Anna's Christmas Baking

So I completed my Christmas baking this last weekend (don't worry Mom or Danielle, if you want help when I come home I am all over that!) and the two recipes I tried were AMAZING!

The first was a chocolate nutella cookie.  http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/08/chocolate-nutella-cookies/

-Make sure your butter is really, really soft.  You don't have eggs to help get this all creamed together, so you have to do it with just butter, sugar and sugar.  My butter was soft, but not super soft and it took like six minutes to get it creamed.
-This is a really sticky dough.  The refrigerating helped, but so did putting water on my hands
-I also didn't press this down with a cup after the first pan full because I was sick of the cookies sticking to the cup and not to the pan
-My didn't crack on top, but they were still soft and amazing!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
2/3 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract (you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon vanilla if you can’t find or don’t like hazelnut extract)
1/3 cup Nutella
1/3 cup milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Set the mixture aside. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes or until smooth. Add the extracts and beat for another 30 seconds or so. Add the Nutella and beat until smooth.

With the mixer running, add half of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the milk, mixing until combined completely, then add the remaining flour mixture and mix completely. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes (and as long as 2-3 days).

When you’re ready to bake the cookies, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place them on the lined cookie sheet, allowing about 2″ between the dough balls.

Lightly press the dough balls with the bottom of a drinking glass and then bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are crackly on top and soft, but starting to set. Remove from the oven and allow them to stand for about 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

The second thing I made were peppermint brownies.  Now, I don't know if any of you remember Jon's and my brownie disaster when we were little.  Dad asked us to make brownies and we put baking soda instead of baking powder in.  It was disgusting.  Ever since then I have had some serious problems with homemade brownies.  I always seem to be able to taste the terrible flavor.  Anyways, bad experience.  In the past year, I have started to overcome by distaste for homemade brownies (thank you Casey and his hershey recipe!!), but these brownies might have changed my life.  Just saying.  They were a little time consuming, but totally worth it.

Here is the link: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/12/peppermint-candy-cane-brownies/
-my frosting needed more milk than the recipe said, but maybe we were just having a really dry day or something
-1.5 cups is way too much candy canes.  About half of my crushed candy canes fell off while I was cutting up my brownie, so save some time and only do like 3/4 to 1 cup.
-I did this in a foiled line pan and it made it so I didn't lose any brownies get them out of the pan, which I thought was important!

Brownies:
4 squares unsweetened chocolate (4oz)
1 C butter (2 sticks)
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1t vanilla
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 t baking powder

Frosting:
2 C powdered sugar
4 T butter, softened
1 1/2 t peppermint extract
1 T milk
pink food coloring

Chocolate Glaze:
6 oz (about a cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips ,you could also use dark
6T real butter

Additional:
1/2-1 C crushed candy canes (Use Bob’s NOT Spanglers!)

First, the Brownies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roughly chop baking squares so they’ll be easier to melt, then place them in a microwave-safe bowl along with the 2 sticks of butter (also chopped).

Melt in 30-45 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Set aside. Don’t accidentally stick your finger in the melted butter and chocolate combo because it will laugh at you for forgetting that it is unsweetened.

In a stand mixer or with electric beaters, beat eggs for about 3 minutes until thick and frothy.  Add sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Then add in the melted chocolate and butter that you set aside. Combine flour and baking powder and whisk into brownie batter by hand untiljust combined. Pour into a lightly greased 9×13 pan. If you want to make the job much easier, line your pan with foil first.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness and don’t over bake! When brownies are done, cool on a cooling rack. When completely cool, pop in the fridge to chill. (makes the frosting spreading easier).

Next layer is the frosting:
Combine all frosting ingredients and beat until light and fluffy. Add extra milk by teaspoonful if you need a little more. Spread evenly over cooled/chilled brownies and place back in the fridge to chill again while you do the final step.

Chocolate Glaze:
Place chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and cook in 30 second intervals until smooth.

Set aside for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, so it can cool off just a bit. Remember in the first step when I told you to not accidentally let your finger fall in the chocolate butter mixture? Totally doesn’t apply to this chocolate butter mixture. Quickly spread on top of brownies. I say quickly because the frosting is cool and the chocolate is hot. If you take your sweet time and over do it, you’ll make a big gooey mess. Just spread it on quick.

Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top and return to the fridge until chocolate is set on top.

Remove from fridge a few minutes before serving. Cut into squares, eat, ooh and ahh, and then eat another one. Or two.

-anna