Cookies For Santa

    Every year my son and I bake cookies specifically for Santa on Christmas Eve. My little guy wants Santa to have the freshest cookies possible. For the past four years, these Santa Surprize Cookies have been the cookies we make.
    I made them for a Cookie Exchange one year and everyone loved them. Not only are they chewy and delicious, but once you decorate them people seem to be all the more impressed. It's amazing what a little drizzle of chocolate can do.
    I am posting this recipe today, in case any of you are looking for a new cookie to leave Santa tonight.

Santa Surprise Cookies:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter, plus 2 Tbsps. for chocolate drizzle
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups white flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
4 boxes of "Neilson's" slowpokes or 2 large boxes of "Turtles
confectioners sugar, optional

2 greased cookie sheets


Directions:
1) Beat together the butter, peanut butter and sugars with an electric mixer on low to medium speed, until light and fluffy.

2) Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

3) In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir together the sifted flour, baking soda and salt.

4) Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredient in the mixer. Mix until fully combined.

5) Cover and chill the dough in your fridge for 2-3 hours.
6) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Remove the dough from the fridge.
7) Begin assembling the cookies. Scoop 1 Tbsp. of the dough out, and flatten it. Place a piece of chocolate in the center of the flattened dough. Scoop out a second Tbsp. of dough, and flatten. Take the second piece of dough and cover the chocolate. Mold the dough around the chocolate.

8) Continue until all the dough and chocolates are used.
9) Place on a greased cookie sheet.

11) Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges have set and the cookies are lightly browned.

10) Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a piece of parchment/wax paper to cool and decorate.
11) Meanwhile in a double boiler (or a metal bowl placed over a pot of boiling water like I have done), melt the chocolate chips and the remaining 2 Tbsps. of peanut together until smooth.

12) Pour the melted chocolate into a re-sealable bag. Let the chocolate cool for a moment, so you can handle the bag comfortably. When you are ready to decorate the cookies, snip a small corner off the re-sealable bag with a pair of scissors and "pipe" the chocolate over the tops of the cookies.

13) Dust with confectioners sugar, and let the chocolate dry.

*When using "Turtles" the cookies will be quite large, and the recipe will yield approximately 36 cookies.
* When using the "Slow Pokes", you will get approximately 48 cookies.

You may also like:
Gingerbread Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Cookies

Easter Egg Candy Cookies...

    This is the recipe for my little guys favourite cookies. We've been making these together for what seems like forever. They are usually made with traditional Reese's Pieces candy, and are supposed to be an Autumn themed cookie (because of the brown, orange and yellow colors). But the other day while I was at the grocery store I came across some of these candies that were in the shape of mini eggs. How great is that? A few years ago, I found them in green and red for Christmas as well, but haven't seen them since.
    We make these cookies at least once a month, so it's fun to be able to make them festive by switching up the candies. I hope you like them as much as we do.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Cookies:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
with a nice cold glass of milk.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup margarine or softened butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups chocolate coated peanut butter candies

Directions:

(1) Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

(2) Lightly grease two 9x13" baking sheets with cooking spray.

(3) In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl with a hand held electric mixer), beat sugars and butter on medium speed until creamy. Beat in peanut butter, vanilla and egg.

(4) In a separate mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

(5) Slowly combine dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir in candies. (If your making this recipe with the egg shaped candies, don't add them here. They are far to large and cannot be stirred into the dough properly. I just added them near the end to the top of the cookie).

(6) Drop the dough by Tbsp. fulls onto the greased cookie sheets.

(7) Press the cookie dough mounds down with a wooden spoon and decorate with a few more candies. (This is where I added the egg candies)

(8) Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are set. Centers will still be soft. Cool for 1 minute and remove from cookie sheet to rack.

 

* Makes 24 cookies

You may also like:

Sugar Cookies

Santa Surprise Cookies

Playing with Food

    Today was just another Sunday here at our place. I was puttering around, doing my thing. The guys were off building blanket forts, and spending some time playing at the gym. While they were both out enjoying each others company, I figured I would prepare something fun to do for when they got back.

    I remembered quite some time ago, watching an episode of "Jon and Kate Plus 8". Kate had made her children a batch of homemade edible peanut butter play dough. I had been meaning to do this for a while now, and had not gotten around to it. So I figured, why not today?

   I just threw a few ingredients together in my stand mixer and watched it do it's own thing. It was finished in a matter of minutes, and took minimal effort. When the little one arrived back home, their was something new and fun to entertain him. For a small while anyway. You know boys...

   So here is how to make it if you're interested.

Materials Needed

Little hands at work

   

Edible Peanut Butter Playdough

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered milk
• 1/2 tsp. honey

Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer until well incorporated.

Alternately, you can toss all the ingredients together in a resealable ziploc bag, and knead them together.