The one with double-chocolate-fudge cookies

These are some of my favorite cookies to make... they're tasty & look fun! Essentially, what we're working with is a chocolate cookie dough, with chocolate chips, rolled into balls, covered in confectionery sugar, & baked into crackley perfection! 

They come out of the oven hot,

 falling apart, dangerously fudgey & chewey.

 Within my circle, we've come to call them Chocolate Crackle Cookies, but I originally got the recipe from Nestle's baking website, where they're called "Firecracker Fudge Cookies". Once you make these cookies once, you'll want to again, they're so simple & delicious!

First, you're going to melt 1c chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli semi-sweet, but of course Nestle wants you to use Nestle....) I use a double-boiler to melt the chocolate so  you don't risk burning or otherwise negatively impacting the chocolate. Stir that together until homogenous & set aside to cool.....go back to it every few minutes just to keep it smooth & consistent. Sift together 1 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, & 1/2 tsp kosher salt.  In a separate bowl cream together 6 tbs butter & 1c sugar. Once light & fluffy, mix in 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, followed by 2 eggs (1 at a time).  1st mix the cooled chocolate into the butter mixture, then slowly add the flour mixture. Finally, mix in an additional 1c chocolate chips: let the dough cool for at least 1 hour before rolling into 1-inch balls. Once all the dough is rolled out, use about 1/2c confectionery sugar to completely cover each piece of dough. Place well spaced on a cookie tray (I usually line with parchment paper) & bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool.... or not....& ENJOY!

The one with Christmas Cookies!

The Christmas season is the time of the year when I feel most connected to my family & who I am at my roots. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is Christmas Cookies!! I remember baking them a week in advance only to cover them up & wait to bring them to my Grandmothers. In my Grandmother's room on Christmas Eve each family brought their platter of cookies to keep there: we were strictly forbidden from braking into them early. As you could imagine this was a terribly long wait for sweets as a child. Directly after mass, we would all come back for an enormous feast - & then after all our waiting -- the cookies were brought out!! Perhaps it was just that I was a child, but it seemed so special that this one time of the year we were greeted with an array of beautiful, colorful cookies! After all that excitement & waiting I would actually find myself unsure which cookie I wanted to eat first!

This year I decided to make boxes of cookies for some of my Aunt & Uncle's families as well as some family friends. I had so much fun baking away to my little heart's content while listening to Bing Crosby's deep smooth voice!

My mother & best friend had the same favorite cookie, which ironically was the most fun to make! I found this recipe from one of my favorite Food Network chiefs, Alton Brown: Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels. Essentially, they're just sugar cookies; the batch is divided, one is flavored with coco powder, & the other with peppermint & candy canes.

In a very simple fashion, you lay one flat sheet of dough upon the other

Slice them into discs, bake them

& Enjoy!! :)