Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hate having leftover ingredients. With a few exceptions (mainly coconut), I try to use them up as soon as I can. Even if they can last a long time, like the leftover sweetened condensed milk I had from Auntie Paldina's coconut truffles. Coincidentally, I came across a cookie recipe on Pinterest that uses a small amount of sweetened condensed milk. It seemed very simple and easy. Also, it's egg-free and low in sugar since the milk makes up for that. The recipe is from A Pretty Life in the Suburbs.

Buttery Spritz Cookies

Growing up my mom had a cookie press that we would always bring out at Christmastime. We made trees, wreaths, and ornaments with it using colored and chocolate dough, usually topping them with sprinkles. I think we also brought it out at other times of the year every once in a while too (there's a heart plate and a bunch of flower plates). So when Mom had a Pampered Chef party to benefit her Relay for Life team years ago, I bought one. Or so I thought. Turns out it's a decorator of some kind. So I did a little research and added a Wilton cookie press to my baking-themed Amazon wish list.

Somehow Kevin and Helen found out about this (possibly from Kati - it was one of the ideas I gave her for Christmas) because look what I got from them:

I decided to break it in last week when I had a day off from work. I also wanted to use up the half-dozen eggs I had leftover - except the only recipes I could find had just one egg (oh well - I do like egg salad sandwiches). I finally settled on a recipe from one of Taste of Home's special edition holiday magazines as this one also allows for food coloring (something I also wanted to use up).

Chocolate Coconut Cream Truffles

As I said in Barba John's recipe post, I got the main flavors for Barba John and Auntie Paldina mixed up. I really shouldn't have though - Barba John is Nonni's brother and while I know siblings don't always share favorite flavors (Anthony's love of dark chocolate and my distaste for it is just one example), there's still the possibility of that when they grow up together (my brothers and I all love peanut butter). I still mixed things up, though, and focused on the coconut recipes I've saved for Mom and Nonni when searching for Auntie Paldina's present. I finally settled on chocolate-covered coconut truffles from Sugar Apron, thinking they'd be easy. Right?

Coconut Jam Squares

Nonni's present was a bit hard to pick out. She had heart surgery back in August so I wanted to make something that was heart-healthy. Mom told me to try and be low on butter and salt. I also wanted to find something that would taste good with coffee and could maybe pass as breakfast because Nonni always texts me a few days after getting a gift from me saying that she's enjoying her present with her morning coffee. After lots of looking I found a recipe for squares with coconut and raspberry jam in my 500 Best Cookies, Bars, & Squares cookbook.

Andes Creme de Menthe Cookies

A while back I made Kevin some gooey cake bars with Thin Mints. Another ingredient in these bars is Andes Crème de Menthe pieces. Since I made the bars for Kevin twice for his birthday (not to mention the homemade Thin Mints I made him), I figured he'd like mint cookies. While searching through my clipped recipes (mainly from Good Housekeeping, People Country and various packages), I kept coming back to Crème de Menthe Cookies from the pieces bag so I stuck with those. The recipe is also available on the parent company's recipes website.

Chocolate-Coated Lemon Almond Biscotti

I'm still kinda on "dark chocolate" for Anthony. And "lemon." Two flavors that I discovered go together when I first successfully made macarons. So I decided to do both for Anthony's present. I realized that (almost) every year so far I've made biscotti for someone. And for whatever reason, I decided that this year was gonna be Anthony's year to receive biscotti. I pretty quickly found a recipe that fit the bill, combining both the original recipe and a suggested variation, in Crazy About Cookies, one of my many baking cookbooks.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Helen's present was another recipe I decided to make during the week. Since last year's Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge was successful, I decided to do the chocolate-peanut butter combo again this year. After doing lemon brownies for Anthony a couple years ago for his birthday, I decided to see if peanut butter brownies were a thing (also, brownies and bar cookies are easy to do in just a couple hours). Turns out, they are! The recipe I found in Taste of Home Best-Loved Cookies & Candies 2012 special issue even has chocolate chips in it, which I was gonna put in anyway.

Fudge Cookies

A year ago, right after Christmas, Nonni texted a suggestion to me: add her brother and sister-in-law (my great-aunt and great-uncle) to my list of people to make Christmas gifts for since they usually give me something. She had a point so I got some flavor ideas: coconut for Barba John and chocolate for Auntie Paldina. Since it was so simple, I figured I'd remember it, even when looking at my flavor ideas list when choosing recipes.

Except I got the two mixed up and chose a chocolatey cookie for Barba John and a coconut treat for Auntie Paldina. Oops! Apparently this didn't matter: when I asked Chiara and Matteo for more flavor ideas for their grandparents, they said that both liked chocolate and coconut. So I decided to stick with the recipes I originally chose for them. For Barba John, I chose a fudgy cookie recipe from Just a Pinch (Auntie Paldina makes fudge for almost everyone for Christmas so I kinda always associate anything fudge-related with both of them).

Peanut Butter Brookies

I love and hate the holiday season. Love because Christmas music and movies are awesome and there's all kinds of treats. Hate because I bake treats for almost a dozen people (not to mention make candy for 5 cousins) so it can get a bit overwhelming. I technically only have one main day - Saturday - to take my time to bake since Sundays I have to leave mid-afternoon for dance class and the rest of the week I work. So I sometimes pick a few recipes that are quick to make.

Like for Kati's present. I also kinda wanted to make something that's been a trend for a few years - brookies (a brownie-cookie hybrid). There are a few different ways to make them. The one I chose is layered - one layer of cookie dough and one layer of brownie batter. The recipe I found on Jen's Favorite Cookies allows a box mix for the brownie layer (and honestly, why not? Box mix brownies are THE BEST of all mix choices). And they bake at the same time. Bonus - the cookie layer has peanut butter in it.