6 Great Cookie Ideas and Recipes

 These are some great Christmas Cookie ideas. The recipes are easy and you couldn't go with wrong making any of them. They will sure be a hit at your next gathering.

You could even make some for a cookie exchange ;)

 They would even be great to do with your older children... Have fun and enjoy the season! 

 

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 roll (18 oz.) store-bought refrigerated cookie dough
• 1 ½ cups prepared vanilla frosting
• Red, green and blue food coloring
• 1 tube brown decorating frosting
• 1 cup M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies for the Holidays
• Cookie sheet pan
• 24 6-inch lollipop sticks
• Reynolds® Parchment Paper
• 4 resealable plastic bags
• 2 ½-inch star-shaped and snowman cookie cutters

Directions

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the cookie sheet pan with Reynolds® Parchment Paper.
• 2. Knead the flour into the cookie dough until smooth. Roll out the dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out 12 stars and 12 snowmen, re-rolling the scraps if necessary. Transfer the star cookies to the prepared cookie sheet pan, pressing a lollipop stick halfway into each one.
• 3. Bake for 12-17 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
• 4. Divide the frosting between four small bowls. Tint frosting; red, bright green and blue, leaving one white. Spoon the frostings into the resealable plastic bags; snip the corners and pipe outlines on the cookies, filling in the centers with frosting and spreading to make smooth.
• 5. Attach M&M’S® Brand Milk Chocolate Candies for the Holidays on the cookies’ tops. Pipe on dots, scarves and faces, and then add more candies.
• Tip: To make the cookie holder, paint a box white (approximately 4 x 12 inches). Wrap a strand of holiday ribbon around the center, and fill the box with Styrofoam or a floral oasis. Press the lollipop stick into the Styrofoam. Then cover the surface with M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies.

Popping Popcorn Brittle

Popcorn brittle

• 1 bag (3.3 oz each) Orville Redenbacher’s® Gourmet® Butter Microwave Popcorn
• 1 cup M&M’S® Brand Milk Chocolate Candies
• 1½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter (½ cup = 1 stick)
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup lightly salted peanuts
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

Directions

• 1. Prepare popcorn according to package directions. Remove all unpopped kernels. Spread popped corn evenly in 15x10-inch nonstick shallow baking pan. Sprinkle evenly with M&M’S® Brand Milk Chocolate Candies; set aside.
• 2. Place sugar, butter, corn syrup and vanilla in medium heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Add peanuts. Cook an additional 2 minutes or to the hard-crack stage, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add baking soda and mix well.
• 3. Immediately pour caramel mixture evenly over popped corn and candy until coated. Do not stir. Let stand 30 minutes or until caramel has cooled and hardened.
• 4. Break into pieces. Store in tightly sealed container. 
• Tip: Hard-crack stage, 300 to 310°F on a candy thermometer, is when a small amount of boiling sugar syrup, dropped into very cold water, separates into hard brittle threads.

No flour Goodness

• 1 cup almond butter/ or peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• marmalade

Directions

• 1. Turn oven on to 350 fahrenheit.
• 2. Mix egg, sugar, and vanilla, in a bowl. then mix in almond butter and baking powder.
• 3. On parchment paper covered baking tray make a thumb print in each cookie and fill with jam.
• 4. Place in oven for about 12 min. 

Caramel Chocolate Treats

Caramel Chocolate Cookies

• 1 tube (18 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• ½ cup flour
• ¾ cups finely chopped pecans
• 24 pieces MILKY WAY® Chocolate Covered Caramels
• 6 pieces DOVE® Brand Dark Chocolate, optional
• Plastic sandwich bag, optional
• Scissors, optional

Directions

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• 2. Knead the cookie dough with the flour until smooth.
• 3. Divide the dough into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a 1 x 1½-inch oval. Roll in the chopped pecans to coat, if desired. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes.
• 4. Remove from the oven, and immediately press one MILKY WAY® Chocolate Covered Caramel into the center of each cookie.
• 5. Microwave DOVE® Brand Dark Chocolate in a plastic bag for 10-seconds, or until melted. Snip the corner tip of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the cookies, if desired. 

Nuggets Of Joy!

Nuggets of joy

• 18 pieces MILKY WAY® Bars Milk Chocolate Covered Caramels
• 1 roll (18 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• ¼ cup flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup ground pecans
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¾ cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 non-stick cookie sheets

Directions

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut caramels in half; set aside.
• 2. Knead cookie dough, flour, cocoa powder, pecans and cinnamon until smooth.
• 3. Divide the dough into 36 pieces, each about the diameter of a quarter. Tuck one candy half into the center of each piece of cookie dough. Roll the dough into balls, completely covering the candy. Place the balls on a non-stick cookie sheet.
• 4. Bake for 15-17 minutes.
• 5. Roll the warm cookies in confectioner’s sugar to coat them. 

Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Dream Bites

• 1 ¼ cups DOVE® Brand Dark Chocolate
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1¼ cups chopped nuts: such as walnuts, pecans or toasted almonds
• 2 cookie sheet pans
• Foil paper

Special equipment:

• Double boiler

Directions

• 1. Line the sheet pans with foil and set aside.
• 2. Melt half of the dark chocolate with the butter in the top of a double boiler until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, roughly chop the remaining chocolate and set aside.
• 3. To make cookie batter, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a small bowl, set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and light yellow, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour mixture and melted chocolate, beat for 1 minute. Fold in the chopped chocolate and nuts.
• 4. Drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto the prepared cookie sheet pans about 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated, 325 degreesF oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until just firm. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet pans.