately sweet and salty, they are beyond and have replaced her almost famous chocolate-covered peanut butter balls.

I had to put some away or I'd eat them all before the football games on New Year's day. Pretty much like I have to do with her souped-up and boosted Chex Mix with double Worcestershire and butter, etc it is essentially a heart attack in zip lock bag.

[argentus]

I'm going to make Christmas cookies and thought I'd share recipes here. Please share yours or what adjustments you would make!

Pepperment Meringue Cookies

2 egg whites at room temperature
⅛ tsp salt
⅛ tsp cream of tarter
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
3 tbsp crushed candy cane

Heat oven to 250°. Place egg whites in small bowl and beat at high speed until foamy. Add salt and cream of tarter and continue beating until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition. When meringue is stiff and white, fold in vanilla, chocolate chips, nuts, and candy by hand. Drop by tsp onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack, store in airtight container. Make 5 dozen.

I don't like mint, and really, really hate candy canes, but I know my sugarpiehoneybunch would love your recipe, so I have saved it.    Tomorrow I am roasting a local chicken with mashed taters and drippings gravy and fried chayote, Caribbean sweet potato and grilled snow peas.  My mother is making her extra extravagant double chocolate/pecan/blueberry brownies.    The brownies are habit-forming.

[UltraBudgie]

I don't like mint, and really, really hate candy canes, but I know my sugarpiehoneybunch would love your recipe, so I have saved it.    Tomorrow I am roasting a local chicken with mashed taters and drippings gravy and fried chayote, Caribbean sweet potato and grilled snow peas.  My mother is making her extra extravagant double chocolate/pecan/blueberry brownies.    The brownies are habit-forming.

Yes, they are essentially a sugar-delivery vehicle. Normally, an extremely evil thing, but since they're Christmas cookies the Jesus makes it okay. I'm about to make them tonight, I just got the eggs out of the fridge to warm up. I got mini chocolate chips for them, as I've found that works better than full-sized ones. I wonder if I can just make them on baking parchment rather than a greased cookie sheet? I'll find out!

I am also going to make grilled chicken with a mustard-lemon¹ pan sauce tonight, and beef stew tomorrow. Got 4lb of some really nice looking rump roast. I found some decent looking Italian sourdough bread to go with the stew; hopefully without bromic acid or weird gluten or folic acid or glyphosate or whatever the heck it is that makes most bread give me stomach knots in recent years. I'll test it with some butter and cheese tonight to be sure.

Dang I love grilled snow peas. I bet that chicken you're doing is going to be awesome.


¹ Aw crud I just realized I forgot to get capers. Oh well, I'll just add more butter to substitute.

[argentus]

Yes, they are essentially a sugar-delivery vehicle. Normally, an extremely evil thing, but since they're Christmas cookies the Jesus makes it okay. I'm about to make them tonight, I just got the eggs out of the fridge to warm up. I got mini chocolate chips for them, as I've found that works better than full-sized ones. I wonder if I can just make them on baking parchment rather than a greased cookie sheet? I'll find out!

I am also going to make grilled chicken with a mustard-lemon pan sauce tonight, and beef stew tomorrow. Got 4lb of some really nice looking rump roast. I found some decent looking Italian sourdough bread to go with the stew; hopefully without bromic acid or weird gluten or folic acid or glyphosate or whatever the heck it is that makes most bread give me stomach knots in recent years. I'll test it with some butter and cheese tonight to be sure.

Dang I love grilled snow peas. I bet that chicken you're doing is going to be awesome.

I forgot to mention that I am also making American biscuits.  Your grilled chicken sounds awesome.  The key (imo) to grilled snow peas is to drizzle in a little toasted sesame oil and grated fresh ginger.

I have fresh cilantro which I am going to chop and combine with toasted garlic and butter and orange zest and ease it under the skin of the chicken and slather it on top of the chicken.   It will make a deliciously crusty skin.

[rickymouse]

For chocolate chip cookies, I haven't found better that the recipe on the Nestlé packet. Although sometimes I will make them with Ghirardelli chocolate chips. I'm from a timeline where it was spelled "Ghiradeli", so perhaps the Mandela Effect adds extra flavour.

Do you have a recipe for ginger snaps? I've always wanted to make them! I like the Swedish kind, a little spicy with chunks of actual ginger.

Is the recipe still on the Nestle chocolate chip bag?  They took it off most of the chocolate chip bags now, so we had to go online to one of the chocolate chip companies and write it down now and put it into our cook book with our favorite recipes.  It sucks that they took the plain old cookie recipes off of the bags.

[UltraBudgie]

Is the recipe still on the Nestle chocolate chip bag?  They took it off most of the chocolate chip bags now, so we had to go online to one of the chocolate chip companies and write it down now and put it into our cook book with our favorite recipes.  It sucks that they took the plain old cookie recipes off of the bags.

I don't know but I just looked it up too, because I bought weird-brand chocolate chips today (Guittard? Hope they're good). Here it is for posterity:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 375°. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9-11 minutes, switching racks halfway through. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool. Makes 5 dozen cookies.

[rickymouse]

I don't know but I just looked it up too, because I bought weird-brand chocolate chips today (Guittard? Hope they're good). Here it is for posterity:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 375°. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9-11 minutes, switching racks halfway through. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool. Makes 5 dozen cookies.

Those are pretty good chips, we get them sometimes, and buy the baking chocolate in that brand usually.

I always put about half the baking soda in with the other half being baking powder, it makes the cookies a little crumblier instead of chewy.  The wife likes the chewy ones but I would rather have them so they do not have to be dunked.  We use the aluminum free baking powder too, it reduces my risk of my immune system going wild...aluminum is a neuro-excitant.  I try to buy things without any alluminum in mixes too, especially the biscuit mixes.  Being I have so much autoimmune issues in my family history, I actually notice it reduces the symptoms since I stopped the aluminum in cooking and in the pickles.  The allum in pickles is really a problem, but there are some brands without much of it and organic pickles we buy have none.

I definitely noticed the difference when I got away from the aluminum in foods.

[UltraBudgie]

Ah-ha! I was wondering what the difference between baking soda and baking powder did. I'll try that! Fortunately the baking powder I have is "aluminum free". I don't know why one would want aluminum in it?

Peanut butter cookies turned out great. The trick is to bake them just enough that the top begins to crack, but not too much. The squish/wiggle the kiss down on top so anchors a bit. The meringues turned out okay, too—crispy, not chewy, which is how it should be. But I still need practice getting the peaks on them to form. It's tricky!

[argentus]

Ah-ha! I was wondering what the difference between baking soda and baking powder did. I'll try that! Fortunately the baking powder I have is "aluminum free". I don't know why one would want aluminum in it?

Peanut butter cookies turned out great. The trick is to bake them just enough that the top begins to crack, but not too much. The squish/wiggle the kiss down on top so anchors a bit. The meringues turned out okay, too—crispy, not chewy, which is how it should be. But I still need practice getting the peaks on them to form. It's tricky!

Yes, I'd like the baking powder with extra aluminium please.   It makes my crisps crunchy.

[quintessentone]

@UltraBudgie...is this what will happen if I put candy cane pieces in my cookie dough to bake? lol