Holiday Round Up

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Donna of
Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases: Real Butterscotch Pudding. If you came here looking for pudding, I'm afraid you won't find any here. I came down with some bug, not sure if it's a bad cold or just a mild version of the flu (I got a flu shot this year). Make sure you visit Donna's blog, though, because she makes some of the most amazing things in her kitchen... on her boat!

Instead of pudding, you'll find my last installment of holiday goodies, as well as a round up of the other holiday goodies I made this year, followed by a short recap of some things I made last year that you might be interested in.

The last two sweets I decided to add to my holiday gift packages were oreo truffles and cookie dough truffles. I made them last year, and they were such a big hit, I knew I wanted to make them again this year. The oreo truffles taste just like they sound - oreos in candy form. The filling in the cookie dough truffles tastes a lot like the bits of cookie dough found in cookie dough ice cream. I've found that they are a bit more popular than the oreo truffles, so if you can't decide which ones to make, try the cookie dough truffles.

Below are some notes that I made this time - I wasn't really paying enough attention the first time around to note anything (I've also updated those posts).



For the oreo truffles, you're supposed to process a package of Oreos into crumbs and then use 3 cups of cookie crumbs to form the truffles. I wasn't sure how many cups of cookie crumbs one package would yield, and found it to be a hassle to measure out the crumbs, so I found it much easier to just reserve about 1 tablespoon of cookie crumbs for the topping. (Besides, when I followed the recipe instructions as written and only used 3 cups for the truffles, I ended up with way too many leftover crumbs to use just for topping the candies.) You can skip this step altogether and simply top the truffles with a drizzle of chocolate, or chopped Andes mints. If you're a fan of chocolate and mint, you could also use Chocolate Mint 'n Creme Oreos to make chocolate mint oreo truffles.



For the cookie dough truffles, I found them quite sticky and difficult to roll last year. I'm not sure if that was because I omitted the nuts or not, so this year I made a few changes. I didn't add an entire can of condensed milk to the recipe this time - I only used 12 ounces (reserving 1/4 cup). Then to make sure they were still sweet enough, I added in 1/3 cup of sifted confectioner's sugar. This seemed to work out well. The dough was still slightly sticky, but I was able to roll the dough into balls and stick them in the freezer. A few minutes in the freezer, and they were ready for dipping.



Here's the round up of everything else I wrapped up to give away this year...

Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies -
a firm, slightly chewy sugar cookie decorated with royal icing.

World Peace Cookies -
the best melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cookies

Buttery Ginger Cookies -
part cookie, part biscuit, part cake; these cookies are great with a cup of tea!

Stained Glass Cookies -
as fun to eat as they are to make

Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies -
a classic holiday cookie; you'll find black pepper in these, among other spices


Fleur de Sel Vanilla Bean Caramels -
soft and chewy salted caramels that are perfect as is, but are great dipped in chocolate too


Peanut Butter Crisscrosses -
your basic peanut butter cookie; make the chocolate version to add a unique twist to this classic cookie

And some of my favorite holiday goodies from last year...

Deluxe Chocolate Marshmallow Bars -
marshmallows sandwiched between a layers of chocolate cake and chocolate peanut butter rice krispies

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Sticks -
simple shortbread is jazzed up with mini chocolate chips, then dipped in chocolate


Peppermint Bark -
no need to purchase this confection when it's so easy to make at home!


Almond Crescent Cookies -
almond shortbread cookies that are great with a simple sprinkling of powdered sugar, but even better dipped in chocolate


Rugelach -
fruit preserves wrapped up in cream cheese pastry dough


Frosted Lemon Cookies -
a soft and delicate cookie with just a hint of lemon; add a lemon glaze if you want a more prominent lemon flavor

Santa Claus Sugar Cookies -
a recipe for soft, melt-in-your mouth sugar cookies, along with a unique way to decorate them

Cranberry Orange Cookies -
these orange cookies studded with cranberries are beautiful and sparkly

Rudolph's Christmas Sugar Cookies -
a quick and easy way to make festive holiday cookies with the kids