Stamped Gingerbread Holiday Cookies

Christmas is only a week away, so maybe all your holiday baking is done and delivered. (Or maybe it has dropped down, or completely off, your "to do" list.) But if you are looking for a fun alternative to traditional cut out cookies, here is a delicious possiblitity. They would be a great family baking project between Christmas and New Years--and all the baking supplies will be on sale!

There are a lot of gingerbread cookie recipes out there. The one I used is a favorite from "Our Best Bites." 

This recipe works well for cut out cookies, but this time my goal was to use a decorative rolling pin. Next to it is a ceramic cookie stamp that can be used to create similar cookies:

I made the cookie dough and put it into the fridge for a couple of hours to chill. Getting the dough the right temperature is really the only tricky part. If it is too cold, it is difficult to roll out; if it is too warm, the stamped images are less sharp. I kept any dough that I wasn't working with in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap.

Roll out the dough just a little bit thicker than the recipe suggests with a standard rolling pin. Then roll over the dough with your special pin to make the designs:

Create a similar look using a cookie press like the one below just by stamping individual designs into the dough:

Using a paring knife, score through the dough to create separate cookies. Place on baking sheet:

After the cookies are baked, you can decorate them with white piping to accentuate the design or let the subtle texture speak for itself:

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies Part 3: The Best Chocolate Cookies Ever

So my friend Amber once gave me the ultimate gift: a cookbook devoted to cookie recipes. And in this cherished recipe book, my sister Laurel and I found the best chocolate cookie recipe. And I am going to share it with you.

The thing I like about these babies is they are moist and almost brownie-esque in consistency. The recipe book suggested adding things to them like chocolate chips and nuts or white chocolate. But it was Laurel that truly came up with the best addition: chopped up Hershey's Cookies n' Cream bar. Yes. It is delicious. I didn't happen to have a cookies n' cream bar in my house, so I just used chocolate chips for the pictures shown below (which is still delicious)...but if you are going for out of this world good, purchase a Hershey's Cookies n' Cream chocolate bar, chop it up, and add it to the cookie dough.

Double Trouble Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Got Milk? The Cookie Book by Peggy Cullen
(I get about a dozen cookies from this recipe and I make my cookies on the big side.)

4 oz (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (preferably Dutch-process)
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 1 chopped up Hershey's Cookies n' Cream bar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until combined. Beat in cocoa and then the egg. Add flour and baking soda and mix on low speed until combined. Stir chocolate chips or cookies n' cream bar chunks into the dough.

The consistency of the dough is almost homemade fudge-like. Try not to taste the dough because you may eat it all before you get around to putting it on a cookie sheet.

Drop by spoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Leave on pan for 5 minutes before removing.

Merry Christmas!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies: Holiday Cookies Part 2

I love baking--not cooking, necessarily. Baking. Cookies, bread, muffins, scones, biscuits, pastries, pies....all the stuff that isn't very good for you (with the exception of whole wheat bread, I suppose). During the Christmas season, I want to be baking all the time (while listening to my favorite Christmas tunes) and I have visions of making delectable treats to put on festive plates to deliver to everyone I can think of. It never turns out as good as I want it to be. But I thought that I would post my favorite holiday cookie recipes this week to go along with the holiday cookies Laurel posted here.

First up, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. These are moist but cake-y cookies and I love, love, love them.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbl vanilla
1-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (depending on how chocolate-y you want them)

Directions:

Mix together pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to wet mixture and mix until everything is combined. Mix in vanilla. (See picture below for an idea of the batter's consistency.)

Stir in chocolate chips. Drop heaping tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet (if your cookie sheet is a dark metal, you may want to cover it in aluminum foil and then spray the foil and then drop the cookie dough on that). Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. (adapted from this allrecipes.com recipe.)

Eat them warm and melty and every day after until they are all gone. Or stick them in a ziploc and freeze them. They freeze really well. Enjoy!