92 Days

I'm taking a break from my holiday baking to update! Sorry for the lack of pictures. I keep waiting for the opportunity to take pictures of the lights on the outside of our house, but Jon hasn't finished putting them up yet. I'm hoping that the weather will be decent tomorrow and he can finish because they look a little silly only half done :p It's just hard for him to get to it since it's usually too dark by the time he gets off work. He has 24 hour duty until 7am tomorrow so it's just Arianna and I. She took a 2 hour nap pretty late in the day so I don't think she's going to be ready for bed any time soon. I let her sleep because I wanted to get most of my baking done today. Here's what I've got so far:

Frosted Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 package (3oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3 cups all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
Royal icing
Decorative sugar crystals

1. In a large bowl, beat butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in flour and salt until blended. Cover and refrigerate dough at least 2 hours, but no longer than 24

2. Heat oven to 375F. On lightly floured cloth covered surface, roll 1/4 of dough at a time to 1/8 inch thickness (keep remaining dough refrigerated until ready to roll). Cut dough with cookie cutters; place 1 about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 7-10 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely. Frost cookies with royal icing and decorate with sugar crystals.


Chocolate Mint Thumbprints
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2 egg yolks
16 drops green food coloring
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
3 Tbls whipping cream
3 Tbls butter
18 Andes mints, cut diagonally

1. Heat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper

2. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup butter and the powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in peppermint extract, egg yolks, and food coloring until blended. On low speed, beat in flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Shape dough into 1 inch balls; place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Using end of handle of wooden spoon, press a deep well into center of each cookie.

4. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. Reshape wells with end of handle of wooden spoon. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

5. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, cream, and 3 Tbls of butter on High 1 minute stirring frequently, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Fill each well with about 1 tsp chocolate mixture, let cool, and garnish with candy piece. Let stand about 1 hour until chocolate is set.


Cherry Tea Cakes
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tsp maraschino cherry liquid
1/2 tsp almond extract
3-4 drops of red food coloring
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup drained maraschino cherries, chopped
1/2 cup white vanilla baking chips

1. Heat oven to 350F. In large bown, beat powdered sugar, butter, cherry liquid, almond extract, and food coloring with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. On low speed, beat in flour and salt. Stir in cherries.

2. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.

3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool 20-30 minutes.

4. In 1 quart resealable freezer plasti bag, place baking chips; seal bag. Microwave on High 35-50 second, squeezing chips in bag every 15 seconds, until chips are melted and smooth. Cut small tip from bottom corer of bag; drizzle melted chips over cookies.


Black and White Truffles
1 package (1lm 2oz) Oreo cookies
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
36 oz (from two 24 oz packages) vanilla flavored candy coating (almond bark)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vegetable oil

1. Line 2 cookie sheets with waxed paper. Placecookies in large food processor or blender. Cover; process with on-and-off pulses until consistency of fine crumbs. In large bowl, stir cookie crumbs and cream cheese until well blended and mixture forms doughlike consistency.

2. Chop 8oz of the candy coating; stir into dough mixture. Roll dough into 1 inch balls; place on cookie sheets. Freeze 30 minutes or until very firm.

3. In small microwavable bowl, microwave half of remaining 28 oz candy coating on High 1 minute 30 secondsl stir. Continue microwaving and stirring in 15 second intervals until melted and smooth.

4. Remove half of the balls from the freezer. Using 2 forks, dip and roll each ball in coating; return to cookie sheet. Melt remaining candy coating; dip remaining balls.

5. In 1 quart resealable freezer plastic bag, place chocolate chips and oil; seal bag. Microwave on High 35-50 seconds, squeezing chips in bag every 15 seconds, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Cut small tip from bottom corner of bag. Drizzle chocolate over truffles. If desired, sprinkle with cocoa. Refrigerate 30-45 minutes or until chocolate is set. Store in refrigerator.


I've got most of it done, I just need to go finish the truffles. Tomorrow: Extra Nutty Peanut Brittle!