CV Wellbeing Cookie Exchange

With winter quickly approaching, we are likely moving our activities indoors. Connecting with food in the form of its preparation can help bring joy (and fun) to the forefront.

Baking, for example, provides the opportunity to be creative and try something new! Plus, is there anything better than snow falling while the smell of cookies baking in the oven fills the room? To celebrate the season, our team compiled a list of their favorite cookie recipes just in time for holiday parties, family gatherings, or just to enjoy by yourself near the fire. We hope you give them a try!

Carolyn

Emmy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is near and dear from one of my closest childhood friends @emmabakesbread. She made them with Oreos for my sister-in-law and me when we were visiting her in Hawaii, and they warmed our hearts when we were missing her during deployments. I most enjoy baking them with my nieces and nephews, as they've become the family favorite!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Beat in vanilla.

3. Mix together flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl. 

4. Add half to the wet mixture. Beat until just combined (you should still see some flour). Add the remaining dry mixture. Again, beat until just combined. (Do not over mix!)

5. Fold in add-ins (chocolate chips, Oreos, etc.) using a rubber spatula. Drop about 1/4 cup of dough on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Flatten slightly. 

6. Bake for about 12-13 minutes. Cool for about 3 minutes before transferring to baking rack. 

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup butter (at room temperature)

• 1 cup brown sugar

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk (at room temperature)

• 1 tablespoon vanilla

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• chocolate chips (or Oreos, or Tony's Chocolonely caramel)

Lauren

Gingerbread Cookies

I’m sharing a gingerbread cookie recipe. I have fond memories of making cookies with my mom and Nana growing up. I always loved using cookie cutters to make holiday shapes and then decorating them. My favorite is to have a cookie with a cup of hot tea (especially in the evenings during the holiday season) cozied up on the couch.

Instructions:

1. Using a hand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and molasses in a large bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, spices, baking soda, and salt until combined. With the mixer on low, gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, until the dough just comes together. (Do not overmix!)

3. Divide the dough in half and create two discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 2 to 3 hours. (Alternatively, divide the dough in half and roll each piece of dough between two pieces of parchment to ¼” thick. Chill until firm.)

4. Preheat oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Place one disc of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll until ¼” thick. (Alternatively, peel off both sheets of parchment from the dough, then replace one sheet of parchment back underneath the dough.) Cut out gingerbread men with a 3" wide cutter and transfer to baking sheets.

5. Bake until slightly puffed and set, 9 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your cookie cutters. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

6. Repeat with the remaining disc of dough. Decorate with icing and sprinkles as desired.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened

• ¾ cup packed brown sugar

• ⅔ cup molasses

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Optional: Sugar cookie icing or sprinkles for decorating

Alison

Nut Cups 

This is an old family recipe from my Great-Great Grammy. She was the first to come to the US and brought this over from Hungary. We use a mini muffin pan for baking these; they are almost like mini pies! You can replace chopped walnuts with chopped pecans. *Contains nuts

Instructions:

Dough

1. Mix 1 stick of salted butter and 3 oz cream cheese in a medium bowl. 

2. Add flour to the mix until it forms a dough-like consistency.

3. If you are not baking dough immediately, wrap the dough in saran wrap and refrigerate.

Filling

1. In a large bowl, mix egg and brown sugar. 

2. Once combined, add in 2 tbsp melted butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and ½ tsp salt and mix. 

3. Add 1 cup of chopped walnuts. Mix until combined.

Baking

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Divide dough into 24 balls about ½-inch wide. Place into mini muffin pan holes. 

3. Using a tart dough tamper, shape the dough to create a pocket for the filling. The dough thickness should be as even as possible on every side.

4. Spoon in the filling into the pocket created until it is about ⅔ of the way filled.

5. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1 stick salted butter (room temperature) 

• 3 oz cream cheese 

• 1 cup flour 

Filling

• 2 eggs 

• 2 cups brown sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp salt 

• 2 cups chopped walnuts

• ¼ cup melted butter 

Equipment

• Mini muffin pans (½ inch wells)

• Tart dough tamper (you can use your hands to shape the dough if you don’t have these; the tamper makes it easier!)

Kristin

I have 2 favorite cookie recipes for Christmas, passed down from Mormor, meaning mother’s mother in Swedish. She emigrated from Aland, a small island owned by Finland, just a 2-hour ferry ride from Stockholm, from which she emigrated in 1902. She would bake for the week every Saturday. So when we went for Sunday dinner with the cousins, the house always smelled of these two cookies and cinnamon buns (Kanelbullar). Her pantry had a flour sifter and all essential kitchen equipment - which turned out to be my favorite place. Both of these recipes are so fun for children to help bake. 

Spritz

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer. Add the egg and blend. Add vanilla and almond extract. Add flour and salt and hand stir until combined. 

2. Using ¼ of the dough at one time, press it through a cookie press, held perpendicular to the pan. Do not use parchment paper, as the cookie needs to stick to the pan.

3. Bake at 350°F for 5-8 minutes, depending on how soft you like them to be.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter  

• 1 teaspoon vanilla                        

• 1 teaspoon almond extract

• ⅔ cup sugar                      

• 1 large egg                       

• 2 ½ cups flour 

• ½ teaspoon salt

Equipment

• Cookie Press (https://www.wilton.com/cookie-press-box-set/191001537.html  to see cookie press)

Pepparkakor

Instructions:

1. Cream butter and sugar; add egg and molasses and combine. Add flour and other dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix well.

2. Let dough stand in refrigerator overnight.

3. Roll out half of the dough, and use cookie cutters to form desired shapes. Repeat for the other half of dough.

4. Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes.

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter                      

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1 ½ cups sugar               

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 beaten egg                     

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons molasses                   

• 1 teaspoon ground cloves 

• 3 ⅓ cups flour                  

• 1 teaspoon ginger

Amanda

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

I’m particularly fond of peanut butter blossom cookies! As a kid, I always looked forward to having these during Christmas time at family parties. I don’t have a recipe of my own, but I found one from good ole Betty Crocker. *Contains peanuts

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, and egg with an electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with a spoon, until well blended. 

2. Stir in flour, baking soda, and baking powder until dough forms.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in additional granulated sugar. On ungreased cookie sheets, place them about 2 inches apart.

4.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are light golden brown. Immediately press 1 milk chocolate candy in the center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• ½ cup packed brown sugar

• ½ cup creamy peanut butter

• ½ cup butter softened

• 1 egg

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

• ¾ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• Additional granulated sugar

• About 36 Hershey's Kisses milk chocolates, unwrapped 

We wish you joy and peace this season, perhaps with a side of laughter and warm cookies!

- The CV Wellbeing Team