Mind Over Matter

Dear readers,

I do hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I was taking a break from my posts to enjoy the season with my loved ones. I even manifested what I really wanted, which was a White Christmas! After 15 years here in NYC, it finally snowed just in time for Christmas. The best part was that it snowed just a teeny bit, not a whopping snowstorm, ya know just enough to make the streets look pretty and give you that good winter feeling.

So I baked two types of Christmas cookies this year! The first picture being the Christmas Sink Cookies, filled with yummy treats like pretzels and white chocolate chips and M&M’s. They came out so perrrr-fect, just the right amount of salty with sweet in each bite. And it had a good texture to it as well, crunchy but also a little chewy so you get the best of both worlds in this cookie.

The second cookie I baked was even more tasty in my opinion, because of the delicious wonders of chocolate heaven! It’s called the Hot Chocolate Christmas cookies, as you can see topped off with yummy melted marshmallows. Of course I drizzled with rich chocolate syrup to satisfy all the chocolate lovers out there. I love how you can see the cracks in this cookie as it finished expanding in the oven. It reminds me of little bread loafs, but chocolate! Aren’t they so cute?!

I packed up both cookies in tupperware and gift wrapped them up with green & red paper with a cute silver bow to keep things festive. I know my recipients enjoyed them as much as I did making them.

Till next time readers, Happy New Year! Enjoy!

Christmas Sink Cookies Recipe:

• 3/4 cup salted butter (room temp)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 egg yolks (room temp)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup AP Flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup red & green M&M’s
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pretzel (broken into pieces)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F
2. In a large bowl, add the softened butter, brown sugar, white sugar together. Mix with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined.
3. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla. Continue mixing.
4. Add in the AP flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Continue mixing.
5. Add in the broken pretzel pieces to the mixture.
6. Scoop spoonfuls of dough into hands, cover your hands with a little flour to prevent sticking. Pat down the dough ball onto the cookie tray to flatten it a bit. Stick on some M&M’s before placing tray into oven.
7. Bake for 10-12 mins. Let cookies completely cool before removing from tray.

Hot Chocolate Christmas Cookie Recipe:

• 1/2 cup butter (unsalted)
• 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs (room temp)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract or chocolate extract

Chocolate Glaze:

• 4 TBSP melted butter
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp chocolate extract

For the Chocolate Glaze:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, cocoa powder, hot water and chocolate extract.
2. Slowly whisk in powdered sugar. Set aside when finished.

First make the chocolate & butter mixture…

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter and then whisk in semi-sweet chocolate chips. Whisk together until butter and chips are melted smoothly, there should be no lumps.
2. Let it cool down completely once melted.

Cookie recipe continued in part two…

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and extract.
3. Using the chocolate & butter mixture, add that slowly into the sugar, eggs and extract.
4. Then slowly add in the flour mixture to the recently made chocolate mixture.
5. Mix until well combined then cover the dough in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for 1 hour.
6. Remove chocolate dough from fridge and pre-heat oven to 325F.
7. Spoon out the chilled dough and roll into balls. Lay each chocolate ball onto the baking tray. Bake for 10 mins.
8. Top each off with 2-3 marshmallows and place back into oven for 2-3 mins.
9. Finish topping off each hot chocolate cookie with the chocolate glaze.