Adding one more cookie to the arsenal of holiday cookies that by now I am sure are piling up in your kitchen! These gingerbread cookies are a little bit of work (the chilling, the rolling, the cookie cutting, etc.) but they are so, so worth it.

I remember rolling these out with my mom (and sometimes sister, but let’s be honest she was not into the arts and crafts, even if they were edible) and making little people every year to send to family afar, friends, to give to teachers, and of course to have on Christmas day.

They are the perfect cookie – not too sweet, not too spicy, not too chewy, not too hard, perfect for dessert with a glass of milk or a cup of tea.  I like the star shape because it’s a good size, but you could also make this into gingerbread men, or whatever shapes you like!

Oven temperature: 350 degrees
Bake time: 12 – 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
2 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp ginger, ground
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves, ground
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Beat sugar, molasses, butter, and egg until fluffy. Then, stir in flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, and salt.
2. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350.
3. Between sheets of parchment paper, roll dough out (roughly 1/8″ thick). Cut out gingerbread people or shapes, and put on a cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes (they might not look done, but they are, I swear!)

Be sure to leave some of these for Santa – I hear he likes them (on his top five, for sure.)

What are your go-to holiday cookies? Do you make sugar cookies, or stay traditional with chocolate chip cookies?

With the holidays around the corner, we can all acknowledge that sweets and spirits are slowly taking over our days. Between the cookies, candy canes, and holiday parties supplying free libations we may be losing sight of some of our health goals. With less then a month to go before New Years, and with it new resolutions, I say let’s just accept our sweet tooth and roll with whatever is put in front of us.

With that in mind I really wanted to create a fun dish that I had never tried before, even though it is one of those pure examples of liquor being used in a dessert, so I present for your consideration and hopeful enjoyment a recipe for an incredibly tasty tiramisu.

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cold brewed express or french roast coffee
1/3 cup coffee-flavored liqueur
16 oz mascarpone cheese
4 tbs superfine sugar
2 cups heavy cream
24 Italian ladyfingers
cocoa powder and coarsely grated semisweet chocolate, to decorate

Directions:

You can prepare this dessert a few hours ahead of your event or family get together. I recommend using  a 9×9 square baking dish.

1. First, you want to mix the coffee and liqueur ingredients together in a shallow, wide bowl and set aside for later use.
2.  Go ahead and mix the mascarpone and sugar in a bowl until the sugar dissolves. Then you want whip the cream in another bowl until it holds its shape, then fold it into the mascarpone mixture.
3. Put a few spoons of the mascarpone mixture in the bottom of a serving dish.
4. Then, the really delicate part comes into play. Dip and turn one ladyfinger in the coffee mixture until just moistened, not soggy, then place it on top of the mascarpone in the dish; repeat with 6 more ladyfingers, placing them side by side. With this size serving dish you should be able to do 2 rows of 6 lady fingers each.
5. After you have laid down your lady fingers cover them with half the remaining mascarpone mixture.  Add another layer of 12 ladyfingers. Layer the remaining mascarpone on the top of your second row of lady fingers and smooth the surface.
6. Then comes the waiting. Don’t just dig in! Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. The colder, the better.
7. Just before serving sprinkle the top with cocoa powder and grated chocolate to taste and enjoy!

I wish I could fully take credit for the awesomeness that was created, but that would be a big old lie. A huge THANK YOU has to be given to my baking mentor, the wonderful Miss Alex Levine who helped me create this fantastic dish that I hope brings great joy to your holiday table!

The holidays are a great time to have fun and unwind with your favorite dessert or spirit, but remember to consume responsibly.

Have a wonderful holiday season, and see you in 2014!

Good Spirits Folks!

In my house at Christmas, there are several cookies to be made – usually gingerbread, Italian spice cookies, chocolate chip cookies, anginette cookies, and of course, chocolate pixies.

These cookies are some of my favorites – they are chocolate cookies, rolled in powdered sugar, and stuck with a kiss!

Here’s what you do:

Prep Time: 20 minutes active, 30 minutes unactive
Bake Time: 12-14 minutes
Oven Temperature: 350

Ingredients:

4 oz cocoa
¼ cup coconut oil (or butter)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 bag Hershey’s kisses

Directions:

1. Melt coconut oil over medium heat. Add cocoa and mix well.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients, mix well.
3. Chill 30 minutes (I know this sounds annoying, but it helps with the rolling, I promise!)
4. Shape into balls – about the size of a ping pong ball.
5. Roll in confectioners sugar, and place on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper.
6. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. While baking, unwrapped Hershey’s kisses.
7. As soon as they come out of the oven stick an unwrapped kiss in each one.
8. This one is hard, but totally worth it: let set for about 2 hours. Enjoy!

What cookies do you make at the holidays with your family?

It’s the holidays, which is always a fun time to experiment with baking! Even if you are a mostly paleo-eater, you can still enjoy holiday cookies. I decided to try out cashew flour for the first time and make myself, and my friends, some chocolate chip paleo-friendly cookies. I was inspired by this cookie recipe from The Healthy Family and Home.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup ground cashew meal
1 cup shredded coconut or coconut meal
1/3 cup sweetener*
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
6 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons full fat coconut milk or cream
2 eggs
1 85% cacao dark chocolate bar

*On a whim, I decided to try Stevia as the sweetener. You can get more information about it here. You could also make this recipe with organic granulated sugar. Or, try honey.

The original recipe had different amounts of oil and cream, and it did not use eggs. It also used whole cashews that were refined in a food processor. Jennie and I postured that perhaps the natural oils found in whole cashews would have added more natural oil to the recipe. Ergo, since we used pre-ground cashew flour, we had to add more liquid to our recipe. Just keep that in mind, if you decide to try this recipe with whole cashews.

Directions:

*Preheat over to 350

1. Combine cashew flour and coconut flour in a food processor. Pulse.
2. Add the sweetener, vanilla extract, pink Himalayan salt and baking soda to the mixture. Pulse again.
3. Add the coconut oil and coconut milk. Pulse until everything is well mixed.
4. Add the eggs and mix again.
5. Move the batter to a bowl. Crush the dark chocolate (we used the ziplock bag method: place the chocolate in a ziplock and pound it with something heavy, like a wine bottle) and fold it into the batter.

It should look something like this:

6. Use small handfuls of dough and roll them into balls. Press them down onto a cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check on them as they cook so they don’t burn!
8. Let them sit for 10 minutes to cool.

Voila! Delicious paleo-friendly cookies!

I had a great time experimenting with cashew flour, and I know I’ll be using it again! We had to flatten the cookies with a spatula halfway through baking so you may want to add a pinch more baking soda. Also, I really liked the pink Himalayan salt and probably would add a little more for a stronger sweet/salty flavor the next time I make these. This is a successful paleo cookie recipe base and I’m already thinking of other additives I could use (fresh ground mint, perhaps?) Overall, these cookies were very tasty and definitely a holiday success!

We know that you’re heading to lots of holiday parties for the next few weeks, right?

And everyone says they don’t need you to bring anything, but you want to bring something and you’re sick of store bought appetizers? It’s not just us, right? OK, good. Well, this spinach artichoke dip is pretty easy to put together, and it is a real crowd pleaser – plus, it’s portable, and that’s always a plus.

We looked at several recipes before settling on this one – Corelyn wanted to make sure the recipe wasn’t too watery, too crispy, too heavy, or too spinachy. It’s a delicate balance to find a spinach artichoke dip that you can eat for more than four bites without starting to feel a little like you’ve overdone it. But, in the regular GMS fashion, we of course (ok, I of course) didn’t buy the right ingredients, so we ended up fudging a lot of it, and coming up with a recipe of our own.

Oven temperature: 450 degrees
Bake time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
10 ounces bag baby spinach
1 cup packed fresh basil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
14-ounces canned artichoke hearts, drained, squeezed dry and finely chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 or 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt/Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450. Over a steamer, steam your spinach for 2-3 minutes, until wilted. Squeeze dry between kitchen towels or paper towels. Rough chop.
2. Mince garlic and chop basil.
3. Place in a medium bowl and add in the spinach and basil, artichokes, parmesan and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.
4. Add the cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste.
5. Pour ingredients into a casserole dish, and top with remaining cheese. Bake until golden and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm with baked chips.

A couple of notes: we nixed the beans because we thought that was weird, which means we also should have left the chicken broth out, but we didn’t so ours was too watery; don’t be us. We also didn’t wilt/cook the spinach before, which is also a no-no – you don’t want your dip to be watery, so make sure you cook and squeeze beforehand.

What is your go-to party app? Do you stick to bringing booze, or are you famous for a certain cookie?