Do You Have the Christmas Spirit?

I must say that Christmas has ALWAYS been a big deal in my family ever since I can remember. My mom and grandma (she lived with us after my grandfather died) would bake/make all kinds of goodies, and we'd always have a real, freshly cut Christmas tree (that was dad's big thing).  The entire holiday season was a joyous time of getting together with friends & family, church activities and celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus. 

My sister Heather made these this weekend......along with a bunch of other stuff!

My mother was a baker & crafter from way back, and I know I got my love for it from her - as well as some talent.  Many years we made decorations and also presents for each other.  I have continued some of the traditions I grew up with, including my love of making gifts for people I care about.  There is nothing that gets me into the Christmas spirit like making presents - unless it's baking Christmas cookies!  LOL  What gets you in the spirit of Christmas?

                                          Yep - sister made these, too!! 

I'm going to share a quick, and actually very yummy recipe for a cookie I made last week.  I call them, Santa's Favorite Cookies because I don't know if they have a name.  They are SO easy to make though.   Here we go...start with this (I told you it's an easy one).  You could use another brand of course but this was on sale!! Just make sure it's a red velvet cake mix.

Pour it in a mixing bowl.

To the cake mix, add 1 egg, 1 stick of almost melted butter, and 2 TBSP. vegetable oil (I forgot to take a picture of this step).  Stir this up.

Now....take about 4 Milky Way bars (I used a couple small bags of the bite size ones), cut them up and add to the mix!

Wanna see that again?? Here they are getting stirred in.

As if that isn't decadent enough, at this point, add 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips - and stir.  Holy Moley!!

You're  going to make little balls (you should get about 3 dozen cookies), and drop these babies on a cookie sheet about one inch apart.  As you can see, I used my Silpat because my cookie sheets need to be replaced!  If you don't have a Silpat liner, use parchment paper.  Flatten the little balls, and bake them for 11-13 minutes at 350 degrees. That's it!

For some cookies, I cut marshmallows in half, and placed the half cut side down on the hot cookies when I pulled them out of the oven.  Sadly, they didn't really melt - they did stick really well though, and tasted WONDERFUL!!

One thing I discovered though is that you need to make sure the Milky Way pieces are inside the dough ball, or they will melt, and spread on your cookie sheet.  So, you will be really sorry if you don't use Silpat or parchment paper.

So give this recipe a try if you need to whip together a quick batch of cookies.  I wonder what other flavors of cake mixes would taste like......hmmmmmm.