It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas…Cookies!
ByAs you all know, I love tweaking recipes and working to create a healthier version of recipes I find. Thanksgiving and Christmas time give me plenty of excuses to exercise this crazy hobby of mine. Nobody around me seems to mind. :) (Hehe, funny that I used the word exercise…talking about baking cookies! Hey, exercise comes in many forms.)
My favorite part of holiday baking: I LOVE THE WAY CHRISTMAS BAKING MAKES THE HOUSE SMELL!!!
I’m planning on baking up quite a few treats in the next few weeks to share with neighbors and friends…so be looking for several new recipes coming up here!!!
The first recipe I’ll share is one that smells just like Christmas!! MMMmmm!!
Christmas Spice Cookies
1 cup melted butter
1 cup rapadura or sucanat
1 egg
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
Stir together melted butter and rapadura. Mix in egg, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla, nutmeg and cloves. Add flour gradually until mixed thoroughly. Chill dough at least 2 hours.
Roll dough into teaspoon sized balls. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
These cookies are soooo yummy with a cup of hot cocoa!!! (If you haven’t tried this hot cocoa recipe, you really, really should!)
Upcoming cookie recipe: Orange Cream Cheese Cut-Outs!! Possibly my favorite!
P.S. Don’t fall out of your chair, but some of the recipes I’ll share might contain some compromising ingredients like powdered sugar and (gasp!) sprinkles. What’s Christmas without an occasional red and green sprinkle??
So, what are your favorite kinds of Christmas cookies??!!
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I love how cookies make the house smell too! It is one of my favorite smells on the planet : )! Yankee candle has a candle called Christmas cookies that is nice and reminiscent of baking cookies! Happy Baking!
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We are baking all day today too (but some of it is canning and grinding venison:) We will also be making Lefse, which doesn’t have a smell necessarily – but is our childrens’ favorite Thanksgiving/Christmas treat. I logged on this morning to get your hot cocoa recipe and there it was! Can’t wait to try it this afternoon:)
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OHHHHHH, I can’t wait to try these, I think while I clean today, I will mix up some dough and have them ready to bake when the cleaning is done! What a great treat after hard work!!!!!
THANKS so much for sharing this recipe!
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I can’t wait to start baking! I think my all time favorite Christmas cookies are pepperkakers, because they are so crispy, and cream cheese sugar cookies, because they are so soft. OH, my mouth is starting to water!
Chanelle
Elsa Beauty
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OK ~ so when I read your post the first time, I skipped past the recipe (I’m on recipe overload), but I decided to go back and take a look and I’m so glad I did! Rapadura and Whole Wheat cookies! I’ve been looking for a recipe like this. Thanks so much and I’m so glad I took a second look. :)
Chanelle
Elsa Beauty
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Yum, these sound delish! Hmm, my favorite CHRISTmas cookie? It is too hard to choose as I love so many. LOL! I do love molasses cookies. :D
Do you use whole wheat pastry flour at all instead of whole wheat flour for cookies/muffins?
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This recipe looks yummy–very similar to my version of molasses cookies. I have loved molasses cookies since I was a kid. My mom would buy those Archway Molasses cookies. Last Christmas, I was playing around in my kitchen trying to create a healthy-er molasses cookie. I think I hit the jackpot with these! I have made them many times for many people since, and people don’t even realize they are healthy! They are definitely one of my favs!
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How much (don’t gasp) white sugar would you use to make these recipes if you don’t have the natural sugars like you do?
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These look delicious. I’m going to try making them but gluten free and dairy free! Looking forward to the smells of the holidays!
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Mmmm..mmmmm!!! Those look great and I’d like to try a cookie with WW flour and rapadura (which I do happen to have!). I have to echo the others in that this does remind me of a molasses cookie and I make a molasses crinkle that looks very similar.
My favorite Christmas cookie is just a plain, old shortbread. It has all bad stuff in it — white sugar, white flour — but we do love it and I only make it around the holidays.
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Sounds really yummy! I agree about the smell of baking. It is wondermous!
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UGH, I have been meaning to stop back and ask you… WHY don’t mine look like yours???? First batch cooked like little half balls, only flattened alittle bit… SOOO then I flattened them like a sugar cookie and they just kept that shape… They are very good, but just don’t look like a crinkle cookie like yours…
I made it just like you said… of course I don’t have a flour mill yet, but used White Whole Wheat from King Arthur… UGH!
HELP! What can I do next time????
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How many does this recipe make?
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Laura Reply:
December 5th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I’d guess probably 24, but I haven’t made them in a while so I’m really not sure!! :)
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Samantha Reply:
December 8th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I made 27 lol. But I’m sure by the time my husband gets home it will
have “made 12″ =]
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I need some help!! I am trying to master making any kind of cookie with sucanat and kamut flour and the cookies turn out fluffy, cakie type. For example snickerdoodles when they are make with white flour they turn out euuuyyy goouuuuyyy but then using the wheat flour I cannot get it to turn out that way. I am about to give up on the cookies and just use white so I hope that you can help me figure this out as it looks like in your pictures of the cookies above they are euuuyyy gouuuyyy. Does it have to do with the chilling part? Thank you for your time!!
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Jennifer Reply:
December 7th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Just a suggestion, but have you tried sifting the flour really well. This seems to help me alot of
times when my cake or cookie seems too dense. I sometimes sift my flour 3 times before I mix in
other ingredients.
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
The chilling is essential. If the cookies are too soft try more flour to help thicken them up and if they are too dense I would use Jennifer’s suggestion on sifting flour. Even using less flour would probably work.
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I made these today and oh my gosh are they amazing! My house smells great and these go amazing with my coffee! =]
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