cookies Archives | The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

I don’t know whether to say Merry Christmas or Happy Thanksgiving! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving but this is my weekly installment for The 12 Weeks of Christmas Party! So let’s say Merry Thanksgiving! I am thankful for Brenda at Meal Planning Magic for hosting this for us each week! This weeks recipe is a great gift idea! It is coming up time to take the Caramel Apple Bread Pudding out of the freezer; and, here is my second recipe to make and gift! I made the decision in August that most of my gifts this year were going to be handmade. I am crafting and baking up a storm here and now that Thanksgiving is here I need to step it up into high gear! I know exactly who is going to get this gift! Shhhh! It’s a secret so don’t tell her! I think that home baked or home crafted gifts show the person that you really care about them and that you took time to create something lovely and personal for them. Not to mention that baked goods are a perfect way to ensure that your friends stick around!

Packaging up all the ingredients, well the dry ones anyway, in a mason jar is a great way to give that extra little gift. If I had made it to the Craft Store in time to for this post I would have made a really cute fabric topper for the jar lid. You can be sure that it won’t be gifted with out that! To really jazz up the gift you can include novelty teaspoons or measuring cups like these super cute Santa teaspoons. Even if the recipient is not a baker this is great way to make fool proof cookies to help get them started! When you make the recipe card to give along with this make sure to stress the fact that they need to Chill the dough and use either a silpat or parchment paper! The Peppermint candies melt during the baking and can cause quite a mess if you are not prepared. Kinda like I was! Anyone who follows me on Instagram saw that! I made some adjustments so this recipe is truly fool proof! Anyone would be happy to have these cookies as a present, I mean can you get any Christmasyier? (don’t you love the crazy words we can make up?) These cookie are crisp and buttery and pepperminty, m&m goodness! You will make the Nice list for sure if you leave these out for Santa!

So on the Day before Thanksgiving I saw Merry Thanksgiving to you all!!

Christmas Mint Cookies

Ingredients

For the dry ingredients:
1 quart mason jar
2 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp each baking powder and baking soda and salt
1/2 cup red and green M&M's
1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies
What the baker will need:
1 egg lightly beaten
1 stick of butter room temp
1 tbs vanilla

Instructions

To fill the jar make a funnel out of a piece of wax paper. This will keep the ingredients from clouding up the sides of the jar as you put them in
First layer the flour, baking powder,baking soda and salt
then the brown sugar, use the back of the spoon to tamp it down
then the white sugar
M&M's
Crushed Peppermint
Make a card with the following directions:
in a large mixing bowl pour the contents of the jar all in at once
mix in the egg and the vanilla
beat in the butter
form dough into a big ball in the bowl cover with cling film (saran wrap) and chill for a min of 30 min 1 hour is better
pre heat oven to 350
line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silpat (unless you want a sticky candy mess!)
with a 2 tbs scoop make little balls of dough and place on the prepared cookie sheet (seriously don't skip that step!)
I flattened the dough balls slightly
bake at 350 for 15-18 min
remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a wire rack