I’ve baked more in the past few weeks than I have in a really, really long time. So here I am, after Christmas, still with a recipe to post! I know it doesn’t do anyone much good now–if you’re anything like me, you’re overloaded on sweets and the last thing you want to see is another cookie. But give it a few weeks, and maybe you’ll be in the mood for a good gingerbread cookie again.
A chewy gingerbread cookie. These were actually my favorite new find this year.
One of the best parts was that I didn’t even have to look for it. This cookie landed in my lap in the kitchen at work a few weeks ago and one bite into it, I was sold and e-mailing a coworker to share the recipe.
They’re that perfect mix of spicy and sweet that only gingerbread can offer, and the soft, chewy center was what really won me over. I could take or leave crunchy gingersnaps, but these? These are too good to pass by.
Chewy Gingerbread Cookies
(Source: Unknown)
Ingredients:
– 2 1/4 cups flour
– 2 tsp. baking soda
– 1 tsp. ground ginger
– 1 tsp. cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
– 1/4 tsp. salt
– 1 cup packed brown sugar
– 3/4 cup shortening
– 1/4 cup molasses
– 1 egg
Directions:
1. Stir together the first 6 ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and beat well with a hand mixer.
3. Add dry ingredients to the beaten mixture, beating well. Form small balls (about 1″ or larger if you want bigger cookies) and roll in granulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake in a 375 degree oven about 10 minutes until tops of cookies begin to “crinkle”! Check at 8 minutes, and continue baking if necessary.
As you wake up on this Christmas morning, I hope you are surrounded by (or have plans to see) cherished family and/or friends. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, but rather Hanukkah, something else, or nothing at all, I wish the same for you. :)
We are having our very own Christmas morning with our little family of three four (Tessa, you know), then spending the rest of the day with both of our families. I’m sure I’ll be back in a few days to share loads of photos, but for now, I’ll leave you with these.
First, our Christmas card photo this year:
It may have taken like 300 shots, but I do think we ended up with a good one. :)
And then a couple of pics from our Christmas Eve dinner at my mom’s tonight. <3
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays.
From our family to yours.
To all those who celebrate, Merry Christmas Eve!
This morning, when I was in that brief state between sleep and awake, I actually thought it was Thanksgiving Day. That just goes to show how quickly Christmas sneaked up on me this year. But the gifts are wrapped, cookies are baked, and I need to throw this post up and then go get ready for Christmas Eve Mass before dropping by the in-laws and then dinner with my grandma, aunt, and uncle at my mom’s. Wheeee!
These cookies are another gift from Pinterest. It’s a basic peanut butter cookie turned into a reindeer. Gotta love Pinterest.
Mine didn’t come out as adorable as the inspiration, but they’re still cute, and hey, they taste delicious, so that’s all that really matters. I think our nephews will get a kick out of them when we celebrate with Michael’s side of the family tomorrow afternoon/evening.
What I like about these cookies is that they are “decorated,” but wayyy easier than the traditional cookie cutouts. Although I’d love to put together some beautifully frosted cutouts, I just didn’t have the time again this year–and these little guys came together from dough to finish in just an hour or two. So if you’re looking for something to make last-minute as you prepare for Santa’s arrival tonight, whip up a batch of these. But hurry and get to the store, you’re running out of time! :)
Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies
(Source: Bakergirl)
Ingredients:
– 3/4 cup peanut butter
– 1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
– 1/2 cup shortening
– 3 tablespoons milk
– 1 tablespoon vanilla
– 1 egg
– 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
– 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
– 3/4 teaspoon salt
– Chocolate-covered mini pretzels
– Mini brown M&Ms
– Regular-sized red M&Ms (we used peanut M&Ms)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat until just blended.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.
4. Form dough into 1- to 1.5-inch balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until set or just beginning to brown.
5. Remove from oven and immediately (and gently) press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer’s antlers. Press two mini brown M&Ms in for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose.
6. Allow to cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack or paper towel to cool completely.
I have Pinterest to thank for this one. I saw these homemade reindeer candy bar wrappers and pinned them a few months back, because right away I knew that this would be an excellent little gift to make for my team at work.
They were really easy to make, though a little time consuming because of all the little paper pieces that need to be cut. If you have circle punches of various sizes, I’m sure this would go much more quickly, but I don’t have them and didn’t want to buy them specifically for this project. Even though I traced and cut all of the circles by hand, I was able to make six of them in just a few hours while sitting in front of the TV. I enjoy a good paper craft, so I thought it was fun. :)
The link to the original tutorial is broken, but these are not hard to figure out just based on the photos. I do have to give a big shout-out to Stacey Carter (www.staceystamps.com, which no longer appears to be a valid website), who posted the photo of these, though–as these are obviously completely based on her design.
I used Ghirardelli chocolate bars instead of Hershey’s because, well, I thought it would be nicer. But if you’re a Hershey’s kind of person, by all means, save yourself some money and get Hershey Bars.
Here are the supplies that I used, and a rough description of how to assemble these guys.
Supplies:
– Brown pipe cleaners
– Cardstock (dark brown, light brown, white, black, and red)
– White paint pen
– Hot glue gun
– Glue dots
– Scissors
– Chocolate bars
– Various circular shaped objects of different sizes to use for tracing (see notes below for objects I used)
Instructions:
First, I laid the chocolate bar on top of a sheet of the dark brown cardstock and marked the length, then cut. I then wrapped the cardstock around the bar so it connected at the back, cutting off the excess. I attached the cardstock to the front of the bar using a few glue dots, then secured it to the back using a few more.
I traced and cut all circle shapes. Two white and two black circles for the eyes, one dark brown circle (then cut in half) for the eyelids, and light brown and red circles for the nose. I sketched the little “ruffle” part at the top of the head freehand, then cut that out, too.
To attach everything together and to the candy bar, I used a mixture of glue dots and hot glue. I used the big “3D” glue dots to glue on the noses, because I liked how they stood out away from the face a little bit.
For the eyes, glue the black circle onto the white circle, then the brown half-circle on top of that. Use paint pen to draw a little “glimmer” on the black part of the eye. When dry, attach the entire eye to the face.
For the antlers, I cut one pipe cleaner in half to use as the two antlers. Then I cut a second pipe cleaner into smaller pieces, and wrapped the smaller pieces around the large pieces to make additional points. I secured the antlers to the candy bar by running a line of hot glue along the bottom portion of the pipe cleaner, then sticking it in between the card stock and the candy bar, pressing firmly to set.
Note: OK, so the circular objects I used for tracing? I found most of them in my kitchen. For the white part of the eye and the dark brown eyelid pieces, I traced the large end of a cake decorating tip. For the black part of the eye, I traced the end of the “plunger” part of one of Nora’s ibuprofen syringes. For the light brown portion of the nose, I used the roll of glue dots, tracing inside the cardboard roll that they come on. For the red nose, I used a measuring spoon (the tablespoon). You can use anything, really. Just look around for circles that vary in size so you’ll have the nice textured/layered look with everything.
I think that sums it up! Let me know if there are any questions.
Only three more days until Christmas (since today is nearly over)! Do you have your shopping done? Any last-minute Christmas crafts planned?
Nora and I were singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” during her bath tonight, and she was actually doing (her version) of the motions. When I got her out, I started singing again, and sure enough, she was still swinging her hands around. I happened to have my phone right there, and after about 20 takes, I finally got her to do it on video.
For the record, the tree spiders looked just like the sickening little bastard who invaded my car last winter. And proceeded to stay for a while. It’s a good thing Christmas is almost here, because I have half a mind to evict the Christmas tree from the premises.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
