Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies

For my family's Christmas presents, I made choosing a bit easy. Anthony and Kati (Oatmeal Scotchies) and Dad (peanut butter chocolate chip cookies) were essentially the same as before. I decided to make Helen the Pinipig cookies that I made a few years ago since Mom had heard her say they "taste like home" (and she's returning to the Philippines soon). Since I didn't know what non-food gifts to get Mom and Nonni, I decided to make them coconut macaroons (I had a lot of egg whites) and split the recipe between the two of them.

Kevin seems to be the one whose gift changes every year. One thing that doesn't seem to change, though, is that lately I've been more likely to choose a chocolate mint recipe (or chocolate peanut butter - both combos seem to be his favorites). Including this year: after the success of last year's Mint Chip Brookies, I decided to stick with finding a chocolate mint recipe. At first I tried to find the mint Oreo bars that I made for Father's Day in 2020 (the year I wasn't doing blog posts) but since I couldn't remember what they looked like, I wasn't successful. I eventually landed on the Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod.

Chocolate Chip Clouds (Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies)

After I learned the hard way that it's better to put egg whites in the freezer than in the fridge, I started freezing the whites after making Pepperoni Pinwheels. Fortunately the brief supply shortage of Pillsbury products (and I think also of pepperoni) helped buy me some time to finish the S'mores Cookie Bars. Once I got close, I started searching for recipes that use 8 egg whites (or at least could be adjusted to use 8 whites). I eventually decided on chocolate chip clouds (a.k.a. meringue cookies) from Skinnytaste. To defrost the egg whites, I put them in the fridge for a few days.

Chocolate Caramel Macarons

Last fall when I thought I was going to be staying home for a while I decided to start baking what I wanted to go with my lunch. Yes, I shouldn't really have dessert with my meals but I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't have something sweet to finish my lunch (well, on a regular basis. And when I eat alone). So for the first time in a long time (if not ever), I made something for me.

Several of the recipes I made asked for only egg yolks. But rather than toss the whites like I usually do (i.e. my famous pepperoni pinwheels) I started saving them. My intention was to make a macaron recipe for someone for Christmas. When that plan changed, I decided to make that recipe for me.

As most of you know, my history with macarons has been hit and miss. One of the main things I've struggled with is size: as soon as the batter hits the cookie sheet, it starts to spread. No idea if this was because the batter wasn't mixed enough or I just made them too big to begin with. Which is why I bought some macaron mats at the Culinary Apple last summer while in Chelan. Didn't entirely help but the shells were better than before, so win?

The recipe itself was easy to find: a while ago I bought a book called Mad About Macarons! by Jill Colonna. She's a bit of an expert on these little French treats, having lived in Paris since the 90s. I followed her instructions, even using metric measurements instead of the usual measuring cup/spoon that I'm used to. It was a longer process than I was expecting (which is why I didn't get to making the filling until almost a week later) but totally worth it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I had something different planned for Kevin. However, I can't remember what it was because about a week after Thanksgiving he sent me a picture of a recipe for some chocolate-covered peanut butter "cookies" and said I should make them sometime. I figured (and got confirmation) that he wanted these to be his Christmas present. They didn't seem too hard to make: about 4 ingredients for the main "cookie" and melted chocolate for dipping. So I switched gears. It didn't take me long to make them either (well, kinda - more on that in the notes). He loved them - as did everyone else who tried them. 

Also, I found out where he got the recipe: apparently the company he works for has a family business as one of their clients (or something along those lines) and they brought these in one day as a thank you with the recipe attached.

Chocolate-Dipped Orange Cookies

As I stated before, Anthony likes those chocolate oranges. So I decided to use this as inspiration for his present this year. I also decided that this would be one of the recipes from my physical copies since orange and chocolate are both popular ingredients. I finally settled on one from one of the Taste of Home mini magazines that you can get at the cash register.

Chocolate-Brownie Biscotti

Confession: Kevin's recipe was a backup. I didn't know what to make for Kevin at first. My indecisiveness kicked in, as always. I did, however, pick out a recipe for Helen (his fiancé[!!]) as a backup in case I couldn't find a Filipino cookie recipe. When I did find a recipe, I decided to use the other recipe as Kevin's gift. I found it in one of the grocery store magazines I used to constantly buy. This one was from Good Housekeeping and specific to the holidays.

Coconut Brookies

I almost didn't do anything for Barba John and Auntie Paldina. At one point in December I got an email from Nonni saying the three of them had decided that they wouldn't get Christmas presents for the others' grandkids. In other words, for example, I wouldn't be getting gifts from John and Paldina. Understandable. I still felt I should make them something at least this year, to kind of even things out from the past. So I searched for a chocolate coconut dessert for Barba John. I eventually settled on Coconut Brookies from Crazy for Crust.

Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes

At last year's holiday dinner for work we did a gift exchange. I didn't like my original gift (it was two kitchen tools I knew I wouldn't use) so I asked to switch. My new gift was a tin of 4 dozen Kirkland Signature-brand chocolate-hazelnut candies (AKA Ferrero Rocher). I took them to Christmas Eve dinner to put them out as one of many offerings for dessert but we only ended up using 1 dozen. The rest sat in their original tin on the floor beneath my kitchen table for almost a year.

Which is why I finally decided to bake with them recently. I focused on cupcakes because I rarely make them (and I randomly bought a cupcake carrier/holder with a coupon at Michael's a while back and had yet to use it). Most of the recipes I found had the candy inside the cupcake but I wasn't sure about doing that (my overthinking brain kept going back to the idea that they'd be too hard to bite into). I finally settled on a recipe from Dixie Crystals (a cane sugar company) that sets the candy on top of the frosting. And since the frosting is Nutella (to go with the chocolate and hazelnut flavors of the candy), I decided to add some Nutella to the cupcake as well, using an idea I found on a food site from the UK.

Scotcheroos

When I was growing up we'd spend most of our 4th of Julys camping on Camano Island. My dad's high school friend's parents owned property there and my dad and all their friends had been camping there since they met. This is where I first remember having scotcheroos: peanut butter Rice Krispies treats topped with a melted chocolate-butterscotch chips mixture. I even copied the recipe from what the mom had written down - which ended up being unnecessary as it's pretty much from Rice Krispies itself.

I'd been craving them for a while so I decided to make them for Rowan Fae's annual St. Patrick's Day weekend road trip - except due to scheduling conflicts, we only had two shows on Sunday night. Oh well - these last a while so more for me!

Chocolate Mint Crinkles

Another one of my favorite cookies that we make around Christmastime is chocolate crinkle cookies. They're so chewy and chocolatey and delicious that I don't care how messy they are (which is saying something because I'm the baker who cleans as I work). One thing we've never thought to do, though, is add peppermint. Even without the internet to give us recipes with the exact amount, it's a pretty easy addition.

Which is why I decided to make peppermint crinkle cookies for work's usual Valentine's Day potluck. You see, we got some snow. Which lead to me staying close to home for about 4 days. During the first couple days I tried to use up two things: my packets of hot chocolate (because of the calories I don't drink it as often as I would like) and the almost-empty bottle of peppermint extract. Except using peppermint extract to make peppermint hot chocolate is A HORRIBLE IDEA! So with Monday off I decided to find a recipe and make the cookies in order to use up the extract (who says peppermint is only for Christmastime?). I ended up modifying a recipe from Betty Crocker's website. The recipe was for a chocolate crinkle version of the peanut butter blossoms (kinda like the peppermint thumbprint cookies I made once) except I left out the candy cane Hershey's Kisses.

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?

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.

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).

Double Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes

Remember those chocolate oranges that were also flavored orange? I vaguely remember seeing them a lot when I was a kid (apparently this was because Anthony was a big fan so Mom would always get him one for his Christmas stocking).

Like most fruit, orange just goes great with chocolate. So I've wanted to make something chocolate-orange for a while. I decided that the Labor Day BBQ at my parents' house (side note: it's been 4 years and I'm still not used to not calling it my house) would be the perfect time to make something chocolate-orange. Since I hadn't made cupcakes in a while, I decided on those. I chose a recipe from one of the Simply Sweet magazine, a dessert magazine from the same publishers as Southern Living and Cooking Light (among others).

Oh, and if you're wondering where I got that chocolate orange pictured above, I found it partially hidden in a display at a sweet shop I adore called Lolli & Pops. There are several locations in the Seattle-area (two of which I can get to via transit - not exactly a good thing).

Very Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

I'm not a fan of dark chocolate. It's just too bitter for me. I'll eat it when I have to but I try to avoid it. Anthony, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He loves dark chocolate. The darker the better, apparently (as in, 80% cacao or higher). Having recently learned this, I decided to make something dark chocolate for him for his birthday. When searching for a recipe I stuck with Nestle and Hershey's since they're synonymous with baking and chocolate (plus I had bittersweet chocolate chips that I'd bought with a coupon for this gift). I finally settled on Very Chocolate Chocolate Cookies from the Hershey's website.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

The only other flavor I had to go on for Helen was peanut butter. Which is probably just as broad as chocolate, even when the two are paired together. I decided to find something simple and quick since most of the other recipes I chose were a bit more complex and lengthy to do and I wanted to give myself a break at one point (as well as have a couple free days for holiday events that came up, seeing as how I didn't plan very well for when I'd make which recipe). I finally decided on Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge from The Bitter Side of Sweet.

Homemade Twix Bars

Ever since I joined Pinterest I've come across a lot of homemade candy bar recipes. Apparently there are several different ways to make your favorite candy bars. So this year I decided to make homemade Twix bars for Anthony. After looking at all the choices I'd saved I finally decided on a recipe from Tastes Better from Scratch as it was the format I wanted.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

As I stated at the end of my chocolate macarons recipe post, I had a ton of caramel cream cheese frosting left over. So after a while of it sitting in my fridge. I decided to make chocolate whoopie pies and use the frosting as the filling. It didn't take me long to find a recipe: a while ago I bought a whoopie pie recipe book at Barnes & Noble. So I pulled it from my (barely used) recipe bookshelf and found a recipe for chocolate whoopie pies (not hard to find as it was the first one. Based on the recent Portland, Maine, episode of the Food Network show I Hart Food, chocolate with marshmallow filling is the original whoopie pie flavor). I mainly chose whoopie pies because a few years ago I got a whoopie pie pan at Kohl's and I've only used it once. Plus, these things are pretty easy to make.

Chocolate Macarons with Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

When I made the Fireworks Cookies & Cream Cookies for work I had a ton of eggs leftover plus 4 oz. of cream cheese. So I decided to try making macarons again using the same method that I had used last time. For the cream cheese the only solution I could come up with was cream cheese frosting to I started looking at every cream cheese frosting recipe on my Pinterest Frostings board until I found one on Wicked Good Kitchen that only required 4 oz. of cream cheese (and for once, I stayed with the first one I found instead of saving it for consideration). Because it was a caramel frosting I decided to make chocolate macarons since caramel is one of the many things that goes deliciously with chocolate. I finally decided on a chocolate macaron recipe from Diethood.

Chocolate Velvet Cake

Last weekend we had a family birthday party for Kevin and Declan. I offered to make something so my mom said I could make the birthday cake. Kevin and Declan both wanted chocolate cake so I started looking through my thousand or so chocolate cake pins. I eventually decided on a chocolate velvet cake (yes, velvet, as in red velvet but without the red food coloring. Apparently there's a velvet cake for all colors/flavors. I now have a Pinterest board for them) from Add A Pinch.