Eggnog Cookies. Because real eggnog is some kind of nasty.

These cookies do not contain eggnog.

But they have a vaguely eggnoggy taste.

They taste kinda like rum and nutmeg.

That's what eggnog tastes like, right?


WHAT YOU NEED:
1 cup butter, softened, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg (there's the egg part)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon rum (AND... There's the Nog)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg


WHAT YOU DO:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together 3/4 cup butter and both sugars.  Next, add in the egg and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.  Gently mix in the salt and flour until a dough forms - you will want it to be stiff.  Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and put them on a cookie sheet.  Press the center of each one with your thumb to create an indention.

Bake for 10-11 minutes.  Don't overbake.  These cookies never get much color to them - if they're brown, they're burned.

Meanwhile, cream together the remaining 1/4 cup butter, the powdered sugar, rum and nutmeg.  Place it in a pastry bag.

After the cookies are cook, pipe a dollop of the frosting into the indention of each cookie.

These cookies are especially yummy at breakfast with a cup of coffee.

What? You don't normally eat rum-laced cookies for breakfast?

You don't know what you've been missing.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies. They taste as good as they look.

I'm sort of obsessed with cherries and chocolate together.  Sadly, this is not usually a year-round staple.  It seems difficult to find this deliciousness at any time of the year except Christmas, and Valentine's Day, if you're lucky.  So I take full advantage.  If you saw my Chocolate Covered Brandy Cherries recipe last week, you might think this is just a tired re-do.  Not so.  They have a taste all their own, and it's a delight...

WHAT YOU NEED:

1/2 cup rum, brandy, whisky, or your liquor of choice.  For once, I don't think beer would be appropriate, though.

1 10 oz jar maraschino cherries

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips

WHAT YOU DO:

Open the cherries, dump out the juice, and pour the liquor you chose in the jar.  Reseal it and let it sit.  The longer the better.  1 hour = not good.  3 hours = ok. 1 day = the best.

After the cherries have soaked, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the egg and vanilla and continue beating until starts to get fluffy.  Next, add the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix until the flour is incorporated.  The batter should be stiff.  If not, continue adding flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough can be rolled into balls.

Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place on a cookie sheet.  Use your thumb to make an indention in each one.  

Drain the cherries, but keep the juice.  Don't dry the cherries - a little extra juice is a good thing.  Put a cherry in each cookie indention, and bake for 9-10 minutes.

Put the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a bowl.  Microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chips are melted.  Add in 3-4 tablespoons of the reserved liquor and mix until it's smooth.  

At this point, you have some options.  You can either melt it a little more and drizzle some over each cookie, or allow it to sit a few minutes and harden, then put it into a pastry bag and pipe over the baked and cooled cookies (I did the latter).  It really doesn't matter, just so you get some of the yummy goodness on each cookie.

This cookie tastes as good as it looks.  I'm not known for my pretty food, but these are definitely the exception.

Try not to eat them all at once.

Rum Raisin Cookies. Because everything's better with rum.

I like my cookies chewy.  Crunchy cookies are just a nuisance, and I already have crumb problem at 154 Hidden Court.

These cookies are certainly in the chewy category, and they are delicious.


WHAT YOU NEED:
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup of your favorite rum
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups oats - quick, old fashioned, it doesn't really seem to matter here
1 cup nuts - I like pecans in these, but walnuts would work, too


WHAT YOU DO:
Place the raisins in a container with the rum and soak it for a least 3 hours.  The raisins will plump up and most of the liquid will be absorbed.  That's how you will know when they are ready.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When the raisins are ready, cream the butter and both sugars until it starts to get fluffy.  Slowly add in the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and flour.  After it is mixed, add in the raisins (drained of excess rum if necessary), the oats and the nuts.

Drop by the heaping teaspoon full onto a cookie sheet - they will spread a bit - and bake for 8-9 minutes, or until they are slightly browned.

Serve them to all your friends.  They will thank you.

Lemoncello Cookies. You may now die from happiness.

Ok, I'll admit, these cookies are not much to look at.

They don't have frosting, or sprinkles, and they don't light up and sing Jingle Bells.

Doesn't matter. I made ten batches of really good liquor-laced cookies, and these were the best.

In my opinion, of course.


WHAT YOU NEED:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup Lemoncello  If you don't know about this stuff, get yourself to a liquor store right now, sweatpants and all, and get a bottle.  It's a bit pricey, but a little goes a long way.  SO worth it.
Zest and juice from one lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

WHAT YOU DO:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugar together until it's, well, creamy, then add the eggs and beat on medium speed until it starts to become fluffy.  At this point, add in the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and Lemoncello and mix well.  Next, add in your salt, baking soda and flower until everything is incorporated, but don't go crazy and over mix it or anything...  Chill the dough until you can handle it - roughly half an hour.

I made pretty small cookies, about a teaspoon of dough each.  These lend themselves best to being bite-sized, because the finished product is very moist and chewy.  If the cookies are too big, they tend to fall apart.    Bake them 7-8 minutes, or just until the dough starts to slightly brown on the edges.  Don't overbake them.  You'll be sorry if you do.

Let them cool and remove them from the pan.  Try not to eat them all at once.

Gettin' Tipsy.

I love to cook.

Baking, not so much.  There's all this measuring, and waiting, and measuring... Patient?  Not me.  Or at least that was the old me, the me of I-work-a-retail-job-and-it's-Christmas-and-dear-God-do-you-expect-me-to-feed-people-and-CELEBRATE-too?  But slowly, I'm becoming a whole new me...

A few years ago, I came up with the concept of Tipsy Cakes, which is basically a cake mix with a bunch of alcohol poured into the batter, and they were a huge hit with everyone I served them to.

Yes, I know I just ended a sentence with a preposition.

So anyway, when RJ asked me to make some cookies and candy for his co-workers this week, instead of heading to the ready to bake refrigerator section, I thought I might try to find some recipes that contained alcohol because everybody who works with RJ is a raving drunk because they had all enjoyed the Tipsy Cakes so much.  Also, I had seen this recipe for Fruitcake Cookies at the Pioneer Woman's blog, and I was itching for an excuse to try them.

Sadly, the Fruitcake cookies were a total and dismal flop.

Even sadlier, there were few other liquor-laced cookie and candy recipes to be found.

It's like people thing cookies and candy are for CHILDREN or something...

At this point, I did what I do best, and began to improvise.

I could make Tipsy Cookies, and Tipsy Candy, and Tipsy spaghetti, and Tipsy eggs, and...

The posts that will follow over the next few days will highlight the best of what I came up with.

Cheers!