New Year's Chocolate Confetti Cookies

New Year's 2012 is almost here! I'm planning our Happy New Year's event at my parents' house this year and just knew confetti had to be involved. I mean, really, how can you possible have a party without confetti? You can't. But I love eating a lot more than vacuuming, so I decided on these chocolate kissed confetti cookies! It combines so many delicious things...chocolate, hershey kisses, sprinkles. Bring it on 2012!

Chocolate Kiss Confetti Cookies [click to print]
Makes about 30 cookies

2/3 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1-1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sprinkles (rainbow, chocolate or round confetti!)
30 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Whisk together flour, cocoa, soda and salt; set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg, mixing until combined. Add dry ingredients in about 3 additions. Continue mixing until well incorporated. Batter should be thick enough to roll into balls, if not, chill for an hour.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or coat with nonstick cooking spray. Shape dough into 1" balls and roll in sprinkles. Place dough on cookie sheet about 2" apart. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes.

When done baking, immediately press a kiss on the center of each cookie. Place on wire rack to cool.

Source: Adapted from The Curvy Carrot

Golden Sparkle Cookies

I was sitting here, thinking about the coming new year and I kept thinking: Shiny! Glitter! Sparkles! It may have something to do with my bright red pj's with shiny gold stripes running through them, but mostly I think it's the fact that those things signify New Year's perfectly. Send out the old and ring in the new shiny somethings!

These golden sparkle cookies will shimmer and shine right along with your party shoes as you ring in the New Year! They are also great to dress up a dessert table at a wedding reception or other fancy event where sparkles are required.

Golden Sparkle Cookies [click to print]
Makes about 3-1/2 dozen cookies

2-3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream
3/4 to 1 c. coarse gold sprinkles (I used about 3/4 of a 5.25 oz bottle of Wilton Gold Pearlized Sprinkles)

Whisk together flour, soda, nutmeg and salt; set aside. Cream butter and sugar together in large mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add sour cream and mix well. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in about 3 additions and continue beating until well combined. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper or coat with nonstick cooking spray. Shape dough into 1" balls and roll in sprinkles. Place on baking sheet about 2" apart; lightly press the end of a glass on dough ball to flatten slightly.

Bake at 375 for 5-6 minutes; cookies will not look done, but this is how they'll stay nice and soft so resist the urge to bake longer! Leave cookies on the tray for about a minute, then remove to wire rack to cool.

Source: Adapted from Peppermint Plum

Gingerbread House Cookies

Every year near the holidays, my elementary school would host a gingerbread house decorating night in the cafeteria. My mom and all the PTO ladies would hand out baggies of royal icing and we'd set out our extensive array of colorful candies and get to work. My siblings and I were ambitious little artists/mess-makers so our graham cracker mansions were constructed with only royal icing for glue, none of that hot glue stuff that our friends Kate and Kelsey tried to pull! However, their house was always standing at the end of the evening and ours undoubtedly had a few collapsed roofs, fallen turrets and tears.

Hard at work, squeezing that bag!

The only sad thing about graham cracker houses is that they don't taste as good as real gingerbread and they get stale just sitting around on the mantel for weeks on end. I would much rather have something I can sink my teeth into, without the added sugar rush and expense of mountains of candy decorations.

So when I heard that my brother and his cute family were coming for a visit this Christmas, I just had to make these cookies for my nieces to decorate! They are quite the budding artists, after all. Not only do these cookies taste delicious, but they don't take too long to prepare and they are a great project for kids and (a little) less messy than your traditional graham cracker house. We put all the white icing in plastic squeeze bottles and it was much easier for little hands to manage. If we had another bottle we would have put the red in one, too, so plan ahead a little better than me!

This cookie artwork was eaten by Santa!

Store these cookies, undecorated or extravagant, in an airtight container and they'll stay nice and soft for several days...if they last that long!

And a little help from cousin Sarah!

Gingerbread House Cookies [click to print]
Makes about 4 dozen cookies

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. molasses
1/4 c. sour cream
1 egg
4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg

Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. Cream together butter and sugar. Add molasses, sour cream and egg; beat until well blended. Gradually add dry ingredients in about 3 additions. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough between two sheets of wax paper. Use a cookie cutter to cut out house shapes or create your own. I made mine out of a piece of wax paper and used a pizza cutter, smoothing out any cutter nicks with my finger. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place cookies 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Source: Adapted from Meet the Dubiens

Royal Icing [click to print]
2 egg whites, large
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. brown food coloring
3 c. powdered sugar

Beat egg whites, vanilla and food coloring until frothy. Add powdered sugar and continue beating on low until smooth. The mixture should be kind of thick, but pipeable, at this point. Scoop about 1/3 of the icing into a squeeze bottle or piping bag and set aside. Add water to remaining icing, about 1/2 tsp. at a time, until it is flooding consistency. If you make it too thin, just mix in a little more powdered sugar. Pour icing in another squeeze bottle (a piping bag will be much trickier, but still possible, for this consistency) and set aside.

Using the thicker icing, outline each house shape and allow to harden about 10 minutes. Using the thinner icing, flood each shape to fill in the outlines and allow to harden a few hours. Be careful not to get any water on them as they harden or they'll have lighter colored spots.

Once the cookies are well set, let your decorators go to work!

Source: Adapted from Joy of Cooking

Christmas Coal Candy

I grew up in the city, but close enough to Dutch country that threats of the Belsnickel still haunt me at Christmas. The Belsnickel dresses in fur, wears a mask with a long tongue and visits naughty children to scare and threaten them into behaving. (Check out Pennsylvania Dutch Night Before Christmas if you want the whole story!) But when those bad kids just refuse to be good, Santa Claus surprises them with a bag of coal instead of shiny new toys on Christmas morning.

But coal candy is for everyone! This traditional Spanish hard candy has a slightly crumbly texture when you crunch it. The traditional Spanish version is lemony, but I wanted something a little more Christmas-flavored, so I went with peppermint extract. This makes a great stocking stuffer or party favor!

Coal Candy (Dolce Carbon) [click to print]
1 egg white
1-1/2 c. powdered sugar, divided
2 tsp. black food coloring
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
3 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. water

In medium bowl, whisk together egg white, 1 c. powdered sugar, food coloring and extract. Gradually whisk in remaining 1/2 c. powdered sugar. The mixture should be thick and stiff and drop off the whisk in globby clumps. If it's too thin and runny, add more powdered sugar, a little at a time. Set aside.

Line 8x8 baking dish (about 2 inches deep) with parchment paper and set aside. Combine water and sugar in pot and stir together, mashing it until it's about the consistency of wet sand. Insert candy thermometer and heat until it reaches 258-260 degrees. Stir the whole time; the mixture will look kind of grainy and weird, so don't worry. When it's around 245-250, it may start browning, but that's okay. The mixture should stay grainy and not liquid.

At 258-260, remove from heat and add egg white mixture to pot and stir. (It might foam, so be careful!) When mixture is well mixed, pour into pan and allow to stand until hardened and cooled. Break into pieces; I used a hammer and screwdriver, it's definitely hard candy!

Source: Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes via Flagrante Delicia

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I enjoy a sugar cookie every now and then, but chocolate? Yummers! These cookies look great with a little bit of bright frosting to outline their shapes! If you take them out of the oven before they look completely done, they'll stay nice and soft, plus they have a rich chocolate flavor that you're gonna love!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies [click to print]
Makes about 2-1/2 dozen

2-1/4 c flour
1 c cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c butter, unsalted
1-1/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt; set aside. Combine butter and sugar in separate bowl and beat until just barely combined. With mixer on low speed, add egg, vanilla and sour cream. Scrape sides of bowl as needed.

Scoop dough onto large sheet of wax paper. Cover with another sheet of wax paper and roll out about 1/4" thick. Place entire thing on baking sheet and chill at least one hour.

Remove top sheet of wax paper. Press cookie cutters into dough to create desired shapes. If dough is too sticky (to cutters or bottom layer of wax paper), dust with a little cocoa powder. Place cutouts on cookie sheet, about 1/2" apart, and refrigerate 30 minutes; this will help cookies maintain sharper edges.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Source: Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes