Holiday Cookiegeddon (part 1 of 2)

It's that time of year again - Holiday Cookiegeddon. This time around I'm restricting my baking to three recipes: Chocolate Chip, Cranberry-Oatmeal, and Cake Pops. As I've published the recipes for these cookies in previous posts, I'll keep to sharing photos (click image to zoom).

Cake Pops:

Cranberry-Oatmeal cookies:

Butter-Pecan Cookies

After a long weekend full of events this cookie night turn I went for a very simple cookie recipe, butter-pecan cookies.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
2/3 cup chopped pecans
Extra whole pecans for decorating.

To begin this cookie mix the flour and salt in a bowl. In a mixer combine the butter and sugar until beat smooth. Add in the flour and salt to the mixing bowl, then add in the egg yolk. Beat until fully combined. The chopped pecans can now be added, then mixed into the batter.

These cookies are baked as simple drop cookies. The batter will spread out however so space each drop at least three inches apart. Press a whole pecan into the center of each cookie drop. Bake at 325F for 15 minutes.

I hope you enjoy these cookies, their buttery and sweet!

Graveyard Cookies

Normally I don't really get into baking cookies with a Halloween theme, but my turn for cookie night came up so here's my attempt. The concept for this cookie is a cup cake graveyard with cookie headstones.

The ingredients:

1 Chocolate Fudge cake mix.

8 oz Bittersweet chocolate (or Chocolate squeeze tube icing).
1 cup water
1/3 cup milk

1/2 light veg oil

1 cup ground pecans

1 tub chocolate icing
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp magic powder5 large eggs
3/4 cup butter (melted)
1 tbsp Orange zest

2 tbsp Orange Juice

Preparation of the cup cake grave yard involves using a standard cake mix to produce a few dozen cupcakes, then icing their tops and rolling them in ground pecans. The effect I'm going for here is to mimic graveyard soil on the surface of the cup cake.

Cup Cake Ingredients:

1 Chocolate Fudge cake mix.

3 eggs

1 cup water

1/3 cup milk

1/2 light veg oil

1 tub chocolate icing

1 cup ground pecans

Follow the directions of your cake mix to make the cup cakes. Then grind whole pecans and place the result in a bowl. Use your chocolate icing to top the cup cakes, then roll them in the pecans. When this operation is done you'll want to use a knife to start an opening on the surface to allow the head stone cookie to be easily inserted into the cake.

The cookie head stones are made from a simple recipe as seen in my apple cookies.

Cookie Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp magic powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup butter (melted)
1 tbsp Orange zest
2 tbsp Orange Juice.

All the ingredients are well mixed together, then the dough is placed in the fridge to chill for a half hour, then the dough is rolled out on to a flat, floured surface for cutting. The shape we're going for here is a basic tomb stone. One end is rounded, while the other is tapered to allow for easy insertion into the cup cake. The cookie is baked at 375 F for approximately 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

So you may be wondering what 'Cookie Night' is all about? Cookie night is a way to have a group of friends take turns baking cookies once a week for the crowd. The baker chooses their own cookie and so can control the difficulty and costs that go into their creation. Many of the posts on this blog come from the cookies I've made for my crowd.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe!