Christmas Pretzel M&M Blondies

Pretzel M&Ms are my new obsession, I literally cant eat just one or even 10 :) I have been wanting to bake something with them for a while and just not gotten around to it. A couple of weeks ago on a Target trip, I ran acorss the Christmas Pretzel M&M's and immediately thought of how pretty they would be baked into a blondie. So I went home and started googling, and saw Bridget, from Bake at 350, had made exactly that. Off I went to the kitchen :) I did tweak her recipe a bit, as I didnt have fleur del sel on hand and at the last minute decided against topping with sea salt.

Pretzel M&M Blondies from Bake at 350

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp

1 cup light brown sugar packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup pretzel M&M's

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter and set aside. Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil, with some hanging over the sides.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and salt. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour. Stir in the M&M's.

Pour into the prepared pan and spread out evenly.Bake for 30-35 minutes or unitl a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack. Lift up the foil and cut into sqaures. I drizzled red and green candy melts over the top to add a little Holiday Cheer :)

Go grab a bag and make these today. They are chewy with crunchy and salty with the sweet! Amazing!! Print This

Christmas Sugar Cookie Cut Outs with Royal Icing

I have been wanting to try sugar cookie cut outs with royal icing for some time now. I keep promising my sister I will make some for her class. Finally I got around to trying them out for Christmas. I really enjoyed working with royal icing and cant wait for the next time. The more I worked with it the easier it got (and the cuter the cookies got)!

I used the vanilla almond sugar cookie recipe from Bake at 350 as well as her royal icing recipe. I just think Bridget's cookies always turn out amazing! I definitely need lots more practice but I was pretty proud of my of first batch!

Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies from Bridget at Bake at 350

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
2 sticks butter ( I used unsalted)
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine all the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially at the bottom.

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 mins. Let sit for a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.



Royal Icing from Bridget at Bake at 350
(this will cover approx. 3 dozen 3.5 inch cookies)

1 pound powdered sugar (sifted)
5 tbsp meringue powder
scant 1/2 cup water
a few drops of extract (optional)

Combine the meringue powder and water with a whisk attachment using an electric mixer. Beat until peaks begin to form. Stir in powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Increase speed to high until stiff peaks form. (You can remove the beater and jiggle without the peaks falling) If using an extract combine for a few seconds to incorporate.

Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food coloring.
I used bottles to outline the cookies and I let them dry over night.

For flooding the cookies, I just added water till it was the consistency needed. If it gets too runny just add more powdered sugar.

The flooded cookies I let dry for several more hours before I finished and added some decorations.
I definitely started to get the feel for the icing as I went on. I can't wait to try making these again. The cookies were delicious!

All packed up in a tin and ready for Christmas!
I think the snowflakes were my favorite! Print This

More cookies....Sugar & Chocolate Chocolate Chip

So the holidays came and went and I never got around to finishing up all the posts I wanted to get in. So I know these are late but really cookies can be made anytime right?

I made both Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and Sugar Cookies for a few co-workers. The chocolate chip recipe, is the one I posted about previously but this time I used chocolate pudding instead of vanilla. To see the recipe scroll below to the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe or go to All Recipes that's where it comes from.

As for the sugar cookies, I found a cute sprinkles jar over holidays with various red and green sprinkles so I had to use them for these cookies. If you like soft cookies I would recommend taking them out earlier that the recipe calls for. I think I left mine in for about 8-9 minutes. Some turned out a little crispier than I would have liked.

The sugar cookies come from Lovin from the Oven's Twelve Days of Cookies, Kim found them on the blog Delish and they were adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, 2006.

Go to one of the sites listed above for the recipe.

I put the cookies in these cute Christmas tins I found at Target!

How cute! Sorry I am super late posting, my life has been crazy the last month! More holiday post to come this week! Print This