These Pecan Puffs are the perfect combination of crumbly and soft. They literally melt in your mouth!
Day 8 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
After 3 years of Christmas Cookies on AHC my “Family Recipe Well” was running dry, so I sent out a cry for help in true 2016 fashion.
No, it wasn’t a tweet, so I guess it was more circa 2010…don’t be so judgy.
No fewer than three people sent back this recipe for “Pecan Puffs”, which was clearly my grandmother’s cute name for Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Teacakes.
Yes, I’ve already technically posted a recipe but three family members can’t be wrong.
And I wasn’t disappointed. They were delightfully crumbly but not dry. The pecans and sugar were perfect!
These Pecan Puffs taste like sweet pecans and nostalgia.
These Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft and thick just like your favorite chewy chocolate chip cookie but packed with peanut butter flavor.
Day 7 in my annual 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
I know this is my second chocolate chip cookie recipe in this year’s 12 Day Cookie Marathon, but this one has peanut butter.
Hello, peanut butter!
In real life when I get stressed, I bake chocolate chip cookies.
Not just a little stressed but dealing with a new job, a divorce, moving, selling a condo and a car in a different city kind of stressed. The kind of stress that not even a run or yoga can fix. Chocolate chip cookies totally can. They’re magic like that.
Just look at the stacks of magic!
Usually I bake my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe because the repetition is meditative, but sometimes I deviate to address a particular craving.
{Cough, cough} Peanut butter.
But seriously, these cookies? HUGE success. GIGANTIC.
These sensational Ginger Orange Almond Biscotti are a little bit spicy and bit sweet! They have notes of ginger, orange, cardamom and cinnamon all baked to crispy perfection. Perfect for dunking in coffee or just snacking!
Day 5 of the annual 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
I try not to pick favorites. I want the cookies to know I love them equally.
But sometimes you just can’t help yourself and you find yourself gravitating to particular cookie.
This Ginger Orange Almond Biscotti was that cookie this year.
These are James Beard Award, Michelin Star kind of elite ranks.
These biscotti are sophisticated, sassy cookies.
The candied orange adds a bit a sweetness; the candied ginger adds a bit of bite and heat; the cinnamon and cardamom are spicy and warming; and the almonds add extra crunch to this magnificent cookie!
They were delicious dipped in coffee; they were as delicious on Day 1 as on Day 6; they were delicious in the morning before work; and they were delicious after dinner as the perfect sweet ending. Seriously “All the time” delicious.
These No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies are soft, crunchy and chewy all at the same time! The sweet peanut butter flavor will have you reaching for another!
Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
Confession. I botched the first batch of these No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies.
It takes a certain kind of special to mess up no-bake cookies.
There are 5 ingredients. Five.
But I managed.
To my credit the recipe didn’t come with instructions and I didn’t want to ask because what self-respecting pastry chef needs to ask for directions on a 5 ingredient, no bake cookie? Ummm. None.
The answer is none.
Do I cream the ingredients? Heat them in a pot and then stir in the cereal? I don’t know because I am my Mother’s daughter and also a Taurus. (Read: stubborn AF)
I tried beating them together then stirring in the cereal…nope.
I tried just using a wooden spoon. Better. But then I popped them in the fridge to see if they would “set”. Ding, ding, ding!
Phew. That was complex.
(Sidebar: The photos were taken after 8 hours of refrigeration. They had the best texture after a full 24)
These Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies magically have the texture of a classic shortbread cookie while remaining soft and moist. A sweet brown sugar, vanilla dough is marbled with semi-sweet chocolate chips for a sweet treat that is perfect as dessert or with a cup of coffee!
Day 3 of the annual 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
Since I switched careers, the first thing people ask is “What’s it like to work in a professional kitchen?”
The long and short answer is “Hard.” Harder than multivariable differential equations; harder than running 10 miles after a leg day at the gym; harder than non-Euclidean geometry; and harder than forecasting the cash flow and balance sheet for a 5 billion dollar business and presenting it to the CEO.
Some days it feels like you can conquer the world and other days you find yourself repeating the mantra “You are a badass. You can totally do this. 130° is not that hot.”
Some days work is easy and intoxicatingly exhilarating, but other days it feels like the kitchen beat you up and left you on the curb to die.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies are for those days.
And, let’s be honest, all the days in between!
Imagine the best shortbread cookie that you’ve ever had. Now stuff that full of chocolate chips and brown sugar, and you have this cookie.
It is tender and the crumb is perfectly crumbly without being dry.
It’s so wonderfully buttery and soft that it melts in your mouth.
These easy Butterscotch Chews combine the chew and brown sugar flavors of blondies with a little holiday ginger spice!
Day 2 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
Chewy, nutty, addicting.
It’s no secret that I have a blondie obsession. I think I made it pretty clear here and also to anyone who works with me that blondies are my weakness.
There is just something about that brown sugar buttery flavor that sucks me in and the next thing I know, I’ve gained 5 pounds from blondie scraps (true story).
So you take that brown sugary, chewy goodness mix in some toasted walnuts and ginger and you have yourself a cookie worth fighting over.
Because that texture…
I just cannot. It’s too much.
I saved a sample bag for a friend and took the rest to work, promptly got Butterscotch Chew withdrawals and ate every last one from the baggie. Every one.
Then I lied and said I forgot to save some.
These cookies made a liar out of me.
Just in case that wasn’t reason enough for you, they are refrigerator cookies, which are basically God’s gift to the Holiday cookie season.
So you make the easy dough, roll it up in parchment and refrigerate it until you are ready to slice and bake.
Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Cookies are the marriage of my two favorite holiday flavors: chocolate and peppermint. Two easy sugar cookie doughs are swirled together to create a delicate, tender and show-stopping Christmas cookie!
And we’re back with my annual 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! Woohoo!
Love it or hate it, peppermint is inextricably linked to Christmas and December.
I’m not a lover of the peppermint. You will never find me noshing on a candy cane or one of those ubiquitous peppermint candies that grandmas and doctors ALWAYS have on hand.
Peppermint ice cream? No thanks.
Peppermint white chocolate frosting? Pass.
Peppermint cake? …
…sorry you lost me.
But the second peppermint is combined with dark chocolate, I lose all self-control.
Peppermint mocha? Thank you, Starbucks, you are a blessing.
Peppermint hot chocolate? Be liberal with the extract will you, please?
Peppermint chocolate bark? Is that even a question?
So it seemed natural to swirl my two favorite Christmas flavors together into one happy little sugar cookie!
You will love the delicate texture of these cookies – they are like a soft, almost chewy shortbread that melts in your mouth.
Johnny Iuzzinis Killer Chocolate Chip Cookies are full of contrast: soft on the inside and a little crisp on the outside; sweet and salty; familiar, yet with just a hint of adventure. Just how I like it.
If you’ve been around these parts for a hot minute, you know that I have a healthy chocolate chip cookie (or CCC’s as I lovingly call them) obsession. Some might say I have a problem.
Those people don’t count.
There are others on this site. There are others I haven’t posted.
I can’t even with the chocolate chip cookies.
I prefer to think that I am on a mission try every single CCC recipe.
I do this for the people.
#selfless
If you call something “the world’s best” or “greatest” or apparently even “killer”, it’s like a siren call for me to try it. Can’t. Resist.
I mean Johnny Iuzzini is a James Beard Award winning pastry chef and all, but, honestly, what really did it for me was the almond extract.
I LOVE almond extract. Capital “L” Love it.
If I met a guy who smelled like almond extract, I’d be done for. Swooooon.
Take me I’m yours.
Is that weird? {Don’t answer that…}
And now (Thanks, Johnny) I have an unhealthy obsession with almond extract in my chocolate chip cookies.
It’s damn good, people. I wouldn’t lie to you. This is the Trust Tree.
These cookies are comfort food incarnate with a touch of je ne sais quoi. The almond extract adds a subtle flavor that will have you reaching for another. And another.
And I should know because I was snowed in with these cookies during the Snowpocalypse and that, my friends, was more dangerous than the 2 feet of snow outside. Forget the travel ban, I needed a CCC ban. The struggle was very real.
“We did it!!!” [I hope you hear that in the voice of Elle Woods from Legally Blonde…No? Am I alone here?]
We finally made it through 12 days of the second annual 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! You will never know what it took to actually pull this off.
11 cookies in 3 days.
3 epic fails. [And I do mean EPIC]
25 pounds of butter; 10 pounds of sugar.
Marathon photography sessions crammed in before sprinting to catch the subway to work.
4 cookies baked in the wee hours of the morning after work.
One very tired and sore individual.
And you know what? It was absolutely and completely worth it!
There were some fantastic cookies this year: some heirloom recipes; some heritage recipes; and some new creations of my own!
Just in case you missed any here is a run through of each delectable one! I’ve added a little comment about how easy or difficult the recipe was, so that you can pick one (or several) that fit your needs.
Because I am sure I don’t need to tell you, but Christmas rapidly approacheth….
[On that note, I haven’t started my Christmas gift shopping yet. I’ve, ummm, been a little busy…]
These cookies are a bit more involved. The dough needs to be chilled several hours before being rolled out and filled with the homemade date filling. Then the cookies are rolled up and refrigerated overnight before being sliced and baked!
Brace yourselves! This dough needs to be refrigerated overnight and then rolled out to the thickness of paper. Bring your patience because it’s totally worth it!
These seemingly complicated cookies come together quickly and need no time in the refrigerator. Whip up the cream cheese frosting while they cool and you can have an impressive holiday cookie in no time at all! Ok fine. In several hours. But most of that time is waiting for them to cook!
These Pecan Puffs taste like sweet pecans and nostalgia.
