Cookie Overkill

You know how some people are disenchanted with the whole Christmas season and get annoyed with how cheesy and annoying everything can get? I am not one of those people! I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday. I get that to some, the whole thing seems commercial and disingenuous. Yes, a lot of big companies are just trying to make an extra million or two, but that doesn't mean that the reason for the holiday, the celebration of the advent of Jesus, means any less.

Yes, I know that the exact date is a pagan winter solstice celebration and a lot of our traditions (trees, gift-giving, mistletoe) have nothing to do with Jesus. And to that I say......so? Cultural tradition is also worth celebration. We do it all the time in the US with things like Martin Luther King Junior Day and Thanksgiving, which celebrate events in of our history and how they have influenced modern life. So, celebrate however you like, because for me, I'm celebrating the birth of Jesus and all of the gifts He has given me, including the cultural heritage. And darn it, I like sleigh bells and wreaths, let me have my fun! We just need to bring back the dragon slaying, now THAT would be fun (If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up St. George and Medieval Christmas tradition).

And speaking of parts of Christmas that I love.....cookies. This is a food blog, you knew it was coming. I spent most of last week mixing, rolling, chilling, melting, dipping, decorating, and baking probably way too many cookies. I started early because 1. I'm making these all myself, so it's going to take more time, and 2. I want to be able to give them all away before heading to Nebraska to be with my family. I have Pinterest boards full of recipes, so I had to make some tough choices on which to make. I still ended up going overboard. Here's my rough stats on ingredients used:

3 lbs. chocolate (a combination of white, milk, and semi-sweet)
1 lb sugar (combined white and brown)
1 lb powdered sugar
1.5 lbs of butter
2 cans of condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 oz cream cheese

All of these ingredients transformed into many plates like this one. Colorful and carrying a full array of holiday flavors. Making these in my shorts as I enjoyed the 70-degree day was not the Norman Rockwell Christmas a lot of people envision, but it got me in the Christmas spirit just fine.

This amount of confectionery left even me sick of sweets for a while. But I ended up with a spectacular array of sweet treats for the people in my life. I feel like cookie Oprah. You get a plate! And you get a plate! Everyone gets a plate!! I enjoy making things for other people and making their day just a little bit better, so I tend to go overboard this time of year. But if I've got to go overboard on something, giving out cookies isn't a bad choice.

So let's dive into this week's recipe. We're kicking off the Christmas recipes with a fun one that everyone can get behind: sugar cookie truffles. These little guys are tasty balls of edible sugar cookie dough dipped in white chocolate. No baking required, which is great when your oven is overworked already.

They are cute little snowballs of holiday joy.

Here's my starting recipe:

Sugar Cookie Truffles

Sprinkles of Kim:
-If you're using unsalted butter, add a dash or two of salt, it keeps them from becoming cloying
-A little extra dash of cinnamon gives them a little extra personality
-If you have time, roll out the dough and let it sit overnight. This lets them form a bit of a "skin" and keeps them from falling apart when you dip them.
-Speaking of dipping, I dipped mine using a fork and slid them off the tines with a toothpick to get them to look nicer. I also used a knife to cut off the little pools of chocolate after they set.

I hope you all have a good start to your Christmas season and remember why you're doing all of this. There will definitely be more Christmas recipes to come, so keep an eye out. God bless and Merry Christmas!