Christmas Cookie Recipe Fudge Ecstasy Cookies

It’s time to bake Christmas cookies! I don’t know about you, but I love making Christmas cookies. It’s really a tradition in my family and each generation has her own special recipes.

My mom made Christmas cookies starting in early December. She’s place them in tins nestled in wax paper, then hide them in the attic to keep them chilled and fresh. We had a walk-in attic in the house I grew up in, and my sister and I would always find the stash of Christmas cookies. It became a game to see how many we could snitch before Mom found out!

My mom made these recipes each year:

Brown Sugar Chews
Apricot and Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Sugar Plums
Coconut Macaroons

It’s funny, but walnuts must have been inexpensive back then, because the Brown Sugar Chews, Thumbprints AND Sugar Plums all call for walnuts. We didn’t have a lot of money so I’m guessing that walnuts were cheap back then!

Today, my own repertoire of Christmas cookies is a little different. I make:

Fudge Ecstasy Cookies (recipe to follow)
Marye Audet’s Rollo Cookie Recipe – Marye is a good friend of mine and blogs over at Restless Chipotle. Her recipe is to DIE for if you love caramel.
Peppermint sugar cookie candy canes
Almond crescents
Chocolate chip cookies
Peanut butter cookies

But be warned: you’ll probably have to make double the batch. These are the first to be consumed in my house.

Ingredients

You will need…

2 squares of unsweetened baker’s chocolate
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided into two cup servings
2 tablespoons of butter (do NOT substitute margarine)
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Instructions

To make…

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheets with shortening.

Using a heavy saucepan, melt the squares of unsweetened chocolate. Use the squares, not the rectangles. (4 rectangles = 2 squares on this brand of chocolate).

Melt together the baker’s chocolate, 1 cup of the chocolate morsels, and 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir constantly, or else the chocolate will scorch. Keep the heat low. Once everything is melted, remove from the heat and let it cool about one minute. Then scrape it into the mixing bowl.

Beat mixture on low speed, adding the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Now move the speed to medium and gradually add flour, baking powder and salt until it is well mixed. Turn off the mixer and remove the beaters. Stir in by hand the remaining cup of chocolate chips.

Drop the batter by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheets, leaving plenty of room between the cookies. They spread out, so watch your spacing. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes and remove promptly. They will look crackled when done. Let cool 1- 2 minutes on wire racks, then remove to plates to cool completely.
This recipe makes 24 to 36 cookies.

I’d say you can store them in airtight tins for up to a week, but let’s see if they last a week….around here, they barely make it through a few days before the mysterious elves eat them all.

Merry Christmas!