Every year my mom and I dedicate a day to baking cookies for Christmas. This year we gathered ingredients for four different cookie types, plus my moms annual Cinnamon Sugar Glazed Pecans. We made two new types of cookies this year and they came out great! Check out which ones we made below.
First we started off with Ricotta Cheese cookies. These may sound disgusting to you (trust me, I thought the same thing too), but thanks to my high school Intro To Baking teacher I learned the recipe and loved it ever since! These are pretty simple to make and you can even make your own icing too. They come out so soft, almost sponge-like and the ricotta cheese flavor is very subtle. These cookies are always a hit with everyone we give them to and are definitely my favorite!
Photo: Our Ricotta Cheese Cookies
Next up we made the classic Peanut Butter Blossoms (crackles) which are usually a fan favorite/classic. These are even more easy to make. We like to make them smaller so that when you press the chocolate on top, they crackle around the edges. Some recipes say you can add sugar to the top of them, but we tend to not add any and they are just as good. Check out the few photos below.
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Third on our list were Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. These are my second favorite, although they were new to the list. These are extremely easy to make because they only require about two ingredients, plus the mini chocolate chips. Below are a few pictures of the simple process.
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Finally, we decided to add Molasses cookies to our list this year. These come out very thin in the end, but are very yummy with various spices in them.
Photo: Molasses cookies all warm in the making
Another addition my mom likes to make to spice things up is Cinnamon Sugar Glazed Pecans. This is just a nice combination of various spices sprinkled over pecans, crisped up in the oven. They are a delicious snack that can be good for Christmas desserts or just on the go.
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Overall, we enjoy cookie baking during the holiday as a tradition each year because it's nice to spend quality time together as mother and daughter. But, it is also nice to give them to family, friends and co-workers to enjoy as well. It just makes everyone happy! I even brought them into the office and they were a big hit!
If you haven't already, I recommend cookie baking as your Christmas tradition too or something similar to it! Having traditions is a great way to keep the spirit up and can be passed on for so many years. We have other traditions as well, but this one is my favorite.
What are your traditions?