What better way to start the 2021 twelve days of cookies than with a spiced gingerbread cookie! We have made our fair share of gingerbread over the years, but this one had frosting and sounded delicious. It was a must in our lineup this year. Spoiler alert… It ended up being yummy just like we thought!
We are so excited to share this holiday tradition with you again this year. Grab a cup of coffee or cocoa and let’s get started!
There’s a special chill to the air around Christmas for me, almost like the cold winter air is mixed with holiday spirit making it crisper and somehow more welcoming against my bare face. This Christmas might be a little different in how it is celebrated but the Christmas chill is a comfort this year to me. So while I snuggle under a blanket writing this with a half-eaten glazed cider cookie next to me, I hope you all feel the warmth of the holiday season like a hot cup of spiced cider as well.
Merry Christmas Eve!
We couldn’t help ourselves when we saw these cute teddy bear cookies! With Christmas only a few days away, we were excited to make a little toy lookalike cookie in the famous gingerbread flavor. While it may not be as fancy as when Queen Elizabeth I would make gingerbread characters for her honorary guests, these little bears are too adorable not to try. These cookies are prepping me for the next holiday activity tonight with my fiancé, gingerbread house decorating!
These gingerbread teddy bears are such a fun activity for little kids! The trick was that we used 3 different sizes cookie scoops to make our lives easier. We made these with my nephew and it was a blast!
One of the shake flavors I love in the summer is a vanilla malt, all thanks to my dad. That’s his favorite flavor and even though chocolate is always a good option for me, I find myself ordering vanilla malt shakes when asked now. Dipping french fries in a vanilla malt? Perfect mix of salty and sweet and a little bit of caramel (how I feel malt tastes). We are always looking for a twist on a sugar cookie that will beat our classic almond sugar cookie, and this one is definitely a contender!
While my mom and I are adamant about chocolate cakes on our birthday (and really all things chocolate), my dad and brother have always preferred carrot cake. I remember the first year I made my brother a carrot cake for his birthday all by myself. I was so proud, it was probably more than a little rough on appearance and I likely made the cream cheese icing too sweet because that’s what I thought frosting should be at 12. His birthday is the day after Christmas so making this cookie to celebrate the 4th day before Christmas reminds me of how far I have come in my baking skills from that very first carrot cake for him.
I love when I get to go on a learning adventure about something that has happened in history. Whether it’s a large sequence of events or in this case the history of eggnog. This research project I stumbled upon on accident. I was looking up questions for a virtual Christmas trivia game for my team at work and “Where did eggnog originate?” was a suggestion. Of course, a history enthusiast will always fact check so I began digging. It’s the truth! I had no idea how old the traditional drink was though.
It originated during the medieval times as a hot wintertime drink for the aristocracy. The famous name evidently came from two words – grog, another word for rum, and noggins, a word for the small wooden mugs that it was served in. We have to go back to that wintertime drink again. Eggnog was served hot for most of its existence! Who knew? It wasn’t until around 1960 that it became a cold, non-alcoholic drink that we see at grocery stores today. Forbes has a great article on the history of eggnog, including a bit about The Eggnog Riot of 1826 (it’s true, it’s a thing that happened in the US). It definitely convinced me to make my own homemade eggnog soon, maybe George Washington’s (He loved eggnog and had his own recipe)!
My favorite pie during the holidays is easily a pecan pie. A cold slice of homemade pecan pie is the best leftover from Thanksgiving, am I right? I’ve even thought about asking for pecan pie for my birthday in April! This little bar is packed with all the ooey gooey crunchy pecan pie tastes and textures. If you are a fan of pumpkin pan like my family and I, you should definitely give this one a go!
Is pecan pie your favorite? What is your favorite around the holidays?
I’ve come to love marzipan after I tried a slice of cake with it at a famous local bakery near my house. I have had it before in desserts however, it was normally overpowered by whatever flavor it was with. This sweet slice of cake had the marzipan as the star and it has since become a favorite of mine. Between my new found love of marzipan and my Italian heritage, this Chocolate Amaretti cookie seemed like the perfect 8th day of Christmas cookie.
This cookie used a food processor and only took 5 ingredients to make! Super fun, easy, and they are delicious! We did make them a little big larger than tablespoonfuls, the cookie scoop used was 1 ½ tablespoons. I preferred these to be larger than the normal cookie and would highly recommend trying it as well.
We are in the single digits in our countdown to Christmas 2020! What better way to celebrate than with a little booze? Mimosa’s are a tried and true brunch drink with our families. For mother’s day we do mom-osa’s and every other time it’s the classic orange juice sweet drink as an option on the menu. Mimosa’s are my favorite brunch drink so the idea of putting that into a cookie, hello perfection. Excuse me while I drink a mimosa while eating these mimosa butter cookies and celebrate only 9 days before Christmas! We have to finish the champagne we opened right?
This citrusy butter cookie gave a new flavor profile to our 12 days of cookies after the peanut butter and oreo brookie, peanut butter crackles, and pudding thumbprints. Do you have a favorite drink at brunch?
This cookie stood out to try because it looked super easy and the biggest bonus… we already had the ingredients! I always love when we have the ingredients for a cookie! At my house, vanilla pudding mix is a staple for one reason: cinnamon rolls. My cinnamon roll dough uses vanilla pudding mix and you never know when you need to make a batch right? We were right about this cookie, it was fun and came together beautifully. The smooth pudding with the crumbly vanilla and chocolate cookie made for an enjoyable combination.
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