Christmas Pinwheel Cookies

Ready to be baked

I made this recipe on Christmas Eve with my 6 year old brother who loves cooking. It is just a simple sugar cookie recipe with a twist. I came upon this idea on a facebook post and I wondered how they did it so I looked it up. I thought these cookies tasted great and my siblings loved them. They are amazing for parties and Christmas desserts (I made a few more batches for a Christmas party I went too).

Ingredients:
-2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-2/3 cup powdered sugar
-1/4 cup granulated sugar
-2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (cut in small chunks)
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp of food colouring of your choice (I used green)
-optional extract of your choice (I used peppermint)
-1/2 tsp of another food colouring (I used red)
-holiday sprinkles

Directions:

Final Result

Blend the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Slowly add butter and continue mixing. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Split your dough into 2 equal parts. Take the first part and blend in the green food colouring and peppermint extract. Mix until colour is spread out evenly. Do the same with the other part but with the red food colouring and no extra extract. Roll out both portions of dough separately between two sheets of wax paper until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Put both on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When firm, remove wax paper. Brush the red dough with water. Flip the green dough onto the vanilla dough so they are evenly stacked onto each other. Put the sprinkles on a large platter and set aside. Lightly press the edges together to seal. Begin rolling the long side of the dough into a swirl. Now lift your dough log onto the sprinkles and coat the log completely with them. Wrap the coated log with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours (or keep in freezer for up to 2 months, depending on when you are planning on using it). Slice the dough into 1/4 inch slices and bake on baking sheets for 350. When edges are golden (15-17 minutes) take out of the oven and let cool. Enjoy your Christmas Pinwheel cookies with a warm mug of hot chocolate.

Eggnog

Always a festive treat!! Good ole' eggnog!!
This is made with uncooked eggs

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 Cups whole milk
1 Cup heavy cream
1 Tsp nutmeg
4 egg whites

Directions:
-Whisk egg yolks until lightened
-Gradually add 1/3 sugar to eggs and beat until dissolved
-Add milk, cream and nutmeg. Stir yo combine
-In a separate bowl whisk egg white to a soft peak
-Add 1 Tbsp of sugar and whisk to firm peaks
-Whisk into egg mixture

This was ok....I think next year i want to find one that is a little smoother than this one. Possibly try a cooked one as well!!

Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls

This recipe for Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls is super easy to make. They taste so good
and were gone within days. These are a bit messy to make but its worth it. Here is a link to the recipe,Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/3 butter or margarine melted
• 4 cups Rice Krispies
• 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine 
• 1/4 cup hot water

Directions:

Line one baking sheet with waxed paper . In large bowl, mix icing sugar, peanut butter, coconut and melted butter or margarine together until well blended. Gently fold in Rice Krispies cereal until well coated. Form into 1" balls. To make the rolling of balls easier, use lightly dampened hands. Refrigerate on baking sheet for 30 minutes. 
To makes chocolate dip; In medium saucepan, over low heat melt chocolate chips, remaining butter and water together. If mixture is a bit thick for dipping add 1 to 2 tablespoons more hot water. 
Using two forks, drop a couple of peanut butter balls in chocolate mixture. Roll balls around in chocolate mixture to coat in chocolate. Chill on waxed paper lined baking sheet until chocolate is set. 

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Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar 
• 4 eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

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Barking Crackers

This is a kind of snack that is fairly traditional for Christmas in my house.

Ingredients:

40 (plus) soda crackers*
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
12 ounce package (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate or butterscotch chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a jelly roll (15 x 10-inches with sides) pan with foil and grease lightly. Completely line pan with crackers. Boil butter and brown sugar for 3 minutes. Stirring constantly. Pour mixture over crackers. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle chips over pan. Let chips soften so they can be evenly spread. Sprinkle nuts over top. Refrigerate for 1 hour and then break apart into bit-sized pieces. Store these in the refrigerator.

Sand Tarts

After my interesting quinoa cookies I decided to stick to a home recipe that I know is good. Although sand tarts aren't necessarily a Christmas cookie, my family always has them at Christmas and rarely at any other time of year. As I said this is a recipe we've had in the recipe book forever so I don't know where it came from originally.

Ingredients:
1lb softened butter
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsps. almond extract
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
1. Mix ingredients well and spoon into mini muffin pans
2. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 325F

Filling:
Mix together:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp. instant coffee with water


They turned out great and tasted awesome. The filling recipe mentioned is the one I used, but really any flavour of icing can be used, sometimes we do mint and use food colouring to make it green which is a little bit more Christmas-y,  but personally I like the coffee flavouring. You can also add sprinkles, I added a sliver ball to each.