Thursday, December 01, 2011

Christmas Cookie Challenge: Day 1, Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut Butter Blossoms


Alright, here's the plan. Twenty-five days until Christmas, twenty-five different cookies. Every day the oven goes on, and every day something delicious comes out.

First up--the ubiquitous Peanut Butter Blossoms. Nearly every recipe I found warned, "Don't use natural peanut butter." Not a one told me why, however, so I threw caution to the wind, and used a butter from the farmer's market with just one ingredient: peanuts. Disaster did not follow, so I encourage you to avoid the oily, high-fructose industrial slop.

As for the Hershey Kisses, I used a mix of dark chocolate and some crazy "aerated" kisses. The airy ones lost their shape quickly, while the shiny dark ones look and taste better.

So, have a favorite cookie recipe for me? Want to play along? Want a cookie delivery? Let me know. Though J. may beg to differ, we can't eat 25 batches of cookies alone.

Christmas Cookie Challenge

2 comments:

Diana & Orie said...

oh i can't wait to follow this....seeing as I came home from the mall today with Mrs. Field's cookies....bad bad bad....I went to the mall to return something:(

HB said...

Try these if you run out of recipes!

OATMEAL CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6-ounce package sweetened dried cranberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.