The climate committee at school hosted a cookie swap to kick off the holiday season last Thursday (Dec. 1). I jumped at the chance to bake two Pinterest recipes that I'd being eyeing for a while.
The first recipe wasn't actually a cookie and didn't actually require baking, but I decide to sneak Peppermint Bark into the cookie swap. I felt there was no need to be so rigid in our definition of "cookie." (recipe link)
Start with candy canes. I grabbed the smaller sized ones & tossed them in a ziplock bag.
SMASH the bag of peppermint to pieces.
Any heavy object will do. An old skillet worked like a charm.
The players: brown and white chocolate, peppermint extract & veggie oil
Holiday silicone mold are super cute and work great. I would have preferred a snowflake mold as pictured in the original Pinterest post, but I wasn't able to find any. I did snag these Christmas tree molds at Michael's. On a complete side note: Why haven't I been experimenting with silicone molds before now - they are awesome!
Check the recipe link for all the details, but I think the trees turned out pretty great!
Yummy!
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The next recipe was also a Pinterest find and was definitely a cookie that required a mixer, oven and bake time - The Oatmeal Toffee Cookie. (recipe link)
The cast o' characters: melted butter, egg, vanilla, oats, flour, brown sugar, &
(saving the best for last) Heath Bar bites!
I failed at documenting this recipe well, but all ingredients end up in the mixer EXCEPT the Heath Bar. Toffee bits get stirred in at the last minute. One note: nuts can be added to this recipe as well, but I omitted them as I wasn't sure the swap was allergy free.
Spoon onto baking sheets.
Bake @ 375 for 10 minutes.
So the Oatmeal Toffee Cookies turned out absolutely delicious, but I have to warn that they are super fragile and crumbly. I didn't have the opportunity to test this theory, but I can only imagine they would be just perfect for crumbling over ice cream or vanilla greek yogurt. Yummy!
I neglected to take a photo of the Christmas themed Chinese takeout boxes (@ Michael's) or the red & green polka dotted recipe cards that I ribbon tied to each box, but I asure you it was all so very cute and festive.
I am having my very own cookie swap next Sunday ( the 2nd annual cookie gala to be exact), but I haven't decided on a recipe or two just yet. But no worriers, I am sure I'll be a baking machine next Saturday in preparation. Happy Holiday baking to all my "Polka Dots" out there :)
1 comment:
A "polka dot"? I love it!
The skillet picture is completely priceless! I'm excited to see that the molded peppermint bark turned out well. I had that pinned, but haven't had a chance to try it yet!
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