12 Dates of Christmas - Cookies & Movies

Brad & I crossed out a couple more items on our list.  We made 3 different types of cookies on Saturday; Peppermint balls, Snickerdoodles and Rum Meltaways (recipes below). The other day we were at Costco and found some DVD sets of Charlie Brown and other old movies, the sets were perfect for the Classic movie marathon!

1. Pick out and decorate our Christmas tree
2. Watch Snowflake Lane
3. Get Santa Pictures taken 
4. Attend or Host a Christmas party
5. Drive around to look at Christmas lights
6. Have a Breakfast themed dinner and watch Elf
7. Classic Christmas movie marathon
8. Go to Garden De Lights
9. Pick out Christmas Themed Pajamas
10. Bake & Decorate Christmas Cookies
11. Build a snowman (might have to use fake snow)
12. Make a Gingerbread house

Here are the recipes for the cookies that we made:

Rum Meltaways
(originally from here, and her's look a lot better)
Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeng
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup softened butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup rum
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract    

Directions:

• Mix butter and 1/4 cup powdered sugar.  
• When well combined, add in the vanilla and rum.
• Slowly add remaining ingredients (leave out the rest of the powdered sugar)
• Place the dough on a piece of parchment and roll into a log roughly 1 1/2 inches in diameter
• Put log in the freezer for about an hour or until it is firm.  This is important!  If the dough isn't firm enough you will get shapes like mine below instead of nice circles.
• Slice into 1/4" rounds and place on a baking sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees
• Once cooled, toss in remaining powdered sugar

I think I went wrong in two places.  First, I used cinnamon sugar mixture instead of extra powdered sugar (I had it left over from the snickerdoodles and didn't want to throw it away).  I also put this mixture on them before baking instead of afterwards.  The second place I went wrong was that I didn't let it sit in the freezer long enough so they greatly deformed when I sliced the dough.  They may not look pretty, but they sure tasted yummy.

Snickerdoodles
(Recipe given to my by my friend Tavia at my bridal shower)
Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

• Cream shortening with sugar
• Add eggs and beat well
• Add dry ingredients except for additional sugar and cinnamon
• Chill dough for one hour (yeah, I didn't do this)
• Roll into small balls then coat in the cinnamon sugar
• Bake for 9 minutes at 400 degrees

Peppermint Balls
(originally from here)
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar and butter. When fluffy, mix in vanilla extract, peppermint extract and egg.
• Mix in remaining ingredients (except for candy canes)
• Stir in candy canes by hand
• Roll dough into small bowl and roll in granulated sugar
• Place on a cookie sheet about 2" apart and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

The original recipe also created a glaze with more peppermints on top.  After trying one, we decided that the glaze wasn't needed.

One reason I love Christmas is an excuse to bake lots of different items.  I have more recipes (especially thanks to Pinterest) that I will be trying out in the next couple weeks.