#holiday baking

Every year part of holiday dinners were the desserts and one of those desserts was ALWAYS DumDums. My mom would (as many other people do) take leftover pie crusts and throw some sugar and cinnamon on them. Pretty soon she skipped the pies, and just made these.  For whatever reason, a lot of people asked me how to make them this year so I thought I’d write it down instead of keep typing it over and over. ;) (It’s really not much of a recipe, I’ll give you that.)

Now if you’re fancy and all that, you make your own pie crusts. If that’s you, then you be you and make two pie crusts. Me? I buy the refrigerated pie crusts.

Pre-Heat the oven to 350. Roll out the crust dough, so it’s thinner. 

No measuring here! Just throw a bunch of sugar and cinnamon on the dough.

Then cut the dough into strips. The important part of DumDums is they aren’t neat. They’re messy, and meant to be true to their origin: Scraps of leftover dough   OBVIOUSLY if you’re obsessed about this you can do all of this in a much prettier fashion but…then you don’t get to call them DumDums. 

Take a strip and roll it up. I find it’s a little easier to stand them up if I give them a pinch before I put it on the cookie sheet. No need to grease the sheet or anything. It honestly doesn’t matter what they look like. Mine look different every time.

Put them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. If they’re on the smaller size they will naturally bake faster. They should be on the brownish side, to make sure the dough is baked all the way through.

Once you take them out of the oven, remove them from the cookie sheet right away. If you wait, not only will they stick and be impossible to remove without taking the entire bottom off, the sugar will be a bitch to get off the sheet.

You can serve them as is or serve them with Cool Whip on the side to dunk them in. 

They’re not pretty but they are delicious. And they make good breakfast food the next day.

If you make these, you have to let me know! Show me your photos on twitter!

I couldn’t believe it’s December! My first Christmas in Australia was miserable and away from my family and friends. I missed the cold and snow, plus my place had a broken oven, so no baking for me. I always look forward to make different kinds of cookies and other treats for my family, colleagues and friends every Christmas. It killed me not to be able to do some baking not just cookies, but also homemade baked goods like muffins. Now that I have a working oven, I bake every chance I get!

I’m one of those people who needs a cup of coffee to function every single day. Coffee is life, can’t live without it. When I saw this recipe, I knew I needed to make it! I love coffee and all coffee based desserts. 

These cookies are amazing. They’re crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside! My kind of cookie! I wish I used dark roast ground coffee instead of a regular one. The coffee flavour wasn’t as strong. They still came out delicious! This will be my new go to chocolate cookies recipe.

Espresso Chip CookiesfromWorld Market

Ingredients

¾ cups unsalted butter, melted

1 tbsp Dark Roast Fine Ground Coffee

1 cup light brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

1 large egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup  Unsweetened Cocoa

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp kosher salt

1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions

In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stir together the melted butter and coffee, let sit for a few minutes before adding the sugars and mixing together.

Add in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk and beat until light and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes on medium speed.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two separate additions, mixing between each one and scraping down the sides as needed.

Fold in the chocolate chips so they’re evenly distributed throughout the dough, then cover the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Measure the dough into ¼ cup-sized balls and rolls them between your palms before placing them on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving at least 3 inches between each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, the centre will still look soft, this is normal since you will need to allow them to cool on the pan for 10 minutes after baking. Transfer to a cooling rack after 10 minutes to finish cooling or enjoy immediately.

Yay, I’m on a roll! Here’s another batch of cookies that I made last weekend. I saw this recipe last year over at Erica’s Sweet Tooth and I thought they’re pretty and very festive. I knew I needed to make them! I’m not a fan of minty desserts and candies, but I love shortbread cookies! Another reason to love December, especially if you just want to bake and give them away! 

These cookies are made of buttery shortbread, crushed candy canes and dipped in semi-sweet chocolate chips. The red and green crushed candy canes on top are my favourite! I made my own batch of shortbread dipped in melted chocolate, amazing! You can’t go wrong with shortbread cookies, they’re a holiday favourite. I brought these to work and they’re a huge hit! 

Chocolate Dipped Peppermint CookiesfromErica Sweet Tooth

Ingredients

Makes 24 cookies

2-¼ cups all-purpose flour
1-½ tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup crushed candy canes (plus more for sprinkling on top)
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat until well mixed.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the mixer and beat until just incorporated. Add the crushed candy canes and use a rubber spatula to mix in by hand. Split the dough into two even pieces and place each onto a piece of plastic wrap. Shape them each into about 7" logs that are about 1-½" thick. Wrap the logs well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the logs of cookie dough and cut cookies about ½" thick. Place on a parchment paper or Silpat mat lined cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While cookies are baking and cooling, melt chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing well in between each interval. Add a few drops of peppermint oil once melted and stir well. Dip cooled cookies into the chocolate halfway and wipe excess chocolate off on the side of the bowl. Place on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Transfer the cookies to the fridge for about 15 minutes to let the chocolate set.

December is such an exciting time of the year for so many reasons. After experiencing two months of rain, it’s finally snowing, a lot of snow! It makes me very happy, because we usually have a dry and cold December here in Vancouver. The snow gave me an extra motivation to bake! The result? I made two different kinds of cookies. 

I strongly suggest to make these cookies. The version is similar to Chocolate Crinkle Cookies but without dough chilling required and very simple to make! I love the sparkling crackled top, chewy centre, and very chocolaty! They’re a great addition to your holiday baking list or something to nibble at home with a glass of milk. I can’t wait to make them again for my friends and colleagues! 

Sparkling Chocolate CookiesfromAnnie’s Eats

1¾ cups (249 g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder 
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1¾ cups (347 g) sugar, plus 1 cup (198 g) for rolling
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on medium until smooth. Add the 1¾ cups sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined.

Place the remaining 1 cup sugar in a medium bowl.

Form the cookies into 3-ounce (85 g) balls (a scant ⅓ cup each). 

Roll each ball in the sugar and place 6 cookies on each prepared sheet pan. Bake one sheet at a time 11 to 14 minutes, until the edges have set and the centre are puffed and starting to crackle.

Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely on the pan.