Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Cookies

Last weekend, I went to a cookie party hosted by a good friend.  It's an annual event and I always look forward to it.  This year, I decided to bring a few different cookies - some old recipes and some new ones.  The most popular cookie I brought was this white chocolate covered Oreo-



I found the idea on Pinterest and modified it.  Originally, they called for pretzels as the "base".  I decided to change it up a little and used Oreos instead.  It was very easy to make (I'm all for keeping it simple).  I melted some white chocolate chips in the microwave (sorry I forgot to take pictures).  I dipped the front of the oreos in the melted chocolate.  Then, I dipped the top half of the cookie in red sugar.  To top it off, I added a mini marshmallow (actually I cut the marshmallows in half).  Cute and tasty!

The second "cookie" I made was more for fun.  I found the idea on Pinterest and mentioned it in My Friday Five a while back - 



I just couldn't resist - and they were a huge hit with both the kids and adults!  It was really easy to assemble these little guys.  I used mini candy canes - which I cut the ends off of (the swoopy end - technical term - is a little long as is).  I melted some chocolate chips to use as "glue".  I dipped Hershey chocolate nuggets into the melted chocolate and placed them onto the candy canes.  Then, I dipped the Teddy Grahams into the chocolate and set them onto the nuggets.  They set up pretty quickly.  And off to the fridge they went.  Notice that I only used the Teddy Grahams with arms up (I just learned that there are two shapes of Teddy Grahams.  Arms up and arms down.  I stuck with the more excited arms up guys).  I never get tired of looking at these - they make me smile.

The third cookie I brought were haystacks.  I've been making these for years (and I'm sure all of my friends expect them at this point).  Again, easy and delicious-


How easy?  Only two ingredients - chocolate chips and chow mein noodles-


I just melted the chocolate chips in the microwave - 


And added the noodles (I pour in about a third of the bag at a time)-


Then I dropped them into bite size amounts onto a cookie sheet and put them into the fridge to cool-


They are always a hit!  Everyone loves chocolate!

The last cookie I brought also involved chocolate-


A friend made these for us a few years ago and I love them!  And there are only three ingredients - pretzels, Rolos, and pecans - 


The most time consuming part of the prep is unwrapping all of the Rolos - 


So you might want to get the kids in on that.  Then just spread the pretzels on a cookie sheet and top with Rolos- 


They go in the oven for a few minutes on low heat.  They just need to soften a bit.  Once they come out, pop a pecan on each cookie and squish it down a bit.  Let them cool in the fridge and enjoy-


So there you have it.  Four easy and tasty Christmas cookies for your holiday entertaining.  Oh and while I was making these cookies for the cookie party, I decided to make some more for my husband's co-workers.  



I filled one box with:  chocolate chip cookies, brownies, white chocolate covered Oreo's (described above), cookies and cream cookies (I found that recipe here), store bought shortbread cookies, Hershey kisses and candy canes.


The second box was filled with:  haystacks, the pretzel/Rolo/pecan cookies, and white chocolate dipped pretzels.  Craig said that they didn't last too long - always a good sign!  

So now that all of my baking is done, it's time to finish my shopping and wrapping.  Only a few more days left!