Christmas Cookies 2012

 I finished baking the last of my Christmas cookies today! Hurray! Now it’s on to my favorite part…eating them!

 The gingerbread cookies turned out perfectly. They are soft, chewy and just the right amount of spicy. Nothing tastes more like Christmas than gingerbread. HERE is the recipe. I replaced the water for orange juice as suggested in the reviews, but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly.

Oatmeal Scotchies were the first cookie my husband said had to be on the list. They are his favorite! Every year I wonder why he likes them so much and then I try one and remember. These cookies are so good! The secret ingredient is the orange zest. Don’t leave that out!

Oatmeal Scotchies
1 cup softened butter (I used margarine)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (more or less to taste)
3 cups quick oats
zest from one orange
1 bag butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter and sugars together. Add in the eggs and vanilla. By hand, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add oats, zest and butterscotch chips. Roll the dough into balls the size of golf balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, until the tops are no longer doughy-looking and are starting to brown slightly. Do not overbake! They will be really soft when you first pull them out, but will firm up as they cool on the cookie sheet. 

 These No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars are so rich and delicious. They are definitely in between candy and cookie, but we absolutely love them. I followed the recipe HERE and made them in a 9×13 pan. As you can see, in order for the peanut butter layer to firm up, they must be refrigerated, but that makes the chocolate hard to cut without cracking. I’m not sure what to do to fix that, but I thought I’d give you the heads up.

*Update: I figured out how to cut the bars a little easier. Let the bars come to room temperature, then cut them into squares with your sharpest knife. Do not move them from the pan. Place in fridge for an hour, then the peanut butter will harden again and you’ll be able to get them out in much prettier squares.

 I don’t roll cookies. It seems like such a hassle to me! That’s why I love this recipe for sugar cookies. You form the dough into balls and use the bottom of a cup to flatten the cookies. No rolling! Yay!

Soft Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
2 cups white sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients (I skip this step) and add to the wet. Chill dough for at least one hour. I make it the night before and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and flatten with the bottom of a cup dipped in sugar. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 6-8 minutes just until the tops of the cookies are no longer shiny. Do not overbake! Cool and store in an airtight container.

I never follow a recipe for frosting. I just mixed butter, vanilla and powdered sugar together until the consistency and taste were right, then added the zest from two oranges. It is such a simple frosting, but the orange is absolutely HEAVENLY with the sugar cookies! To frost this many cookies, you will need about two sticks of butter.