Colorful Candy Bar Cookies

Want an easy Christmas cookie recipe?  Try this Colorful Candy Bar Cookie recipe.  These are sweet and have a candy surprise in the center.  I’m not generally a fan of Snickers bars but they worked well in the cookie.  I’m sure this would work with any  candy bar.

Colorful Candy Bar Cookies | Bakewell Junction

This is my first time joining the Annual Christmas Cookie Recipe Swap hosted by Julie from White Lights on Wednesday.  Be sure to visit Julie to see all the other great recipes.  You can also find all the other cookies here.  Many thanks for hosting, Julie.

I was paired with Laura from Pink Cake Plate.  Her blog has great recipes and I’m thrilled to be paired with her.  Laura makes these cookies for her Christmas baking and now I’m making them too.

Enjoy!

Colorful Candy Bar Cookies

Yield:  24 cookies                 Cook Time:  12 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 extra large egg
• Alternatively, you can use 1/2 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough, softened plus 1/4 cup flour

Filling:

• 24 mini (1 inch squares) Snickers candy bars or 12 snack size Snickers candy bars, cut in half

Garnish:

• red and green colored sugar

Step 1:  For the dough:  If using the scratch cookie dough recipe, in a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.  In a large bowl, combine the butter, egg, vanilla and sugar and blend with an electric mixer, since this is a small dough a hand held mixer will do.  Stir flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined – this will be more of a folding motion rather than stirring.  If using the alternative for the dough, combine the store bought cookie dough and 1/4 cup flour in a medium bowl.

Step 2:  Assembly:  Place red and green sugars in two separate small bowls.  Using about 1 1/2 teaspoons of dough for each cookie, make a flattened circle with the dough, place the candy bar square in the middle and spread the dough around the candy evenly.  Roll the dough ball in one of the colored sugars until completely covered.  Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet two inches apart.  Repeat until there are 12 cookies on the pan.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.  Repeat with the remaining dough on another cookie sheet.

Storing:  Store at room temperature in a sealed plastic container for a few days until ready to serve.

Enjoy!!!

Sugar cookie recipe adapted from Family Circle magazine, 12/12/2000.
Cookie recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

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Vanilla Sugar Cookie Hearts

For those of you who joined in on #GetHimFed Fridays, I regret to say that I won’t be co-hosting any longer.  Many thanks to all that joined the party.  I enjoyed seeing all the shared recipes.  You can still join Jess from Hungry Harps on Fridays.

On to what I wanted to share with you…

Vanilla Sugar Cookie Hearts | Bakewell Junction

Two weeks ago was my Mom’s 80th birthday.  We had a get together with family and friends at a local Italian restaurant.  It’s one of the places we liked and helped us decide that we could move into the area.  A few doors down is the other place that gave us that feeling – it’s and Italian deli with all the right aromas.

Instead of having the usual favors for the guests to take home I made cookies.  I made the two varieties of tri-color cookies I usually make for the holidays.  Those are one of my Mom’s favorites.  I also wanted to make something specific for Mom’s 80th, so I settled on Vanilla Sugar cookies in a heart shape with 80 in chocolate.  I used white icing so my chocolate would stand out more than if my icing was red.  My lettering (or numbering in this case) is shaky but I think they turned out kinda cute.

All packaged and ready for the party.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Sugar Cookie Hearts

Yield:  45 cookies

Dough:

• 2 recipes Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Royal Icing:

• 1 recipe Royal Icing

Decoration:

• 2/3 to 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
• a few drops of oil to thin out the chocolate

Step 1:  Prepare dough as per the recipe.  Shape dough into a flat disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Step 2:  Place the chilled dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll to 3/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin.  Using a 4 1/2 to 5 inch Christmas Tree shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies.  After you finish cutting the rolled dough, you can gather the scraps into a flat disc and roll out the dough again and repeat cutting out the cookies.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Set aside.

Step 3:  Place the cookies on the cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart and refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Bake chilled cookies 10 – 12 minutes until edges begin to become slightly golden.  Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets.  Carefully move cookies to cooling racks and let cool completely.  Repeat for the remaining cookies.

Step 4:  Prepare the icing as per the recipe.  The icing should be the consistency of honey.  I’m leaving the icing white because I want to have contrast with the chocolate numbers.

Step 5:  Line an inexpensive cookie sheet with wax paper.  On top of the wax paper, ring the edges of the cookie sheet with the cooled cookies facing outward.  Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons of the icing into the corner of a ziploc bag and cut about 1/8 inch of the tip off.  Pipe the icing along the outline of each of the cookies.  Cover the remaining icing with a damp paper towel and then plastic wrap to store for several hours or until the next day until the outline drys

Step 6:  Using a spatula, fill in the outlined cookies to the edge of the outline.  Let dry overnight.

Step 7:  Melt chocolate over hot water or in the microwave.  Stir chocolate to ensure it’s of smooth consistency.  Add in a few drops of oil to loosen up the chocolate.  This will allow you to pipe an 80 onto the center of the cookie.  Place several tablespoons of the chocolate in a ziploc bag and cut about 1/8 inch of the tip off.  Pipe two small zeroes, one on top of the other, for the 8.  This worked better for me than trying to make a figure 8.  Then pipe a large zero next to the 8.  Repeat for the remaining cookies.

Enjoy!

Recipe from Family Circle magazine, 12/12/2000.

Tips:  Store in an airtight container.  Use Bridget’s decorating tips on Bake at 350.

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Lofthouse Sugar Cookies with Ganache and a Cherry #Chocolateparty

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies with Ganache and Cherries | Bakewell Junction

My dog has been recovering from her ACL surgery and she hasn’t been left alone in the house until yesterday.  She handled that well so this week I’ll be going back to the office on the days I’m scheduled to work on-site.  My fellow car pool buddies wanted some homemade treats because they’ve been without for a few weeks.  One of them is picky and won’t eat anything that’s creamy or contains cream cheese or milk/cream that he can taste.  I thought that I could bake something easy that would work for the #chocolateparty and bring to work.

This month’s #Chocolateparty theme is cherries and chocolate.  I love both cherries and chocolate.  I’ve seen Lofthouse Sugar Cookies on a lot of blogs but I’ve never even tried the store bought ones.  Most recently I’ve seen these cookies on Lizzy’s blog, That Skinny Chick Can Bake, and you can find her post here – Daisy Lofthouse Cookies.  So, I incorporated Lizzy’s Lofthouse cookies into the #ChocolateParty.  Although most of the Lofthouse Sugar Cookies have a buttercream frosting, I went with milk chocolate ganache and a fresh cherry on top.  If you wanted to make these for Christmas, you could substitute maraschino cherries for the fresh cherries.

These cookies are fluffy and soft but aren’t very sweet which is probably why they’re usually topped with buttercream frosting to amp up the sweetness.  My husband loved these cookies with or without the topping.  He liked the dough so much that he was ready to swipe one of the last cookies that was going into the oven just to get some more of the raw dough.

How about you…do you like your cookies very sweet or less sweet?

Enjoy!

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies with Ganache and a Cherry

Yield:  24 – 30 Cookies                  Cook Time:  10 – 12 minutes

Dough:

• 1/2 cup room temperature butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring or vanilla extract (I used vanilla extract)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups flour

Topping:

• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (I used Hershey’s)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 15 fresh sweet cherries, cut in half and pitted

Directions:

Step 1:  For the cookies:  With an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together for about 4 to 5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Combine the vanilla, salt, baking soda and baking powder with the butter mixture.  Add the sour cream and mix to combine.  Add the eggs individually and mix each addition to combine.  Mix in the flour until incorporated.  Chill dough for 1 to 24 hours.

Step 2:  You may roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thick and use a cookie cutter to shape the cookies.  I rolled the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and placed them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and then flattened them to about half the height, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 – 12 minutes.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  Cool completely.

Step 8:  Topping:  In a small saucepan heat cream over medium heat until steaming while stirring constantly or heat in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave in 30 second increments.  Remove from heat, add the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes.  Add the butter and stir until smooth.  Dip the top of each cookie to thoroughly coat and place half a cherry on the top.

Storing:  Store cookies in a sealed plastic container (in the refrigerator, if it’s warm)  for a few days.

Enjoy!!!

Recipe from That Skinny Chick Can Bake, originally from McCalls.

Curious about the monthly chocolate party?  Here’s how you can join Roxana and her wonderful hosts Emily of Life on Food, Veronica of My Catholic Kitchen, Pam of Blueberries and Blessings, Liz of That Skinny Chick can Bake, Kim of Ninja Baking, Denise of From Brazil to You , Laura of Tutti Dolci, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories and Becky of A Calculated Whisk.

The recipes will be shared on the first Monday of each month and you can submit your own recipes by the end of the month.  You can submit up to 3 recipes each month.

To make sure everyone is having fun, there are a few rules you’ll have to follow.

1.) Blog about your chocolate treat.  Your recipe must include the two ingredients we choose.  It can be a simple no bake treat or a sophisticated layer cake, the complexity level of the recipe is totally up to you.

2.) Include a link back to a monthly round-up or the Chocolate party page.  Optionally, add the Chocolate Party logo in your blog post or on your sidebar.

3.) Your recipe must be published during the current month.  Please do not link old recipes, they will be deleted.

I hope you’ll join our party and bake along with us.  Also, if you’d like to know what are we up to and what ingredients we pick for the next parties, join our Facebook group.

All submitted posts will be pinned to the Chocolate party Pinterest board and will be promoted on other social media platforms using the #chocolateparty hashtag.

Add your link to the Chocolate Cherry Party.

This post may also be entered in these linky parties.  Click the here to visit the other great posts in the blog hops.