The holidays are almost here! Are you looking for some easy ways to get in the festive spirit? Cookies are a fast and fun homemade treat that everyone loves!
Cookies are a great gift for neighbors, coworkers, friends- or as a thoughtful last-minute gift for an unexpected guest. There are several creative ways to package homemade cookies to make them look really special.
Making a batch of yummy cookies look special adds a fun touch to a simple and quick gift. Here we used a cookie tin, a small pail, an empty (but cute) box, and a gift bag. Most of us have these things just hanging around the house and we can repurpose them for a sweet gift!
Simply line the container with colorful tissue paper and fill it with homemade cookies. Add a few chocolates or a small holiday ornament to finish off the gift and make it special.
Our recipes here are for homemade cookies but you can cheat (shhhh, don’t tell :-) and use slice-and-bakes or premade cookie dough. Either one makes a happy and simple gift from the heart.
Here are two of our favorite recipes: Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.
Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles:
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 ¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup room temperature butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350. In a small bowl, stir together ¼ cup sugar, pumpkin pie spice, ¼ teaspoon salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and remaining salt. Set aside.
Beat the butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy- this takes longer than you think, 3-4 minutes. The mixture should be light yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs (one at a time). Add the vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated, then add the flour mixture, half at a time. Once everything is mixed together, roll dough into balls (you can portion these out with an ice cream scoop). Roll the dough balls into the spice mixture until coated.
Bake for 10-15 minutes...keep your eyes on these cookies. They will be soft and spread a bit in the oven. You should pull them out right when the edges brown- they will continue to set when you take them out of the oven. Don’t move these to the cooling sheet too quickly or they will break!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies:
For this recipe, we use the classic one from Jif: https://www.jif.com/peanut-butter/recipes/chocolate-chip-peanut-butter-cookies with a few minor modifications:
You can use any type of peanut butter you prefer.
We recommend using ¾ cup chocolate chips and tossing them lightly in flour before adding them to the dough mixture (this will help them distribute more evenly throughout the dough).
Bake these a little longer than 10 minutes- 12-14 should do the trick. These cookies will still look a little wet when they’re done.
Remember to smoosh down your dough with a fork before baking; these cookies will not spread on their own.
More Pro Holiday Tips from Come on In Blog:
When the doorbell unexpectedly rings during the holidays be prepared with some of these fun and easy appetizers that you can keep in your freezer. There are so many delicious and wonderful options in the freezer case at every store today and each will make you ready to bring on the holiday cheer!
These all came from our regular grocery store and with just a smidge of sprucing up you will have something simple and tasty to put out in a flash. Most only require a preheated oven!
Frozen pound cake is an easy dessert that you can make fancy by adding fresh fruit and whipped topping. You could also slice a banana, sprinkle on some chopped pecans, and top with caramel or chocolate sauce, YUM!
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