Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies and Christmas Cut-out Sugar Cookies

Alas, Christmas break has begun! To celebrate, I spent the past 5 hours doing nothing but baking.

With finals this entire past week, I haven't had a chance to do any Christmas baking (or really even do anything festive), but now I have all the time in the world (er.. a week) to get everything done that I haven't had a chance to do yet. Being a soon-to-be-wife and college-student, I've decided to go with homemade goodie gifts this year, since I'm living on a pretty tig

ht budget. I'm pretty pumped about it though, because I really enjoy making Christmas cookies and enjoy seeing people's reactions when they try one of the made-from-scratch-and-with-love cookies. It's such an appreciated gift, and is a fun process making it, too.

I've decided split up my baking over a span of a couple days, mainly today and Monday, so I'm not stuck making six different kinds of cookies all in one day. It looks like I may even get to do it tomorrow, since we're scheduled to get our first big snow storm of the season, and I will not be going in to work if it is as bad as they're predicting

(Namely, an hour drive from my house to where I work, and the area I work at is supposed to get 14 inches of snow...). I could go off on a whole 'nother tangent about that, but I'm not.

Anyway! Cookie time. Yes. Today was full of warm, sugary, buttery goodness. Which leads me to today's adventures with...

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies and Christm

as Cut-out Sugar Cookies !

My first task of the day was to make the Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies. I ran upon this recipe over at TasteSpotting (which brought me to this) and knew I had to try this recipe. A hint of mint, gooey chocolatey centers... what more could you want from a cookie? For me, this cookie had it all, and was every bit as wonderful and delicious as I anticipated!

The Sugar Cookie recipe has been my go-to cookie recipe for years, infact, I really don't even remember where I got it! Anyway, I made Christmas tree cutouts with green piped icing and sparkling sugar, stars with piped yellow tips and yellow sparkling sugar, and some plain circular cookies with sparkling sugar baked ontop of it. That's what I love about sugar cookies... the possibilities are endless!

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/4 tsp. of mint extract
• 1 cup of chopped dark chocolate

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and peppermint extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the chopped dark chocolate by hand. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and roll them into balls. Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 8-9 minutes. If you prefer crispier cookies increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing.

Fresh out of the oven!

Christmas Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with Icing

• 3/4 c. butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

• Frosting:
• 8 tbsp. butter, softened
• 1-2 tbsp. cream or whole milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 c. powdered sugar, sifted

Cream the margarine or butter and sugar well in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add in the vanilla and eggs; mix well to combine

In a separate bowl, sift the baking powder, salt, and flour together. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mix until thoroughly combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled and firm. Remove the cookie dough from the fridge. On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cut out cookies in desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes. Check often to prevent over-cooking or burning.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

To prepare the frosting, cream butter, milk, and vanilla together until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar until the desired consistency is reached (Add extra milk if necessary). Add liquid food coloring if desired. Decorate cookies once they have cooled.