Not outside, actually. The D.C. area is expecting a balmy 60 degrees through the week. But in my office, the temperature has dropped like a rock. It makes me want to put on a blanket and eat these cookies while my students huddle into their sweaters.
These cookies are my favorite, and I’ve upped the fun by sticking a candy cane Kiss in the middle. They melt down in the oven, making for a perfect surprise center. Hello, holiday cookie!
Now it’s time for me to vent, so get ready.
Did you know that women freeze in their offices all the time because the average temperature in any building is set to a man’s sense of heat and cold? In other words, even the dang HVAC system all over the country is sexist.
Seriously, I’m tired of accommodating for a man’s world. Folks, I’m petite. I’m gonna be cold at work for the next several months. But it isn’t just the temps. It’s little things, like how I’m always jumping up (in heels, mind you) to reach shelves in stores, which makes me look and feel ridiculous. It’s how the water cooler refill at work is impossible to lift and put on the stand without getting water everywhere. And it’s how people expect me to be good at crafty things, just because I’m a female.
Really, guys. I can’t craft to save my life. Zero interest. I try to tie bows on things and it doesn’t work. I’ve heard of decoupage, but for years I just thought it was something dirty.
So as I sit here freezing my butt off, I’d rather think about what’s all fine and dandy in my world, and that’s holiday cookies. Lots and lots of them! Like these.
The dough for these is made with powdered sugar instead of granulated. That makes the consistency of these cookies completely different from any other holiday cookie. You can call these snowballs, but I made them flatter to make that filling spread out more evenly throughout the cookie. You can call them wedding cookies, but ain’t nobody getting married right now.
So instead, I call them snowdrifts. These are a dreamy, soft, minty sweet escape from the perils of life. One bite of these and I totally forget that I’m cold. In fact, winter seems kind of quaint, just for a minute.
And when the cookies are all done, I can rail about the patriarchy controlling my office temps until I stick another cookie in my mouth. Seems like a perfect routine, really.
As the winter looms and we get more easily irritated by life’s little inconveniences, remember to be grateful for holiday cookies. I know I am!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour and salt and beat again until the dough forms.
- Take a candy cane Kiss and place into a wad of dough, and place another wad on top. Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on your cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms are just starting to brown.
- Wait 5 minutes and roll the cookies in the powdered sugar carefully. You don't want to press down, or the cookies will crumble. Wait a few minutes, and then roll them a second time.
- Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
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As a whole, people like chocolate more than fruit. They especially like peanut butter with chocolate more than fruit, and I agree on that point a bazillion percent. While opinions differ in regards to many cookies, most people can’t resist a really good chocolate chip cookie.
And even fewer people will turn their noses up at anything with cookies and cream. In fact, whenever I make anything that involves Oreos, I have to hide in a corner while a stampede (comprised in part by people I don’t know that well, if at all) grabs at what I’ve done and totally eliminates its existence.
Well, I’d better hide. This cookie cake is extreme. Not only is the base itself filled with Oreos in every corner of every bite, but it’s also topped with more Oreos, Hershey’s cookies and cream kisses, and Hershey’s cookies and cream drops. Oh, and there’s frosting, too.
While we’re on the subject of cookie cakes, I should probably emphasize how much I love them. They’re a lot more exciting than cakes, they’re tricked out just like cake, and they’re a lot easier to make than cookies. There’s no dough chilling involved, no forming of dough mounds. You just press the dough into the pan, bake, and decorate!
For the frosting, I made the vanilla buttercream from Lindsay’s recipe. If you don’t read Lindsay’s blog, go there immediately. She is one of the most talented cake bakers ever. I love her buttercream because it holds up beautifully and it’s not as oily as the frostings you get from bakeries that use shortening exclusively. This is a butter-shortening hybrid.
From there, just pile on all of the candy and cookies and you’ve got yourself a cake nobody will forget! Don’t hold back. Let the cookies and cream madness out!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line the bottom of a 9-inch round pan with parchment paper and spray with pan release spray.
- Combine the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the egg and the egg yolk, incorporating both fully. Finally, add the vanilla.
- In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Put 12 Oreos into a Ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Add the crushed Oreos and mix until they are well incorporated into the batter.
- Press the batter evenly into the cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is set.
- Cool the cookie cake and invert onto a plate.
- While the cookie cake is cooling, make the frosting. Cream the softened butter and shortening. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating after each addition. Finally, add the vanilla and milk. Let the mixer go for about 5 minutes to really combine and whip the frosting.
- When you're ready, spread some of the frosting onto the cookie cake surface. Using a tip of your choice, pipe a border around the cookie cake.
- Break the remaining Oreos into uneven pieces and pile them on the cake along with any candy you'd care to use. I used Hershey's cookies and cream kisses and drops.
- Slice in to wedges and serve!
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