Too bad you have to make them yourself. But I’m going to share two of my favorite cookie recipes with you (prepare to feel special). These are the ones I made for our neighbors this year. I made half of them (and passed them out) last week sometime… today I finished the rest. I lost a batch though, fresh from the oven, they slid right off my new pans that don’t have edges. I thought it was fabulous- I can fit 16 cookies on it rather then 12… but it doesn’t do any good if you loose 16 to the floor.

I usually do a huge plate of 6-8 different items. But I scaled way back this year and just did these little buckets of two kinds of cookies- about 8 cookies in each one.

White chocolate lime cookies and Triple chocolate peppermint cookies. I tried doing just a squiggle of chocolate and sprinkling with crushed peppermint- but it’s not as pretty as how I usually do it- which is dipping half the cookie in chocolate and then in crushed peppermint.

See? That’s how they usually look.

Here are the recipes:

White Chocolate Lime cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 limes zested and juiced
• 2 cups white chocolate chips

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and finely chopped lime zest. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and lime juice. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto greased baking sheets.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown (don’t overbake). Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

After they cool completely drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk-chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I like to use chunks)

1/2 cup crushed peppermint

For dipping:

1 cup crushed peppermint and 1 bag of semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350° F.

Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium speed and add the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. On low speed, add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until fully incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup crushed peppermint.

Drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Slightly press down to flatten dough. Bake until centers are just set, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

After cookies are cooled melt bag of chocolate chips and dip half the cookie into the chocolate and then dip into the crushed peppermint.

Yield: Makes 3 dozen cookies

Cookie tips:

• Use butter, it makes better cookies that store longer.
• let butter sit on the counter for an hour to soften, if you can’t wait that long grate the butter into a bowl to soften faster. Don’t melt or soften too quickly in the microwave. If it melts then the dough won’t be the right consistency.
• Use a scoop for uniformly shaped cookies
• don’t overbake- overbaking leads to crispy cookies rather then soft cookies

Try them out. Let me know how you like them. The lime ones are to die for. (They’re also good with Orange rather then lime. But the lime is divine.)

Merry Christmas!!

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