Holiday Treat Boxes
Let’s set the scene.. We are a week away from Christmas, I am in the spirit and I skip along to my car to head to my morning cycling class. I pass by the maintenance team for my complex and we chat for roughly 5 minutes, exchange some laughs, and I offer to bake them some holiday cookies, they enthusiastically agree. I am now 15 minutes late to my cycling class with my favorite kick-ass instructor, I speed through my small town, arrive with sweat dripping down my brow before I can even adjust the seat that will dig into the crack of my behind for the next 60 minutes. I complete the class, dish out a few fake-smiles to people who attempt to interact with me before 11am, and I head home.
After almost three weeks of not having a single productive thought in my brain since my finals, I now have cookies to bake! I start feeling like I have a purpose. I even told my best friend that without school, I feel like a robot with limited functions. Anyway, I created my intended menu and got to work with the prep. Prep took about three days. I prepared the following:
Brown butter snickerdoodles
Double chocolate crinkle cookies
Raspberry thumbprint cookies
Pumpkin pull-apart bread
Friday morning, I woke up and said “hey google, play music by Jo Stafford”. Naturally, some of her holiday hits came first. I flowed through them while I preheated the oven and cleaned up some extra counter space. After about 20 minutes, her classics came on and I got into the zone. Four hours later, I look up and the time is now 11am. I rush to figure out some super cute placement for all of the cookies in the treat boxes. I wrapped up around 1:30 and cleaned up the kitchen.
And then I played the waiting game.. I waited and waited and waited. Not a soul came to pick up my delicious cookies. So I did what any gorgeous girl would do, I cut my losses and went shopping. I came back, took some cute pictures of my treat boxes, and watched some movies until bed.
Today I got up, facetimed my best friend, and then went to drop off those cookies to some extremely eager firefighters in my neighborhood. Not all was lost! They were incredibly grateful and I got to feel important for a full 5 hours yesterday.
Moral of the story, don’t believe any promises that come out of a man’s mouth.
Below are the recipes for my cookie treat boxes for you guys to bring to Christmas dinner:
Brown butter snickerdoodles:
184 grams (13 tablespoons) unsalted Kerrygold butter
100 grams (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar
100 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
250 grams (2 cups) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 grams (2 teaspoons) cornstarch
CINNAMON SUGAR COATING
66 grams (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, ground cinnamon, salt, and cornstarch. Set aside.
In a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat. It will start to crack and sizzle, stir frequently until the butter begins to foam and you can see that the butter is golden brown. There will be some brown bits swirling around in the butter. Once golden brown, remove from the heat and pour the butter into a large bowl and put in the fridge to cool for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the butter from the fridge and add the dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk well until completely combined.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Cover the bowl tightly and chill the dough for at least 3 hours.
After three hours, preheat your oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon for the coating.
Scoop the dough using a cookie scoop (a spoon works perfectly fine) and roll it in the cinnamon sugar so it is generously coated.
Space the cookies on the prepared baking sheet 2-3 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are set and centers are puffy. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Double chocolate crinkle cookies: Found HERE. Everyone knows Sally can make a remarkable cookie!
Raspberry thumbprint cookies: This recipe has been posted already HERE.
Pumpkin pull-apart bread: I used THIS box mix that I got as a gift last month. I followed the recipe as directed.
Marry Chrysler and Happy Honda Days!
