The Blogger Girls are so excited to participate in Berkley Bookmas and we’re hosting Julie James’ favorite holiday cookie recipe today! Berkley Bookmas is chock full of exclusive content from authors like exclusive excerpts, deleted scenes, author recipes and more! Check out the calendar of events below:
Now for Julie James’ favorite holiday cookie recipe!!
Need Cookies for the holidays? I’ve got your back.
When I was a kid, one of my favorite things about the holidays was my grandmother’s cookies. She used to spend days baking, and when we visited her house every Christmas Eve, there would be platters and tins of cookies seemingly everywhere.
Over the years, my cookie recipe book has expanded, but below are two classics that have been party of my family’s holiday traditions for years. Both are kid-friendly, adult-friendly, easy to make, and loaded with chocolate (generally a requirement for all my cookies, snickerdoodles excepted.) Enjoy!
Snowball Cookies
1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups flour
1 package Hershey’s kisses
Confectioner’s sugar
Beat butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flour and nuts. Shape dough around kisses and roll into balls. (Hint for first-timers: you don’t want too much dough; use just enough to cover the Hershey kiss.) Bake on cookies sheets lined with parchment paper at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies are a light golden brown. Let cookies cool, then roll them in confectioner’s sugar.
Variation: Mr. James is a little fussier than I am about cookies, and doesn’t like milk chocolate. (Miraculously, we’ve managed to stay married for 15 years despite this character flaw.) So for some of the cookies, I roll the dough around a bunch of semi-sweet chocolate chips (instead of a Hershey’s Kiss), and everyone’s happy. ☺
M&M Cookies
1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 ¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 pound bag of M&Ms
Julie’s add-on: I also throw in 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips because more chocolate = yummy goodness
Beat butter and sugars, then beat in vanilla and eggs. Add remaining dry ingredients, mix well, then stir in M&Ms (and chocolate chips). Bake at 375 degrees on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper for 9-11 minutes, or until light golden brown.
For tomorrow’s fun, head to one of the following blogs:
As part of this blog tour, Berkley is giving away one $100 Visa gift card, and a book/galley/bound manuscript by each of the authors participating. To enter, click here!
Good luck!
The Blogger Girls 