Best Christmas Cookies of 2016

Baking has always been such a comfort to me. Throughout the year, I bake everything from bread to candies. But what I’m best known for are my cookies. Especially at Christmas time. I love to see the look on the faces of my family and friends when they bite into a delicious cookie. The accompanying “mmm” is music to my ears and when they reach for another and another my heart sings George Strait’s song “Christmas Cookies.”

     However, I have to be honest. I have not come up with all the cookie recipes on my own. Over the years, I have tried and found many different cookie recipes that have worked their way into my repertoire of holiday offerings. Today, I will be highlighting the cookies that get the biggest reactions from my loved ones. The best part about these recipes are that they are all simple (great for beginners!) and budget friendly. So, let’s get started with the best Christmas cookies of 2016!

     Let’s start with the most basic (and essential) cookie recipe there is the chocolate chip cookie. Now there are two schools of thought on this confection. There are those of us who like them with walnuts and those of us who shun the addition of the walnuts. I fall into the second category. But a really good cookie recipe leaves room for you to make either one (or, as is the case in my family, both.) My go-to recipe comes from one of the most trusted names in the baking industry: Ghirardelli.

     While the Ghirardelli chocolate chip is a little more expensive than that of their competitors, I can assure you that it is worth the few extra pennies. Their chocolate chips make all the difference and create a recipe that I have witnessed full-grown burly men actually squeal when taking that initial bite. Word to the wise: when you bake these, make more than one batch. They go faster than you can imagine!

     Another Christmas cookie staple is the old-fashioned sugar cookie. The modern-day sugar cookie can be traced back to the mid-1700s. In Nazareth, Pennsylvania, German Protestants settlers created this round buttery cookie which was believed to have derived from an unleavened European cookie known as a “jumble.” On September 5, 2001, it became the official cookie of Commonwealth Pennsylvania. But you don’t have to be from Pennsylvania to love a good sugar cookie. The recipe I use (another one that has caused the elusive squeal of the burly giants) comes from Food Network. The beauty of this recipe is that you can choose to make it with or without the royal icing (I tend to make them without because they are delicious enough on their own without the extra icing.)   

     Peanut butter cookies are another crowd favorite during this time of the year. This particular recipe began as a recipe that one of my former workers gave to me during a cookie swap one year. Over the years, I have mildly tweaked it to create a fantastic incomparable peanut butter cookie that flies off the plate as soon as I sit it down. Tip: I always roll mine in the additional sugar. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

•    1/2 cup of butter flavored shortening (I like Crisco)

•    1/2 cup of peanut butter (I like Jif Natural Peanut Butter)

•    1-1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

•    1/2 cup of sugar

•    1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

•    1 egg

•    1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

•    1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

•    1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions:

1.   Beat the butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.

2.   Add half cup of flour, sugar, brown sugar, egg, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla extract.

3.   Beat until thoroughly combined.

4.   Beat in remaining flour.

5.   If necessary, cover dough with plastic wrap and chill until it is easy to handle.

6.   Shape dough into 1 inch balls.

7.   If desired roll in additional sugar.

8.   Place dough pieces 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

9.   Flatten by crisscrossing with tines of a fork.

10.  Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

     

       My next recipe happens to be a personal favorite in my household. It comes from the culinary masters at Taste of Home. The cookie has a secret ingredient that adds not only delicious flavor but also a wonderful crunch texture. What is that ingredient you ask? Crisp rice cereal. I like to use Rice Krispies.

     Rice Krispies were first produced in 1928. When Kellogg’s noted the infamous snapping, crackling, and popping noises that the cereal made when milk was poured on it the “Snap. Crackle. Pop” slogan was born.  Illustrator Vernon Grant created the fairies of the same names that were originally mentioned in the jingle that sang out “"Listen to the fairy song of health, the merry chorus sung by Kellogg's Rice Krispies as they merrily snap, crackle, and pop in a bowl of milk. If you've never heard food talking, now's your chance!”

     But what kind of cookie could utilize cereal as a main ingredient? The answer is simple. Yuletide Cherry Cookies. The combinations of flavors (cream cheese, maraschino cherries, rice cereal, and almond extract) make this my all-time favorite cookie recipe. Not only is this cookie festively flavored, but it also gives your table a pop of the infamous Christmas time red color.

     Lastly, another of my tried and true recipes comes from a fellow blogger. 

ASouthernFairyTale.com has created a cookie that is an amalgam of chocolate and peppermint flavor that is to die for. What makes it even better: it’s a no bake recipe that has crushed up cookies in it! The website’s recipe for Oreo Peppermint Bark is always a favorite cookie when you are short on time. The use of multiple types of chocolate combined with Oreos and peppermint candies (I usually use the mini candy canes) is perfect to make with children. It’s simple, affordable, and out of this world in the flavor department.

     But enough about my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. I want to know what some of your favorite cookies are. Feel free to comment below and tell me what cookies your friends and families go crazy for every year.