Last Minute Holiday Treats

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I love my job, but if I could quit my job and just stay home and bake all day, I'd be the happiest. And probably the fattest. This time of year especially, all I want to do is bake.

I'm a little down to the wire, but I still had a few special people I wanted to gift with a little something. I made up a batch of my peppermint bark and cookie butter rice krispie treats, with festive sprinkles, of course. Packaged them up and I'm getting them delivered today. Below I have rounded up tasty holiday treats, some made by me, the rest inspired by others.  Co-workers, neighbors, classmates, instructors, yourself ;), anyone who is still left on your list would love one of these treats! Just click on any picture above for it to take you to the recipe. 

The first few recipes are pulled from the TAB archives, but these other gorgeous recipes are from the gals below! 

Baked by Rachel's Chocolate Eggnog Cupcakes with Eggnog Cream Cheese Frosting

Sally's Baking Addiction's Peppermint Mocha Cookies

Cookie + Kate's Peppermint Bark Popcorn

Local Roots Dietitian's Healthy Holiday Peppermint Brownies

And Ina's Spicy Hermit Bars

And because it's the season of giving, I'm giving you a few more ideas that could easily be transformed Christmasy with a few sprinkles or red & green colored candies like my Signature Sugar Cookies (we make these for santa every year), Cookie Butter Rice Krispies, Cookie Butter Popcorn, M&M Cookie Pizza, Homemade Pop Tarts and Slutty Brownies.

I'm spicing my sugar cookies up a bit this year and adding crystallized ginger in them. Inspired by Ina of course. Because WWTBCD? Add crystallized ginger to her sugar cookies! I'll keep you posted on how they turn out. 

Annie

Acorn Squash Salad Bowl

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I love food out of a bowl. Back in college in the Kappa house, I would always forgo the large dinner plates and pile all of my food into 2 to 3 of our little cereal bowls. I'd be sitting in the dining room with bowls on bowls in front of me, strange but go with it. Salad in a bowl vs. a plate, so much better. Casserole, loaded sweet potato, pasta, meat and roasted veggies etc. in a bowl, it's just better.

When I was younger I hated my food to touch. But now I love getting bite of each part of the meal in one bite. And a bowl is the vessel to assist with that. 

With this recipe, acorn squash becomes your bowl. Save yourself from having to wash an extra dish. We are taking roasted acorn squash and filling it with salad full of wintery ingredients. This is great for lunch, a light dinner of could be great as a side dish with some protein. It's just pretty enough to be a side for your Christmas dinner!

Acorn Squash Salad Bowl
yields 2 servings

Ingredients:
1 medium size acorn squash
2 handfuls spring green mix
pecans, chopped
pomegranate arils
feta cheese
s&p

Balsamic Dressing:
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. dijon mustard
s&p to taste

Directions:
Cook your squash to your preference. If you are reading this ahead of time, use your crock-pot! First cut the pointy edge off each end so it has a flat surface to stand on. Then cut in half, scoop out seeds, wrap in foil and place in the crock-pot on low to cook for 6-8 hours (perfect way to cook sweet potatoes too). If you don't have that kind of time on your hand, cut edges off, cut in half, scoop out seeds, drizzle with olive oil, s&p, and roast skin side up at 425 for 20-25 minutes.

Combine your dressing ingredients in a small mason jar or bowl and shake/whisk to combine. In a mixing bowl, add two large handfuls of spring mix, chopped pecans, pomegranate arils and feta. Just eye ball your ingredients and add as more or less as you want. Sprinkle in a little extra salt and pepper. Toss everything with your dressing, starting light and add more as you please. (Sorry these measurements are haphazard, but that's the beauty of a salad).

Fill the cavity of your acorn squash with a serving of salad. Dig in by scraping up a bit of squash with each bite of salad mix.

Want more ways to use acorn squash? Take a bite here and here.

Annie

White Chocolate Dipped Oatmeal Ginger Cookies

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National Cookie Day was Monday and I missed it. Sighhh. I'm a sucker for food holidays. The second December hit I got a bug for baking. I wish someone would just pay me to stay home and bake cookies all day leading up to Christmas. Unfortunately that is not my reality, so I saved up some time after work to bake up these cookies and cure my baking bug.  

These cookies are kind of like a gingersnap meets an oatmeal cream pie. They aren't yelling Christmas with red and green sprinkles or peppermint candies adorning them, but the flavor is sure holiday! They have three different spices in them and molasses-my fav. If you have a cookie exchange on your holiday party agenda, you're welcome. These cookies are perfect. They are extremely easy too, so no fret.

White Chocolate Dipped Oatmeal Ginger Cookies
yields 20 cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup white sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
1½ cup flour
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 cup old-fashioned oats

*8-10 oz vanilla almond bark or 1½ cup white chocolate chips
cinnamon and gold sprinkles, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and molasses for one more minute. Scrape the bowl, making sure to get the molasses completely incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg salt, baking soda, baking powder, and oats. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until almost combined. Remove from mixer and give the bowl a good scrape. 

Scoop about 2 tablespoons or golf ball size pieces of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just beginning to brown around the edges. Let cool completely before dipping in white chocolate.

In a microwave safe bowl melt 3/4 of the chocolate in 30 minute increments. Once completely melted stir in the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate out of the microwave. The hot melted chocolate will melt the additional as you stir it! *I use almond bark because it melts much easier than white chocolate. White chocolate tends to burn easily. Both will work just keep a close eye if using white chocolate. 

Dip the cookies halfway into the bowl of white chocolate, using a spoon or small spatula to help guide it onto the cookie. Place dipped cookies on parchment paper and sprinkle with cinnamon and festive sprinkles. Let the chocolate harden then eat, share and enjoy!

Annie

Savory Granola

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Granola, my favorite snack. If you know me well or have ever read this blog you know this about me. I've posted a handful of granola recipes over the years, but this one takes the cake. 

Kathleen is the one who really got me on the homemade granola bandwagon and it's her recipe that helped me finally perfect it. Last spring or so, one of our friends said she had used Kathleen's recipe to make savory granola. Baaaack up, savory granola? Yes, please, and thank you. 

You take a lot of the same components, but add fun things like Worcestershire sauce and chili powder. This savory recipe really taps into the snacking part of granola. Skeptical? Let me give you some uses.

Currently between the handfuls going straight to my mouth, I'm topping creamy butternut squash soup (coming next week) with this mix. It's great sprinkled in plain or honey yogurt. I think it could be an amazing addition to a salad or even subbed in for the cornbread croutons in my Fall Panzanella Salad. But simply, I love packing a snack bag to take to work.

Savory Granola

Ingredients:
2½ cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
½ cup pecans, roughly chopped
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line a roasting sheet with parchment paper (for easy clean up), and set aside. 

In a large bowl combine all ingredients stirring well until everything is evenly coated. Spread out on your rimmed roasting sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Stir after the first 20 minutes. Bake for 15 more minutes, check on it to see if it needs to go longer, being careful not to burn it. The mixture may still seem a bit wet and soft, but once you let it sit it will harden up. Let cool then break into chunks. Store in an airtight container or mason jar. 

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A few months ago I picked up these wasabi sesame seeds from the local Asian market. I love spicy and I love wasabi. I've been using them as a topping on salads or sprinkled over fried rice. I tossed some in my jar of granola and love the little kick it gave the granola. 

Are you a savory or sweet granola person? Give this recipe a try then tell me!

Annie

Gingersnap Cookie Pizza with Cookie Butter Glaze

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You knew it was only a matter of time after our Oklahoma City Trader Joe's opened that I post a recipe with cookie butter. Cookie butter isn't new to me, but now it's at arms reach (DANGEROUS). See here and here where I've used cookie butter before!

Cookie butter is great. There is nothing not to love about cookies ground up into a sweet spreadable delicacy. My everyday use for this stuff is spreading it on graham crackers for a nighttime snack, but I really try to limit my intake because it's a deep black hole once you have one bite. It pulls you down this rabbit hole where one taste turns into four or five or more spoonfuls. I've found that baking it off into sweet treats is the best way to make the jar disappear.

I'm on a cookie pizza kick! After making my sugar cookie with strawberry icing and chocolate chip M&M cookie pizza, I had been plotting what my next cookie pizza would be. 

This combo is perfection. I took my mom's ginger cookie recipe and adapted it to turn into a cookie pizza. Cookie butter already has a gingerbread taste to it, so it only makes since to turn it into a glaze and lather it all over the top! 

One big soft ginger cookie smothered in cookie butter. All the heart eye emojis!! 

Gingersnap Cookie Pizza with Cookie Butter Glaze

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp. molasses
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
extra sugar

Cookie Butter Glaze:
1/4 cup cookie butter or biscoff spread
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp. milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a large mixing bowl or round object, about 10 inches in diameter, trace a circle on the parchment paper. Flip the parchment paper over so you don't get any pencil or pen marks when you spread out the dough.

Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and molasses and mix on low. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the molasses is evenly distributed. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger and mix on low until the dough comes together.

With clean hands spread the dough out on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the dough out, filling the circle shape you drew. Sprinkle the top with extra sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Start on the low end. The key to yumminess in this cookie pizza is for it to be slightly underdone! I found 11 minutes to be perfect, but that is according to my oven. Let it cool completely.

Once the pizza is cool, make your glaze. In the electric mixer with the whisk attachment or using a handheld mixer, whisk powdered sugar, cookie butter and milk until fully mixed. It should be the consistency of thick glue. Using a spatula, spread the icing over the cookie pizza leaving about a half inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon.

Cut with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

All hail Trader Joe's being in Oklahoma and all hail cookie butter! Huzzah! 

Annie