Andes Peppermint Crunch Shortbread Cookies and Peppermint Snowball Cookies

Andes Peppermint Crunch Shortbread Cookies

Things have sure been crazy and busy around here!  Christmas is less than a week away.  Seems like we’ve had all kinds of activities going on and I can barely sit down, let alone share blog posts with you all.  I decided to sit down and try to get a post written up today before our next activity tonight. 

I didn’t take this picture, but how cute is this little elf who must be hiding something in his shirt?!

 

Not long after Thanksgiving, which was really early this year, the boys were begging me to get all the Christmas decorations up.   Finally got that done just in time for Kevin’s department Christmas party at our house, hosting about 20 people.

We’ve had the pleasure of attending a high school band concert, since Scott plays the drums in the concert band.  Look how sharp he looks in a tux!  This kid never lets me take his picture, but I think even he was liking how he looked! ;)  The concert was great, but we were a little disappointed that all the drummers were in the back row and a tuba player and his tuba were right in front of Scott.  sigh

 From one thing to another over the last month, I was able to get all the neighbor Christmas treats made and delivered, too.  After sharing with you such good ideas with the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, I decided I can’t leave out a few more that must be shared.

These Peppermint Crunch Shortbread Cookies are one of those not to miss, especially if you love peppermint.  Have you found these in your grocery store baking aisle?

I actually made them for my book group weeks ago and have been wanting to share them since then.  I just took a shortbread cookie recipe, like the Mexican wedding cookies, and instead of adding the chopped pecans, I added the peppermint candy.  I then drizzled some of the melted candy over the tops.

Andes Peppermint Crunch Shortbread Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ c to 1 cup Andes Peppermint Bits (to taste), use some to melt and drizzle on the cookies

Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla and mix. Beat in the flour and salt just until the dry ingredients are mixed in. Stir in the Andes mints.

Roll dough in to walnut-sized balls and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper spacing the balls of dough about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Melt some of the peppermint candies in the microwave in a small glass bowl in 20-30 second intervals on half power. When melted, put the melted candy in a sandwich-sized zip top plastic bag and snip a small hole in one corner. Drizzle the melted candy over the cookies.

We finally had a nice, big snow last week, about six inches.  After shoveling the deck and part of the driveway, I wanted to make a snowman.  The boys had already played outside sledding and didn’t really want to help, so this is what I came up with almost with no other help from the others. 

Yep, she was a baker snow gal!  Made her eyes and mouth from chocolate disks and she wore the cute knitted chef’s hat my niece made me that has chocolate chip cookies on it.  Instead of going in search of some sticks for her arms, I used some kitchen utensils.  I don’t have any aprons, which would have really been cute, but I wrapped a blanket around her and tried to make it look like an apron.  I thought she turned out pretty cute! ;)

After making the Andes peppermint shortbread cookies, I thought I’d try another recipe, but with the same idea.  Instead of drizzling melted chocolate, I rolled the baked cookies in powdered sugar. 

I like this recipe a little better, but preferred the stronger peppermint taste the first cookies had with the drizzled melted candy.  That could easily be fixed by added more of the candy to the cookies or evey a little peppermint extract to the dough.  They are both good!

Perfect Christmas cookies!

Peppermint Snowball Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups Andes Peppermint Bits (These are the same cookies where you could substitute pecans for the candy)

Powdered sugar for rolling the cookies in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream together the butter and powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Beat in the flour and salt just until combined. Stir in the Andes. Roll dough in to walnut-sized balls and place on baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Roll each cookie in powdered sugar.

BAKE ON!

The boys’ last day of school was today.  Time to really get the holidays going!

Peppermint Angel Food Cake Roll—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Peppermint Angel Food Cake Roll

This is it, Friends—Week 12 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.  I chose to share with you this great cake I’ve made twice this week for different Christmas activities.  It was a hit both times.  Wish I could take credit for this, but I can’t at all and didn’t even really change the recipe for the one in the December issues of Taste of Home magazine.  You need to go get the recipe that was submitted by Suellen Calhoun. 

It was certainly easy to make.  The cake is made with a boxed angel food cake mix and spread into a large baking pan that is lined with parchment paper.  After the cake is baked and just barely cooled, you remove it from the pan, remove the parchment paper and roll up the cake to cool completely.  Once the cake has cooled, it is unrolled and spread with whipped topping, then drizzled with hot fudge sauce and sprinkled with crushed peppermint candy.

Ready to roll!

At this point, I put the cake in the refrigerator and didn’t cover it with more whipped topping until just before serving it (you could use real whipped cream, too—I followed the recipe and went for easy).  The whipped topping also has peppermint extract added to it. 

This is a perfectly minty, holiday treat!

The pictures of the sliced cake doesn’t  look that great (to me), because I snapped a few pictures of some that were leftover the next day after the first party.  There were so many desserts to choose from that the whole thing wasn’t eaten that night.  The peppermint would look better photographed when it is first served. ;)  When I made the cake just yesterday for another occasion, it was all gone from the dessert table before I even got my dinner.  It was a much bigger group.

Please go find this cake at Taste of Home.  I love the magazine and the website is great.  The Lime Shortbread with Dried Cherries I posted last week are from the same issue of the magazine.  If you aren’t subscribed to Taste of Home, you should be—or at least join their free membership online.

This is it—I said that already, huh?  I have a number of other recipes (ones I actually came up with myself) that I want to get posted before the holidays.  That’s my goal.  Time really is crazy this time of year.  We’ll see what I can do.  In the meantime, Happy Baking and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Thanks for allowing me to be a part of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats go to our host, Brenda at Meal Planning Magic.  So many wonderful treats from everyone!

Saltwater Taffy—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Saltwater Taffy

Today’s post is a fun treat to make for the holidays that kids will love helping you make.  A couple days ago, I made Saltwater Taffy and Parker and Taylor ended up helping me.

 I got the recipe for the taffy in a GREAT new cookbook I got for my birthday recently.  If you like making candy, you NEED to get this book!  Read this post, then head to this link on Amazon for The Sweet Book of Candy Making, by Elizabeth LaBau, a young pastry chef who is married and has a really cute six month old baby boy.  (Love her, she blogged along with the Tuesdays With Dorie group while we baked from Baking From My Home to Yours and I consider her one of those “friends who I haven’t met yet”.)  She has a delicious blog, too.  Check out Sugar Hero!

 In the recipe for Saltwater Taffy in the book, Liz shares the wonderful “secret” ingredient—secret because it was new to me, to making softer, chewy taffy, instead of hard tack taffy.  I have made taffy a number of times over the years and have always been frustrated and annoyed that it turns to hard candy, especially if you don’t pull it fast and soon enough.  Should I tell you the secret?  Or should you just have to get the book?  You know what, I’m not going to give you Liz’ recipe, but I’ll tell you that little secret.  After boiling the sugar and adding your chosen flavor, you pour it onto a baking sheet and add a little bit of marshmallow crème.  As soon as it is cool enough, you fold it together and start pulling and incorporated the marshmallow (and coloring). 

I’ll never make taffy again without adding marshmallow crème.  It’s the little things, people. ;) 

So just as I was getting ready to pull the taffy, I had two little helpers comes beg to get to pull some, too.  It was nice to have helpers!  And they were certainly thrilled with the results of making their own taffy.  So much so that after we made the green and white mint flavored taffy, Parker bugged me the rest of the day to make another.

Pulling Taffy

So that night, we made a pink taffy and flavored it with raspberry flavoring.  We also made that one just a little softer and not quite as hard as the first round by not boiling it to quite so high a temperature.  I think it worked well to our advantage because we live at a high altitude. 

Happy Little Taffy Making and Eating Helpers

Next time, I want to try banana flavoring, because my favorite Laffy Taffy is banana!  I think licorice flavor would be good, too.  The boys keep snitching the ones we’ve already made, even when I keep trying to hide it in different places.

Thanks again to Brenda from Meal Planning Magic for hosting the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.

Candy Cane Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s Rice Krispies Treats—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Candy Cane Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s Rice Krispies Treats

Wow—Now THAT’S a recipe title.  I didn’t want to shorten it or leave anything out.  They could easily just be called Peppermint Rice Krispies Treats or Candy Cane Rice Krispies Treats, but they deserve all the recognition from each addition.  Finish reading this and drooling a little, then run (or drive, I’ll allow that) to your nearest Target and find the new, limited edition Candy Cane Oreos and White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s, grab a box of Rice Krispies Cereal and some Kraft marshmallows (although if you’re like me, those are things I always have in the pantry).  Better yet, look to see if Target has the new Kraft Peppermint Mallows, which is what I used.  These treats are super kicked up for the holidays and are so good!

The Candy Cane Oreos are one of their best limited editions yet.  They have that Girl Scouts’ Thin Mints taste, but in Oreo form.  They are good.  My kids really like them.  And they are somewhat picky and often don’t like the “new” flavors of things.   One wouldn’t even try them at first, but after doing so, is hooked.

I really like the White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s, too.  They are strong, but not as much as a candy cane and have that great hint of white chocolate.  The peppermint flavor is the dominate flavor.  I kind of wish it wasn’t quite so strong, but I still love these!  They are easy to snitch a few here and there when they are hiding in your baking closet in an open bag.  (So I’ve heard.)  I don’t have as much of a problem doing that with cookies, but I’m glad I bought two bags of the cookies, because my kids keep snitching those.  And I’ll be back to Target soon for more of the M&M’s before they’re gone!  Run!  How many agree that M&M’s should come permanently in “plain” White Chocolate M&M’s flavor?  Maybe we should all start a petition on their Facebook page or something.  My only wish would be that they just come in regular “plain” M&M’s size.  I kind of think all the new, limited edition, different flavors should just be the regular “plain” size, but they make them a little bigger, I guess so you aren’t confused. ;)

Anyway, these Rice Krispies Treats were delicious!  I made some and took them to a baby shower I attended.  Felt a little bad that it was a shower for a baby boy, but I think they made up for that in flavor and were accepted just fine.  These treats definitely put me in more of a holiday mood. 

Perfect for the 8th week of The 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, hosted by Brenda from Meal Planning Magic.  So nice of her to head up the group and keep it running smoothly each week!

Candy Cane Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s Rice Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

10 ounce bag of Kraft Jet Puffed Peppermint Mallows (regular mini marshmallows would work, too)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

15 Candy Cane Oreo Cookies, chopped

about 1 cup White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s

Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil (nonstick is my favorite!), spray lightly with cooking spray.  Chop the Oreo Cookies, set aside.  Put the marshmallows and butter in a large microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for about 40 seconds.  Stir.  Microwave again for 30 seconds.  Stir until butter is mixed in with the melted marshmallows.  (You CAN also do this in a large saucepan, but it takes longer.)

Stir the cereal in to the marshmallow mixture.  When it is all combined, fold in the cookies, then the M&M’s.   Spread the mixture evenly into the baking pan.  I like to tamp it down with a potato masher sprayed lightly with cooking spray to get it even, then I don’t have to have sticky hands. ;)  Let sit on the counter for about an hour to firm up.  Remove from the pan using the foil edges and peel off the foil.  Set on a cutting board and cut into desired sized bars. 

While I think, “Hey, at least wait for Thanksgiving to come and let’s enjoy that before Christmas is here.”  I also know it will be here (and gone) before we know it.  Start making treats—it will get you right in the spirit of it all, at least it has for me.

Surprise Mint Cookies—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Sharing a good one with you today for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.  These hidden treasure cookies are perfect for the holidays, but I would not hesitate to make them any time of year.  They’re that good. 

I got this recipe from a new cookbook, by Anna from Cookie Madness.  That’s right, Anna has a cookbook coming out next week.  She has been a long time blogging friend of mine and has a wonderful book coming out that you’ll want to have in your collection.  The Daily Cookie, 365 Tempting Treats for the Sweetest Year of Your Life is such a fun book with a cookie for every day of the year, all with fun themes, like National Chocolate Day, etc.  Guess what, you could win a copy of her book from me.  Paying it forward since Anna sent me a copy, I want one lucky Baking and Boys! reader to win one.  Go to my post here to leave a comment with your birthday to be entered to win.  You have until Sunday, November 4 at midnight.  When I post about the winner, I’ll post about “your” cookie for that day that Anna has posted in the book.

 While looking through the book, which I’ve already done many times since receiving my copy a couple weeks ago, I found these Surprise Mint Cookies, which are for the date of October 3, which is the date The Mickey Mouse Club first aired in 1955.  (Who knew?)  Anna said she remembers most from the 1970’s New Mickey Mouse Club the sketch called “Surprise Day, Surprise Day”, which is what prompted her to pick these cookies for that day.  I love how creative she came up with ideas for all the days of the year.  You need to get the book and head on over to my post to enter to win one. ;)

Surprise Mint Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Anna Ginsberg, The Daily Cookie Book

1  1/2 cups (6.8 ounces) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (4 ounces or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

32 chocolate mint candies (like Andes mints)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl.  Set aside.  Cream together in the bowl of a mixer the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.  Scrape the sides of the bowl.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat again for 30 seconds.  Scrape sides again.  Add the dry ingredients  and mix just until combined. 

Shape the dough around a chocolate mint candy and form into rectangles.  You’ll need to flour your hands a little.  Make 20 cookies and place them on the baking sheets 2 inches apart, 10 cookies to each sheet.  Bake one sheet at a time for 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  With the microwave on a lower setting, melt the remaining chocolates in a small glass bowl in 20-30 second intervals until smooth.  Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cooled cookies.  Let the chocolate harden before serving/eating the cookies.

 Love these!  Thanks again to Brenda from Meal Planning Magic for hosting this group!

 

Chocolate Grasshopper Mint Cookies Ice Cream

Decided I needed to share this ice cream recipe since today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day.  It is a perfect, simple ice cream for any kinds of mix-ins you’d like.  Try it!

Chocolate Grasshopper Cookies Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, ice cream base adapted from Amanda's Cookin'

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free condensed milk)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup 2% milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups chopped Keebler Grasshopper cookies

Put the condensed milk into a medium saucepan. Sift the cocoa into the condensed milk. Whisk together and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Put the bittersweet chocolate in the condensed milk mixture and whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large measuring cup, gently mix together the cream, 2% milk and the vanilla. Drizzle the cream mixture into the chocolate mixture. Whisk the mixtures together as you are drizzling. Be sure to loosen any mixture from the edges and corners of the pan using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Whisk until smooth. Pour through a sieve into a clean bowl.

Make an ice water bath in a bigger bowl and set the bowl of the chocolate cream mixture into it until it is very cold, whisking now and then. Pour into an ice cream maker and church according to manufacturer’s instructions, about 20-25 minutes. During the last couple minutes of churning, add the chopped cookies. Put in an airtight container and freezer for a couple hours (or enjoy the ice cream soft serve immediately. ;))

I have a little disclaimer with this particular ice cream.  One and a half cups of chopped cookies is plenty, but as I was chopping them, I kept chopped the whole package of cookies and ended up adding them all to the ice cream.  While I didn’t think so, Kevin thought it was a bit too much.  A whole package of the cookies probably totalled 2  1/2 to 3 cups of chopped cookies.  Add the amount you’d like.  Also if you want to bump up the mint flavor even more, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract.

Tis the season for ice cream!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups and Raspberry Chocolate Cookie Cups—Secret Recipe Club

For the Secret Recipe Club this month, it will be no surprise to the person whose blog I was assigned as soon as she sees this cookie in all the thumbnail links.  It is always great to find new blogs and make new friends with the Secret Recipe Club and I think it’s even more fun when your surprise assignment is someone you’ve already known for a while and already love their blog!

I had the pleasure of being assigned Lisa’s blog, Sweet As Sugar Cookies!  Lisa is as sweet as her blog, I know, because I had the pleasure of meeting her last November.  She lives in LA, but came to Utah to visit some friends and included me in those visits.  Lisa and I got to know each other through drooling over the treats on each others’ blogs over the last couple years.  It was so great to meet her last November!

I was excited to get to pick something to make from Lisa’s blog, but I was also so torn about what to make because there are so many great things to choose from!  Lisa has been on an amazing kick lately making cookie cups—all kinds.  There are so many, but I was drawn to her Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups.  I’ve told her she needs to get the rights or a patent on all these cookie cups she’s been creating since besides the Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Cups I posted last year, I haven’t seen cups that are filled with all kinds of decadent fillings in perfect harmony.  I just stuck a piece of candy in mine, Lisa has been going all out with flavors and fillings, as well as different kinds of cookies.  Every time she posts a new one, I think that’s my favorite. I chose the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies Cups, but her recent Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filled Cookie Cups are a must-try-soon!  Check out all of Lisa’s creations so far.  (She’s mentioned she’s got a lot more ideas to come, too, like Butterfinger Cookie Cups, Caramel Apple Cookie Cups and Take 5 Candy Bar Cookie Cups!)

Orange Cheesecake Cookie Cups

Snickerdoodle Biscoff Cookie Cups

Lofthouse Sugar Cookie Cups

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Filled Banana Cookie Cups

Double Cookies-N-Cream Cookie Cups

Chocolate Surprise Cookie Cups

One of the things I love about Lisa, she won’t let little things, like ovens being broken for a couple months, stop her or even slow her down.  (I probably would have died without my oven for that long!) ;)  But while she didn’t have an oven, she spent that time creating all kinds of delicious looking treats that didn’t require an oven.  You’ll have to check out the Muddy Buddy craze she went on there for a bit, too, and it wasn’t just with Chex cereal!  If you haven’t been by Lisa’s blog, you must.  She also started a weekly link-up called Sweets For A Saturday over a year ago and has over 1000 followers because of it.  I’ve linked up a few times and you can, too.  If you’ve made and blogged something yummy and want to add it to her weekly link-up, do it!  I think she usually has the link up by Friday night.  Look for the new link each week.  You’ll surely be inspired each time with ideas when you look at the almost 100 entries she gets weekly.

So besides the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups I made, I also tried my own flavor combo and made a raspberry filling to go with the chocolate cookie cups, with a fresh raspberry on top.  Yum to both!

I love that these are perfect for a 2 or 3 bite treat and they are perfect for parties or any occasion!

As pretty and fun as the raspberry ones were, I think I like the mint chocolate chips ones better and so did all the family who tasted them at a Memorial Day potluck I made them for. 

Plus, we loved the chocolate drizzle over the top of the mint ones.  I meant to shave a little chocolate on the tops of the raspberries ones and forgot.  They are both great and I will for sure be trying out some of the other cookie cup creations of Lisa’s!

I made Lisa’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups recipe just as she has it written.  She gives an option for a softer cookie using more butter, and that is what I did.  She also used salted butter and I used unsalted, but added a little salt to the cookies.  And one other small thing was that for her mint filling, I thought it was a little stiff, so I added about 1-2 teaspoons of milk until I liked the consistency.  Even though the filling has mini chocolate chips, I put it in a plastic zip top bag and snipped off enough of a corner to pipe the filling in to the cups.  Just make sure the hole is big enough that the mini chocolate chips don’t get clogged up. ;)

For the raspberry filling, I made a simple raspberry puree with some frozen raspberries and a bit of sugar.  (I only made half a recipe for the raspberry filling, which filled 18 cups with a little leftover.)  After making the puree and straining out the seeds, I just whipped it into a simple frosting/filling.

Raspberry Chocolate Cookie Cups (cookie recipe is on the link above for Lisa’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups), Filling recipe by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup (to taste) seeded raspberry puree (3/4 cup frozen raspberries and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, cooked in small saucepan until raspberries are thawed and broken up, then strained)

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

18 fresh raspberries

Make the raspberry puree.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the powdered sugar, butter, salt and vanilla.  It will need some liquid, so while it’s beating, add one tablespoon raspberry puree at a time until it is the consistency and flavor you’d like.  (I used 3 tablespoons.)  Pipe the filling into the cookie cups, which have cooled for 30-60 minutes in the fridge before removing each from the mini muffin cups, or overnight (covered) on the counter).  The cookies pop right out of the cups with just a little nudge from a sharp knife.  After piping the filling into each cup, put a fresh raspberry on top.  If you’d like, you can also grate a little dark chocolate over the tops.

All that and guess what?  I made some other delicious things from Lisa’s blog as well.  She also has a thing for chai spice and anything and everything made with her own recipe for the spice blend.   I had never tried chai spice before.  So I made some of her mix and happily labeled a jar with it.  I made a recipe she has for some Brown Sugar Chai Spice Ice Cream and I surprisingly loved it.  I like chai enough that right now I wonder if I’ll ever be able to make something with just cinnamon again. ;)  I have since made a Banana Chai Ice Cream that is delicious (made that recipe up as I went along).  And I made a coffee cake that has a chai spiced crumb topping.  Really liking the flavors of chai!  Thanks, Lisa!

If you have never before, you must go check out Lisa’s blog, Sweet As Sugar Cookies.  You’ll quickly come to love her and all the delicious sweetness of her blog!

 

TWD—Baking With Julia—Chocolate Truffle Tartlets with Oreos and Andes Mints

Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking With Julia today!  This recipe was a little more involved than the first one for white loaves of bread.  The group has decided that each month we’ll just be doing two recipes (instead of weekly) and one will be more difficult or involved than the other.  We all agreed that would work well with our schedules and with Baking With Julia being more involved recipes.  Still having two weeks instead of just one this time around, I waited until yesterday to get to these Chocolate Truffle Tartlets!  When will I learn? ;)

I decided after looking at how decadent this recipe was that I needed to cut it down a bit.  So I only made 1/4 of the recipe, which made two small 3 1/2 inch tarts instead of six!  The recipe called for a little added white chocolate and milk chocolate as well as a chopped up biscotti.  After making a failed recipe for almond biscotti the other day that only had egg whites in it, I decided on some chocolate filled Oreo cookies I had on hand and some chopped up Andes mint chocolates and I thought these tasted great!

I thought the chocolate crust was good.  Kevin thought it wasn’t sweet enough, but to me it worked well with the sweet filling.  The filling was not really what I thought it would be, I was thinking more of a custard or something.  I thought it was delicious and I’m glad it wasn’t custardy.  It was more like fudge—a nice minty fudge with a little extra crunch from the Oreo cookies!

Everyone ate a little tiny slice or two for dessert and the two little tartlets were gone in a flash!

We have a number of bloggers hosting this recipe this month.  You can find the recipe on their blogs.  But I do suggest you just get the book, Baking With Julia.

Spike at Spike Does Stuff

Steph at A Whisk and a Spoon

Jamie at Good Eats & Sweet Treats

Jessica at cookbookhabit

Check out all their tarts!  You can also see a bunch of others on the Tuesdays With Dorie website.

Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treats

Almost have nothing to say about these latest Rice Krispies Treats creation of mine—because the pictures do all the talking.  If you like Oreo cookies and particularly the Mint Filled Oreos, you’ll really like these Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treat!

I was inspired by a couple of things in my pantry.  One was a bag of yet another Kraft marshmallows I’d found recently—chocolate mint.

I like them.  They aren’t too chocolate minty, but were perfect for making these treats.  My family must have liked the mallows, too—as I only had half a bag left because they thought they’d be perfect in their chocolate mint hot cocoa recently.  So I made these Rice Krispies Treats with only half a bag of the chocolate mint ones and a whole bag of regular mini marshmallows.  I also had some Cocoa Krispies cereal, so I used those, but regular Rice Krispies would be great, too!

So, besides having the chocolate mint marshmallows, I also just happened to have some Cool Mint Oreo cookies, too.  I’m working on using things in my pantry!  (Oh, I’ve still got lots of sweet goodies in my baking pantry, so stay tuned!)  I’d bought the Oreos for just such a treat as these—and then, once again, my family started eating the cookies.  So these treats actually don’t have as many cookies as I would have liked to put in them, but still plenty and if you make these—put as many Oreos as you’d like!

Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

10.5 ounce bag of regular mini marshmallows

4 ounces (1/2 a bag) Chocolate Mint Marshmallows (if you can’t find them, just use more mini marshmallows)

7  1/2 cups, (310 grams) Cocoa Krispies cereal (regular Rice Krispies would be fine, too)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

16 Cool Mint Oreo cookies (or more, if desired), roughly chopped

Line a 9x9 inch pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine all the marshmallows and the butter.  Microwave in 30 second intervals until all melted.  (It only takes a minute to a minute and a half.)  Stir with a wooden spoon.  Add the cereal and stir together until combined.   Fold in the cookies.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan and press down evenly.  (I use a flat potato masher that is lightly sprayed with cooking spray—it works perfectly!)  Let set at room temperature for an hour or two.  Remove from pan with foil edges.  Peel off foil and cut into desired size pieces on a cutting board.

 If you like chocolate mint things, you’re really like these.  The mint flavor isn’t too strong and perfectly sweet!

Peppermint French Macarons—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

My Thanksgiving baking is in full swing ahead, but I wanted to share these Peppermint Macarons with you today for the ninth week of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  I’ve been wanting to make macarons again since I made Cocoa Macarons with Dark Chocolate Ganache back in July.  In trying to decide what flavor to make, I ran across these and decided peppermint was the way to go!

French Macarons seem intimidating, but they really are quite simple to make if you follow the instructions.  I may not have them down perfectly yet, but these turned out well and I was pleased.  I made half of them with a peppermint white chocolate ganache and half of them with a chocolate ganache with some almond extract added.  I actually liked the chocolate ones better.  Following the recipe for the white chocolate ganache on the link, it had too much cream with the chocolate, so it didn’t get quite as thick as I would have liked.  It also didn’t have enough peppermint.  I wish I would have added more and will next time—and use less cream as well!

The cookie itself is just the usual macaron made with almond flour.  I think it would also have been good with some peppermint extract.  But the ones I made with the chocolate ganache with some almond extract added were really good.  It was my friend’s birthday Wednesday, so I packed up most of the chocolate ones and gave them to her.

These would be perfect to give as Christmas gifts.  Who wouldn’t love a gift box full of macarons?  I like that you can make these pretty much any and all colors and flavors you’d like, so you could really kick up the festive holiday look with these.

 

I didn’t give my friend any of the ones with the white chocolate peppermint because it just wouldn’t quite stay firm enough and was squishing out of the cookies too much.  They will get eaten here!

Peppermint Macarons, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Foodness Gracious

1 cup (110 grams) powdered sugar

3/4 cup almond flour

2 large egg whites, room temperature

pinch of cream of tartar

1/4 cup (50 grams) superfine sugar (granulated would be fine)

red food coloring (optional)

Sift the powdered sugar and the almond flour using a fine mesh strainer.  Set aside.

Whisk the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the wire attachment until they become foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and beat a little more.  Add the superfine sugar gradually while beating on high until stiff peaks form.  Add the red food coloring if doing so. 

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold the almond flour/powdered sugar into the egg whites with a spatula, mixing just until all incorporated.  Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe about a quarter size cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Once they are all piped, if any of a point on the top, tap it down gently with a damp finger.   Leave them sitting at room temperature for about 45 minutes, until you see them become dull on top. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  When the oven is ready, put the baking sheets (this made enough to fill about 1 and a half sheets) in an turn the oven down to 325 degrees.  Leave the door open slightly with a wooden spoon holding it open.  Bake for 10 minutes, turning the sheets after five minutes.  Leave to cool for a couple of minutes when they come out of the oven and then gently lift the whole paper sheet from the tray to the counter. 

White Chocolate Peppermint Ganache

5 ounces white chocolate, chopped or you can use chips

1/4 cup heavy cream (my adjusted amount)

3/4 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (or to taste)

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.  Pour it over the chocolate in another bowl.  Let sit for a couple minutes.  Stir gently with a spatula until smooth.  Add the butter and stir again until smooth and shiny.  Add the extract and stir together.  Let cool and thicken.  Put the ganache in a piping bag (or a plastic zip top bag with a corner snipped off) and pipe a mound of ganache onto one cookie.  Top it with another cookie and continue to finish the remaining ones. 

Dark Chocolate Almond Ganache

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped or you can use chips

3 tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or to taste)

Heat the cream to just boiling, pour over the chocolate and let sit for a minute or two.  Gently stir together with a spatula until smooth.  Add the butter and flavoring and stir until smooth and shiny.  Put the ganache in a pipng bag (or a plastic zip top tab with a corner snipped off) and pipe a mound of ganache onto one cookie.  Top it with another cookie.  Continue to fill other cookies. 

You will probably have some leftover ganache.  I waited until it hardened a little more, then rolled it into balls and tossed it in some crushed peppermint candy for some quick, tasty truffles!  These would also be great for your holiday gifts!  You can roll the balls of ganache in any thing you want—finely chopped nuts, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, colorful sprinkles, etc. 

This post is also being added to Lisa’s Sweets For A Saturday at Sweet As Sugar Cookies.

Check out the other 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hoppers!