Treats for Sharing

Baking and giving an assortment of treats to friends and family members is one of the highlights of my Christmas season.  This assortment usually includes gingerbread cookies, but my recent throwdown left me feeling a little gingerbreaded-out.  They didn't make this year's line-up, but they'll definitely make their comeback next year (especially since I received not one, but TWO footless gingerbread cutters this year.  Score!).  

This year's menu:

• Peppermint Bark Popcorn* (recipe by Our Best Bites)
  
• Red Velvet Cookies (recipe below)
  
• Snowman Cookies (recipe by Ann Clark) decorated with Glacé Icing
  
• Candy Cane Cookies (recipe by Mimi's Kitchen)  

*For less crunch in your peppermint bark popcorn, pulverize candy canes in food processor instead of crushing them.  It makes the popcorn much easier to eat!  If you plan to make this with microwave popcorn, seek out natural/non-buttered varieties.  Those uber-buttery flavors that have saturated our supermarket shelves just don't jive as well with peppermint and white chocolate coating.  I actually used kettle corn flavored, and it turned out fine.

 

Now's a good time to stock up on assorted sized tins at your local craft and hobby store.  If you're really lucky, you can still find graduated sizes of the same design to make cookie gift towers next year!

Red Velvet Cookies  (Makes about 3 dozen)

1 box Red Velvet cake mix

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2 eggs

powdered sugar for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cookie sheets with foil or parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, cream cheese, and eggs in a medium mixing bowl.  Dough will be very thick and sticky.  Using two spoons (don't try a cookie scoop for this...), drop 1" balls of dough into a bowl of powdered sugar.  Toss dough around to cover with sugar, then use your hands to roll into a ball.  If you start rolling before the dough has been completely covered with sugar, you'll end up with a red sticky mess on your hands (literally)!  Not that I've done this... :D
3. Place cookie dough balls about 2" apart on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake at 350°F for 10-14 minutes, or until puffed, crackly, and set.  When cookies come out of the oven, slide foil or parchment off cookie sheet and allow to cool completely before attempting to remove.