Cookie Baking Extravaganza

Today was our annual Cookie Baking extravaganza.  We’ve had this tradition for years and it usually involves me, my mom, and my grandmom in a kitchen (location has changed) with lots of cookie dough, a hot oven, and sprinkles!  You may remember last year’s baking day!  This year was no different, except that we had it at my house this year, and we had just as much fun.  We made gingerbread snowmen & angels, whole wheat sugar cookies, butter cookies, and chocolate chip walnut.  I actually didn’t count up how many cookies before we divided them up but I have a lot of fully packed tupperware containers full of cookies now!  Let’s hope they are still here for Christmas and not in our tummies

For the gingerbread cookies, I actually cheated and used Pillsbury’s refrigerated dough, which smelled amazing!  I rolled it out on a floured surface, punched out using my cookie cutters, and created an assortment of yummy characters.  The result was a perfectly crisp cookie that smelled just like Christmas (and by Christmas I mean nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon!).

And in case you were wondering, this was my first attempt at whole wheat sugar cookies.  They are definitely more crisp than your standard white flour but I loved the heartiness and nuttiness of the cookie.  I used this recipe but jazzed it up a bit by adding some cinnamon and then put a Christmas twist on them.  I added pistachio nuts and craisins (inspired by a recipe on Food Network’s Christmas special).  I doubled the recipe and then just eyeballed the measurements for my special add-ins, I would estimate about a little less than a 1/2 cup of each and mixed them in well.  They turned out fabulous!

Oh and in case you were wondering, I am going to try to start up blogging again but this time I’m just doing it on a whim, so no rules & no structure… Needless to say, hope you enjoy my random ramblings & posts