Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!
There are many desserts people make for the holidays (which makes it hard to choose from), so this year, I went with a few of the classics. I made decorated sugar cookies, gingerbread men, and peppermint rice krispy treats. I had a lot of fun making these festive treats especially because my little brother was helping me make and decorate the cookies.
The first dessert I made were sugar cookies that I decorated with an easy cookie glaze. These cookies are probably the easiest that I ever made. They only take a few ingredients and are also egg-less, so vegetarians can also enjoy them. For the cookie recipe look below the pictures. For the cookie glaze, just click on this link: Cookie Icing
The next thing I baked were gingerbread men. Out of all of the years of my baking (I have been baking since I was 6 years old), I have never made gingerbread men! So this year, I added it to my holiday baking list. I got the recipe from a video on YouTube: Gingerbread Men Cookies. These Cookies were really good and crispy, but a little hard to work with because the dough was really sticky. To decorate them, I used the same cookie icing and red hots (spicy cinnamon candy decorations).
The last thing I made were peppermint rice krispy treats. They were easy to make and did not take a lot of time. All I did to make the peppermint flavor was putting just a 1/2 teaspoon of pure peppermint extract. Then, to make them more festive, I dyed the melted marshmallow green and using my Christmas tree cookie cutter, I cut out little green Christmas trees. My brother thought they were not complete and sprinkled them with red, green, and white sprinkles.
On Christmas eve, my mom and I decorated several platters with the cookies and treats I made and gave to our neighbors , friends, and family!
Please remember to follow, like, and comment if you enjoy reading Sweet Baking!
Sugar Cookies
Makes 30 cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks of organic unsalted butter
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 cups of organic all purpose flour
½ tsp. of baking powder
1 ½ tsp. of pure vanilla extract
Directions:
1.Preheat your oven to 355 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat mat
2.With an electric mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy in a large sized bowl.
3.In another medium sized bowl sift the flour and baking powder.
4.Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time, beating well after each addition.
5.Finally add the vanilla extract and beat until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.
6.Divide dough into 2 portions and cover with plastic wrap. Then, refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
7.Take one portion of dough and roll it out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out shapes using desired cookie cutters.
8.Place cut outs on lined baking sheet and bake in pre-heated oven for 6-8 min. until lightly golden brown on edges.
9.Let cookies cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes and decorate if you want.
*Most of the ingredients I use are organic and it makes a difference in taste for the cake, but you may use non-organic ingredients if you prefer
December 26, 2013 at 8:23 pm
Those cookies look like fun! 🙂
LikeLike
December 26, 2013 at 8:27 pm
Thanks! They were a lot of fun to make!
Sofia A.
LikeLike
December 26, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Keep it up, girlie!
LikeLike
December 30, 2013 at 6:39 pm
You’re making me hungry. Those cookies look AWESOME. And delicious!, 😀
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!! 🙂
LikeLike
December 30, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Thanks! Merry Christmas!
Sofia A.
LikeLike
January 2, 2014 at 11:53 pm
Wow that is amazing! You have to be a professional baker to make cookies like that! They look like the most delicious homemade cookies I have ever seen in my entire life!:D
LikeLike
January 3, 2014 at 1:05 am
Thank You so much for your comment!
LikeLike