Welcome to the 12 Days of Recipes! I am excited to share this holiday season with you all and I hope we can enjoy some amazing food together. In the coming days, I will be sharing some of my favorite go-to recipes along with some new ones I came up with just for us this year. In the 12 days, we’ll have a mix of baked goods, healthier dinner ideas and simple, throw-together-on-a-cozy-night-in ideas.
With that being said I’m kicking things off with my absolute favorite cookie recipe! If I could only eat one dessert the rest of my life it would honestly be this one because I am so obsessed with these cookies. I was going to save them for later on in the countdown but I have been asked by several people for the recipe recently so here we are. And, let’s be honest, what better recipe to start with than my favorite, right?
These little guys are filled with chocolate, toasted pecans and cranberries or toffee, depending on your mood. They are perfectly fluffy, quick to make and spiced with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s late at night as I type this out and my stomach is going crazy just thinking about them. I’m tempted to whip up a batch just so I can eat one…or five right now!
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do, as you can see, Albie can't even resist them! Let me know if you make them, or any of the recipes, by using the hashtag #ssebs12daysofrecipes so I can see your creations. See you tomorrow!
-S.
Ingredients:
8 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)
¼ cup caster sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
1 ½ cups and 1 tablespoon flour (just trust me on this one)
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
¼ cup toasted pecans (you can easily toast them yourself by setting them on the stovetop in a pan on medium heat for a few minutes)
¼ cup Heath pieces (or dried cranberries*)
¼ cup chocolate chips (I prefer mini ones to spread the love)
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or about 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Melt the butter by microwaving it until it is melted, which should take about 45 seconds. The butter will be warm/hot.
3. Combine melted butter with the sugars and beat with an electric mixer until fully incorporated. The mixture shouldn’t be warm by this point, but if it is mix a little longer. Add the egg and vanilla, then mix until just incorporated, it should take about 10 seconds.
4. Add in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix with a spatula until fully incorporated. The dough should be just between wet and dry. (You should be able to pull off a piece of dough and form a ball with it in your hands without the dough sticking to you.) Once it is at this stage use the spatula to incorporate the pecans, chocolate and Heath pieces.
5. Roll dough into 12, similarly sized, balls and place on lightly greased baking sheets. Be sure the balls are the same size or they will bake at differing rates.
6. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, until they have puffed up and look just barely browned and dry. They will still appear pale compared to how you may think they should be, but don’t worry, they will be great! You do not want to overbake your cookies!
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet and then enjoy!
*I use homemade dry cranberries, because I think the classic store-bought ones would be too sweet. To make tarter dried cranberries first pick through your berries to weed out the wrinkled or smooshed ones. Then chop your cranberries in to about fourths and soaked them in a half cup of orange juice, half cup of water and two tablespoons of caster sugar and let them sit for about an hour. You can then let them air dry until they are a consistency you like. I preferred them to be a little more on the soft side so I dried them for about five hours.