Jolene's Recipe Journal

  I knew that I wanted to include gingerbread cookies during the 12 Days of Cookies, to me, it's a flavor that means Christmas.   I searched through tons of recipes for cut out cookies, gingersnaps, but nothing really grabbed me.   

Cannoli purists, look away.  Today's recipe is Easy Cannoli Cookies from Crazy for Crust.  These cookies give you the taste of a cannoli while using simple ingredients.   I used a cookie cutter to make mine a bit more festive.  I also added a bit of green food coloring to the beaten egg. 

I don't remember many store bought treats from when I was a kid, but I do remember Jingles cookies.   I loved dipping them into milk and watching the milk change color from the red and green sugars.   My sister and I would fight over the crumbs and the pile of sugar in the bottom of the box.

Here we go, day 8 of the 12 days of Cookies!  I don't make many sandwich cookies, but these Raspberry Coconut Cookies caught my eye when I was searching through the Taste of Home website. 

  We're looking at our second possible snowstorm of the week, so what better recipe to share today than Double Chocolate Snowballs?  I'll take these cookies over the real variety of snowballs any day!

  For the 6th day of Cookies, I turned to the Simple & Delicious Cookbook to find my recipe, Cherry Kiss Cookies.  I'm not normally a fan of red food coloring, but I did use it in these, and they'd look beautiful on a cookie tray.  

Growing up, Christmas was a huge gathering at my paternal grandmother's house.   The aunts and my grandmother would cook and bake for days leading up to the holiday.   All I remember is the desserts, pizzelles, rosettes, tarts, Totos and sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles.  

Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! These Jumbo Brownie Cookies from Taste of Home are the best of both worlds- the chocolately soft center of a brownie, with the crisp edges of a cookie.  

When I chose my recipes for the 12 Days of Cookies, I tried to find a variety of flavors.  Coconut was something I knew I wanted to include, so I searched the Taste of Home site and found these Coconut Washboards.    I loved how simple the ingredients were, things that almost every baker would have in their pantry.  I know I always seem to have a half a bag of coconut waiting to be made into something.  

I am a salted caramel fanatic.   Coffee, candy, you name it.   When I saw this recipe from Land O Lakes, I knew it was going on my holiday list.   Super simple thumbprint base filled with a delicious homemade caramel.   

It is so good to be back!   We are settling into our new home after moving over the long Thanksgiving weekend.     The holiday was sort of a non-event due to all the chaos, so I'm even more excited about Christmas, especially baking cookies in my new kitchen!