Day Eight of the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop has us sharing a cookie recipe... or three!
Welcome to the third annual 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop!
Stop by every day from December first through the twelfth for new ideas you can use to make your season brighter!
Meet Your Hosts
They have all been busy as Elves creating, decorating, cooking and crafting tons of new ideas for you to try this holiday season!
Shirley~Intelligent Domestications I Alli~An Alli Event I Michelle~Our Crafty Mom I Marie~DIY Adulation
Erlene~My Pinterventures I Beverly~Across The Blvd. I Debra~Shoppe No. 5 I Victoria~Dazzle While Frazzled
Megan~C'mon Get Crafty I Michelle~Michelle James Designs I Amanda~Domestically Creative
Deborah~Salvage Sister & Mister I Jeanie~Create & Babble I Sherry~Olives & Okra
Jenny~Cookies Coffee & Crafts I Emily~Domestic Deadline I Bonbon~Farmhouse 40 I Susanne~Pearl Street Designs
Leanna~Of Faeries & Fauna I Pam Larmore~P.S. I Love You Crafts I Kelly~North Country Nest I Marie~The Inspiration Vault
Gail~Purple Hues and Me I Lynne~My Family Thyme I Karen~Dragonfly and Lily Pads I Trisha~Blowing Away Out West
Tomika~Life In Pumps I Rachee~Say it, "Rah-Shay" I Ra'Nesha~Queen Thrifty I Lorrin~Embrace The Perfect Mess
Jaime~Love Jaime I Serena~The Weekend Jaunts I Terri~Christmas Tree Lane I Jessica~A Southern Mother
Sam~Raggedy Bits I Rachel~Smart Mom Smart Ideas I Surya~The Busy Mom Club I Cyn~Creative Cynchronicity
Valeria~Val Event Gal I Yami~The Latino Next Door I Jeannee~Centsably Creative I Tania~Little Vintage Cottage
Lauren~Wonderfully Made I Vanessa~DIY 180 I Kimberly~A Wonderful Thought I Kim~Everyday Parties I Erica~Erica Ever After
I have three grandmas... my maternal grandma, my paternal grandma, and my adoptive paternal grandma... meaning I was adopted by my step-dad (whom I only know as dad 😊) when I was 3 years old but still knew and spent time with my paternal grandma.
All three of them are gone now but I am honoring them with three cookie recipes that remind me of them. I'll explain why with each one.
Graham Cracker Sandwich Cookies
This recipe is in honor of my grandma Owens, my maternal grandma.
My cousin and I used to stay the night often at her house on the weekends and she always made us graham cracker sandwich cookies with pink powdered sugar frosting.
This recipe has a little bit fancier frosting... buttercream... 😋 and she didn't roll the sides in sprinkles... because we were kids, we didn't need all that fancy stuff!!
Graham Cracker Sandwich Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- Graham Crackers
- Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)
- Sprinkles
Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 3/4 C. Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 C. Butter, softened
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- 3 tbsp. Milk
- Food Coloring
Jam Thumbprint Cookies
This recipe is in honor of my grandma Wilson, my paternal grandma.
I didn't get to spend as much time with her because she lived out of town most of my growing up years. My cousins and I used to spend a few weeks every summer with her. She and my grandpa lived in the mountains on White Pass in Washington State so it was always fun to visit... we hiked a lot, played in the mountain streams, and in the neighbor's lawn which was made entirely of moss!
My grandma called these jam thumbprint cookies "chicken butthole cookies"... yes, you heard me right! She said they reminded her of a plucked chicken's butthole!! 😂😂
Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 C. Salted Butter softened
- 1/2 C Powdered Sugar
- 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 2 C. Flour
- Fruit Preserves (I used strawberry, marmalade, and strawberry jalapeno jams)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Beat butter and sugar on high until creamy and light (about 2-3 minutes). Add vanilla and salt and continue beating until mixed in. Switch to medium-low and add in flour just until combined. The dough should be a little sticky.
Form balls with the dough and place on the baking sheet. Make indents in each ball. These are called thumbprint cookies because they were originally made by using your thumb to make the indentation. I used a teaspoon to make a bigger indentation, be careful not to make it too deep, you want a nice stable cookie once they are done!
Fill them generously with the fruit preserves (or jam).
Bake 20 - 25 minutes on the center oven rack until golden brown and puffy. Let cool 5 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a rack to completely cool.
Dust with powdered sugar.
Notes:
- These really do not brown much since they are more of a shortbread cookie.
- Use jam or preserves rather than jelly as jelly tends to run when cooking.
- You can add slivered almonds around the jam centers before baking... this is the part that I think reminded my grandma of chicken buttholes 😂
Chocolate No-Bake Cookies
This recipe is in honor of my grandma Carroll, my adoptive paternal grandma.
I don't remember her baking a lot and I really didn't spend that much time with her, she and my grandpa traveled a lot when I was young. But I asked my dad if he remembered a cookie she used to make and he remembered chocolate no-bake cookies.
Chocolate No-Bake Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 C. Butter
2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Milk
4 tbsp. Cocoa
1/2 C. Peanut Butter
3 to 3 1/2 C. Quick Cooking Oats
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
Directions
Add the butter, sugar, milk, and cocoa to a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute. Stir in the peanut butter, oats, and vanilla.
Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper and let cool until set.
Be sure to visit our fellow 12 Days of Christmas Bloggers below for even more creative ideas this holiday season!
