Christmas Cookie Favorites

Hello friends and family! Hope you're are gearing up for Christmas. We're REALLY looking forward to the arrival of my parents this Friday for the Holidays.

On to the cookies! This weekend was designated as "cookie baking weekend" for the Redick household. I included Tyler in this, as well, because he is the best husband ever and insists upon helping me A LOT with dishes....and boy did I create some serious dirty dish piles in the process.

I found so many overwhelmingly yummy Christmas cookie recipes in my search this year, but settled on four. I think the photos speak louder than my words ever could, but believe me when I tell you that they are all amazing, easy, and make wonderful gifts. Here are the Christmas 2010 cookie selections. Enjoy!

xoxo,
Emily

M&M Cookies for Santa
-Sing for Your Supper blog

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons milk, optional
2 cups Holiday M&M’s

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment. Beat together the butter, sugars, salt, vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder until well combined. Add the egg, beating until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat again until smooth.
Add the flour, mixing it in completely. Stir in the milk, then carefully stir in the M&M’s.
Drop the cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2″ apart. A cookie scoop works well here.
Bake the cookies for 14 to 16 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown, and a bit darker around the edges.
Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the baking sheets.

Cranberry Delight Oatmeal Cookies
-Sing for Your Supper

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups self rising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 bag of dried cranberries (6 oz.)
1 cup grated milk chocolate bar
1/2 cup melted white almond bark

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Mix flour, oatmeal, salt and cinnamon together and add to butter mixture. Stir until ingredients are well mixed. Fold in pecans, crasins, and grated chocolate bar. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Move to cooling rack until completely cooled. Drizzle melted almond bark over cookies (I used both a fork to drizzle and a plastic bag with a small hole cut). Serve after almond bark has dried. Makes approximately 40 cookies.

Oreo Peppermint Bark
-Sing for Your Supper

1 pound milk chocolate bark
1 pound white chocolate almond bark
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
10 Oreos, roughly chopped (I used the green mint ones!)
1/2 cup crushed peppermints

Melt the milk chocolate bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Pour out onto a large sheet of wax paper and smooth it out into one even (thin) layer with a spatula (an offset spatula works perfectly for this). Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, until hardened. Next, melt the white chocolate bark.
When the chocolate is hardened, stir the peppermint extract into the melted white chocolate bark. Pour over the dark chocolate layer and spread out evenly to the edges with a spatula.
Sprinkle the Oreos and crushed peppermints in an even layer over the top. Let sit until completely dried and hardened, about 20 or 30 minutes.
Break into pieces and serve.

The last recipe I used was a simple Chocolate Dipped Pretzel recipe. It was basically 1 tablespoon shortening to 1 pound chocolate (1 bag chocolate cups), melted in the microwave. I used both white and milk chocolate chips, dipped, decorated, and hardened in the refridgerator.

Have a Merry Christmas y'all!!!