I can't believe I didn't get an individual shot of these truffles but as I am going through all my photos there are none to be found. Since they have all found homes in peoples tummies you will have to accept the group shot where they are in the bottom right corner.

These truffles were a HUGE hit at all the Christmas gatherings I brought them to. Everybody is a sucker for chocolate chip cookie dough and being wrapped in chocolate made them even more decadent. Don't worry this dough is made without using eggs so it is safe to eat raw.

Cookie Dough Truffles from Food Network

1/2 Cup Butter, softened
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
1 (14 ounce) Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 Cup Semisweet Mini Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Finely Chopped Pecans (I left these out because I am not a nut fan)
1 1/2 Pounds Chocolate Bark Candy Coating, melted

In a large bowl cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and milk. Add chocolate morsels and pecans, mixing well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place on waxed paper, chill 2 hours.

Melt chocolate bark candy coating in a double broiler. Using 2 forks, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Place on waxed paper and chill to set. Store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Try not to eat too many in one sitting.

These little Christmas cookies are so easy to make and I have to say it is the best dough to eat ever (well second to Chocolate Chip Cookie dough but I don't make that for Christmas)! I used this same recipe when I made the cookie bouquet a few weeks ago. I also love these cookies because I don't have to decorate them. I add some sprinkles before they go into the oven and they come out looking so festive! I don't have a great cookie press though. That is something else to add to my ever growing wish list!

Spritz
1 1/2 Cups Butter, softened
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
3 1/2 Cups Flour

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and baking powder. Beat until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour.

2. Force unchilled dough through a cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet (this is important because if the sheet is greased they will not stick to the pan when coming out of the press. Also important to wipe down the sheets between batches for the same reason.) Add sprinkles before putting in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

And ta-da you are done. Eat and enjoy.

It is time for another one of my Christmas Cookie Recipes! At the rate I am going, it will be next Christmas before I get through this list. The cookies are from Taste of Home December/January 2010. They turned out so beautiful! They were simple too so the fact that they were easy and beautiful makes them a keeper.

Linzer Cookies
1 1/4 Cups Butter, softened
1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
3 Cups Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Cocoa
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/8 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
2 Cups Ground Almonds
Raspberry Jam and Confectioners' Sugar

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, cocoa, salt and spices; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in almonds. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with a floured 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. I used my Demarle set and it worked great! From the center half of the cookies, cut out a 1 1 /2 inch shape.

Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Spread the bottom of each solid cookies with 1/2 teaspoon jam. Sprinkle cutout cookies with confectioners sugar; carefully place over jam.

Back to Christmas Cookies for me in my quest to get all of the recipes posted to this blog. These cookies were so easy to make and look impressive. The people I was making these with sure seemed to love them. The recipe calls for store bought peanut butter cookie dough. I didn't see any at Winco so I just made a batch of dough. It would be even easier if you had the pre-made dough however. This recipe comes from a Better Homes and Garden's Special Interest Publication that I purchased just after I got married in 2006. What a great investment! I have used it every year since. I think they publish the same recipes with different covers from year to year. If you see something like it at the store next holiday season I highly recommend you pick up a copy and keep it on file.

Simple Fudge Tarts

Refrigerated Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
1/2 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cups Sweetened Condensed Milk

(that is it-3 ingredients! I told you this was going to be easy!)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 24 mini muffin cups with nonstick spray. Cut dough into six equal pieces. Cut each piece into four equal slices. Place each slice of dough into prepared cup.

2) Bake in preheated oven for 9 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and dough is slightly firm but not set. Remove from oven. Gently press a shallow indentation in each tart shell with the back of a measuring spoon.

3) Bake 2 minutes or more until edges of tart shells are firm and light golden brown. Let tart shells cool in cups on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Carefully remove tart shells from cups. Cool completely on wire racks.

4) For filling, in a saucepan combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until chocolate melts. Spoon a generous teaspoon of filling into each cooled tart shell. Cool until filling is set.

Makes 24

There are not many cookies I make which I am tempted to eat. I know it is weird that I would spend all this time making Christmas cookies and not really eat any of them but there is something magical to me about making cookies at Christmas. I almost feel like I could never make enough.

Now back to these cookies...like I said there are very few cookies I am tempted to eat but this was one of them. When the chocolate caramel was coming off the stove top all warm and gooey I couldn't resist! They are VERY rich so I suggest cutting them small. I cut them much smaller than the picture I was going from. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart Magazine but I don't remember which issue.

For the Crust
4 1/2 Ounces (9 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter, room temperature, plus more for parchment
1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Table Salt

For the Chocolate Caramel
10 1/2 Ounces Milk Chocolate, Chopped (2 Cups)
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup Water
3 Ounces (6 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Teaspoon Table Salt
1 Tablesppon Sea Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust: Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides: butter parchment, excluding overhang. Beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour and table salt, and beat until just combined.

2. Press dough evenly into pan, and bake until lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

3. Make the chocolate caramel: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, washing sides of pan with a wet pasty brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming, until amber, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter, cream, and table salt (Mine looked really weird at this point because the butter and cream were so cold the sugar mixture froze in place. I didn't think it would work but I continued anyway and it turned out beautifully). Bring to a boil, stirring until smooth. Pour over chocolate. Let stand for 2 minutes. Stir to combine and let stand until cool, about 10 minutes.

4. Pour mixture over crust. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Run a knife around the edges; lift parchment to remove whole bar from pan. Sprinkle with sea salt. Trim edges, and cut into 16 bars. Bars can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

At the end of my baking this year my mom and I were both laughing so hard because it had become a little crazy. I had cookies covering the kitchen and we had to spill out into the dinning room. My mom said I need to go to cookie therapy. The final count of what we made was 26 different cookies not counting the things my mom made without my help. That is insane so next year I think I will try to tone it down a bit. Here is the list of what we made:

1) Spritz
2) Sugar Cookie Cutouts
3) Gingerbread Men
4) Gingersnaps
5) Yuletide Bars
6) Chocolate Crinkles
7) Simple Fudge Tarts
8) Mocha Logs
9) Candy Cane Cookies
10) Neapolitans
11) Homemade Marshmallows
12) Mint Brownie Bites
13) Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints
14) Chocolate Cherry Loaf
15) Cranberry Bread
16) Cherry Tassies
17) Linzer Cookies
18) Pecan Goody Cups
19) Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookie
20) Chocolate Caramel Cookies
21) Angel Food Cookies
22) Oreo Truffles
23) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
24) Cinnamon Spiced Hot Chocolate Cookie
25) Eggnog Truffles
26) Marshmallow Fudge

My plan it to post pictures, recipes, and reviews of all the cookies. Looking at the list I think it could take a while.

Well yesterday was day two of my Christmas cookie baking for 2009. The first baking day went very well and we got through 4 of the cookies I wanted to make which included chocolate crinkles, spritz, peanut butter and jelly cookies, and gingersnaps. I also made the gingerbread boy dough and put it in the freezer.

My plan for my second baking day this Saturday was much more intense. We (my friend Kelly and I) started at 9:30 and ended at 3:15. The only break we took was a 15 minute one to eat soup my mom had prepared to tide us over. I will post pictures of what we made soon, all eleven different cookies. One dough is still sitting in my mom's fridge but I think I will roll it out tomorrow after work. So much fun but so exhausting! Worth every minutes of it when people eat and enjoy them at Christmas.

The question is how is your baking going this year and are you as crazy as I am for Christmas goodies?

(This is a picture from last year)

I am working on my Christmas Cookie list for this year. I think I will start making them this Wednesday and freezing. I usually make things that freeze well early and continue working all through Christmas. Last year I made about 22 different kinds. I am excited to get started this year. I will try to take pictures of my baking days. My husband broke our camera though so unless he gets me something new in a hurry my posts will be lacking something.

So I have two questions for you. 1) What is your favorite Christmas cookie? 2) Do you make cookies every year and if so how many different kinds?