Friday, December 17, 2010

Countdown to Christmas - Day 17 (Make Cookies)

The girls and I made two batches of cookies today. I've had the recipe for Chocolate Waffle Cookies for four years. This year we finally made them. They were amazing!

The chocolate cookies are dairy-free (so Sophia could enjoy them), and made on a waffle iron. It takes only about a minute and a half for them to bake. They have a rich, chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Waffle Cookies
(from Taste of Home magazine)

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, cubed (I used dairy-free butter)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Watkins vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar

FROSTING:

2 tablespoons butter (I used dairy-free butter)
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon Watkins vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
7-1/2 teaspoons hot water
Edible glitter and jimmies, optional

Directions

In a microwave, melt butter and chocolate; stir until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and cool completely. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Combine flour and sugar; gradually add to egg mixture.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 1 inch apart onto a preheated waffle iron. Bake for 1 minute or until set. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For frosting, in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate; stir until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add confectioners' sugar alternately with water, beating until smooth.

Frost waffle cookies to within 1/4 in. of edges. Decorate with glitter and jimmies if desired. Let stand until frosting is set.

Yield: about 2-1/2 dozen.

The other recipe we made was for Santa Hats. They're actually meringue cookie that are supposed to be in the shape of Santa hats. The idea came from Family Fun magazine (Dec/Jan 2008 issue).

I've made Santa Hats in 2008 and 2009, but this is the first year that I let the girls try to make the Santa hat shapes. After a couple tries, they ended up making different shapes and then decorating them with colored sprinkles.


Sophia and Olivia's "Santa Hat" Meringue Cookies

They had a lot of fun doing this, and it continued an annual tradition of making these cookies. The process - the enjoyment of baking cookies - is what's important...not what the final product looks like.

For reference, this is what the Santa Hats looked like in Family Fun:


Who knows...perhaps next year the girls' creations will look more like hats.
Here's the recipe for Santa Hats from Family Fun:

Ingredients:

2 egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon Watkins vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
Red colored sugar

Instructions

Heat the oven to 200º F. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks start to form. Beating all the while, add the cream of tartar and vanilla extract, then slowly add the 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until the peaks stiffen.

Spoon the meringue into a quart-size plastic bag. Snip off a corner and pipe 2 dozen 1 1/2-inch-tall Santa hat triangles onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (you should have about 1/4 of the meringue left).

Sprinkle the triangles with the red sugar, then use the remaining meringue to give each one a pom-pom and trim. Bake the hats until they're hard but not browned, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the hats in it for an hour to crisp before removing.

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