You’d think I would know better. I should know better! Most of my adult life I’ve lived in places where I either needed to bring special items with me from the States or stock up quickly when I see them in the stores. Reams of expat correspondence and countless conversations through the years have been devoted to where to buy what and, “Oh, my goodness, the soft toilet paper has come in at CV Central!” or “The advent calendars are here at Marks and Spencers!” and the like.
But I’ve gotten complacent living in Dubai. I can buy most everything I need and it usually comes in great abundance. Sometime too great. I happen to know, because I have watched it with horrified interest, that the delivery of Borden’s Eggnog from the last Christmas season is still on the shelves at my local grocery store. (The “best by” date is September 2013 but it’s covered by a sticker in Arabic.) But I didn’t anticipate the run on Hershey’s Mint Truffles Kisses at all. They appeared last week and I picked up a bag and fondled it but I didn’t buy because I didn’t have a plan.
Then I made a plan, for a mint chocolate make-ahead Christmas cookie that would be even more fabulous with a mint truffle Kiss on top. And now BOTH of my nearby grocery stores are out, fresh out, already. So I’ve left some plain (still fabulous) and topped some with peppermint Kisses and still others with dark chocolate Kisses. If you can find the mint truffle Kisses in the green bag, give them a try and send me a photo. I think they’d be beautiful. And if you are a fellow expat, don’t bother saying, “You should know better.” I do. I really do. Deep sigh.
This month our Creative Cookie Exchange group is baking up cookie dough that can be made ahead and frozen until you are ready to bake so make sure to scroll down to the bottom and check out the rest of the links. We’ve got some great ones for you!
Ingredients for about 3 dozen cookies
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| These were a gift from my sister, brought from the States. |
1 cup, firmly packed, or 200g dark brown sugar
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/3 cup or just over 26g unsweetened cocoa powder (I used the special dark.)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 oz or 283g bag mixed dark chocolate chips and mint chips
Optional to decorate: A variety of Hershey’s Kisses
Method
If baking right away, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your baking pan by greasing it lightly or lining it with parchment paper.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine your flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
With electric beaters or in your stand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar, until they are light and fluffy.
Add in the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
Now add in the chocolate and mint chips and beat again briefly.
Roll the dough up into a thick sausage shape with cling film and chill for about 10 minutes in the freezer. (Or for as long as several weeks if you aren’t baking immediately. In this case, let the dough thaw for about 10 minutes before trying to cut your slices. This also gives your oven time to preheat.)
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| It's not pretty but it is pretty delicious. |
Cut slices of the dough and lay them out on the prepared pan with enough space between them so they don’t run together as they bake.
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| This dough had been frozen for about 30 hours, then thawed for 10 minutes before slicing. |
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| Just out of the oven! |
If you’ve added Kisses, do not touch the candies until they have had a chance to harden up again. The whole Kiss gets soft from the heat. You can pop the cookies in the refrigerator if you are in a hurry.
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| With Kisses |
Enjoy!
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| Unadorned but still delicious |
To join in the fun of the Creative Cookie Exchange, just complete the steps below:
1. Write a blog post with recipe and original photo. The theme this month is make-ahead freezer cookies for the holidays. The post should describe how to freeze the dough and also how to bake the dough when you are ready. We would like the recipe to be one you’re making for the first time, and photos must be original.
2. Post the Cookie Exchange badge somewhere on your blog so others can join in the fun:
Badge Code: should work for all types of web sites, blogger, self-hosted and free.
3. Make a good faith effort to visit and comment on the other cookies in the Linky party. We all love cookies so that should be easy!
6. LINK your blog
post below using the Linky tool.
Here are this month’s great make-ahead recipes:
- Best Ever Sugar Cookies from Liv Life
- Chai Spice Girls from All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
- Cherry Pistachio Ice Box Cookies from Noshing With The Nolands
- Chewy Pumpkin Ginger Cookies from If I Ever Owned A Bakery
- Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies from Food Lust People Love
- Chocolate Mint Cookies from At Home with Rebecka
- Christmas Linzer Cookies from It’s Yummi!
- Coffee? Tea? from Ninja Baking
- Espresso Pinwheel Cookies from A Baker’s House
- Neapolitan Striped Crisps from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Pumpkin Cranberry Cookie Drops from KarenTrina Childress
- Salted Dark Chocolate Crisps from The Spiced Life
- Scottish Shortbread from Made With Love
