Ray LaVoie
With so many desserts to choose from during the holiday season, dessert and cookie exchanges offer a fun way to gather with family and friends while satisfying your sweet tooth.
The tradition of the cookie exchange dates back hundreds of years, reaching a height in popularity in the 1950s when it became closely associated with holiday parties.
As you prepare for this season’s holiday gatherings, here are some of our team’s favorite treats you can make at home to delight your guests.
Our team’s top recipes are:
- Sugar Cookies
- Turtles
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Snickerdoodles
- Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chips
- Scotcharoos
- Snowballs
- Thumbprints
Ray LaVoie
Sugar Cookies
Yield: 48 cookies
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 sticks butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
Eggs
Tbsp. vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Sift dry ingredients together.
Cream butter and sugar 3-5 minutes, then add eggs and vanilla.
With mixer on low, slowly add dry ingredients. Beat 30 seconds.
Scoop dough in 1” balls, roll in sugar and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet 2” apart.
Flatten with bottom of a glass until ½” thick.
Bake 9-11 minutes.
Turtles
All ingredients are scalable, as there is a direct ratio depending on how many you would like to make. This is a great opportunity for a child or family member to help unwrap candies and place pecans.
Ingredients:
Pretzels, preferably square-shaped (Snyder’s Buttersnaps highly recommended)
Rolos
Pecan halves
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 250 F.
2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Place pretzels on the sheet, giving space to manipulate them when placing pecans later. Place one Rolo on each pretzel.
3. Bake 3-5 minutes, or until caramel softens, but does not melt completely. Chocolate should appear slightly shiny when it is softened.
4. Upon removing from the oven, immediately place a pecan half on top of each chocolate, pressing lightly to squish the chocolate down.
5. Allow to cool completely before storing, or eat right away.
Ray LaVoie
Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chips
Serving size: three dozen
Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 Tbsp. red food coloring
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder
2 cups white chocolate baking chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix butter, cream cheese, white sugar, dark brown sugar, baking soda, vanilla extract and salt together with a stand mixer in a medium bowl for 1-2 minutes or until creamy
3. Add egg and egg yolk to bowl and mix on medium.
4. Add food coloring and mix on medium.
5. Add flour and cocoa powder and mix on low.
6. Add 1 1/2 cups white chips to dough.
7. Shape cookies by rolling them into 1-inch balls and place them on a baking sheet.
8. Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes.
9. Sprinkle remaining chips on tops of cookies while they are still warm.
10. Let cookies sit for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Recipe courtesy of Simply Recipes. www.simplyrecipes.com. Copyright May 12, 2023. All rights reserved.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Serving size: six dozen
Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix cocoa, white sugar and vegetable oil.
Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture.
Cover dough, and chill for at least four hours.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Coat each ball in confectioner’s sugar before placing on prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.
Recipe courtesy of All Recipes. www.allrecipes.com. Copyright Oct. 11, 2023. All rights reserved.
Ray LaVoie
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Serving size: about six dozen
Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
3 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
~6 dozen milk chocolate kisses (or flavor of your choosing)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening and eggs in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon.
Stir in flour, baking soda, vanilla and salt.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 13-15 minutes or until edges are light brown.
Immediately press one chocolate kiss in center of each cookie.
Let cookies sit on cooking sheet for 1-2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
Snickerdoodles
Serving size: three and a half dozen
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup green sanding sugar
1/4 cup red sanding sugar
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400 F.
2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and one tsp. cinnamon, and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar (non-colored) with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs to butter and sugar mixture.
6. Use the mixer on low speed to add the flour mixture into the big bowl until blended.
7. In a small bowl, mix the green sanding sugar and 1/2 tsp. sugar. Do the same thing for the red sanding sugar.
9. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls, then roll half the balls in the red sugar and half the balls in the green sugar.
10. Place on the cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
11. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Let cool for two minutes before removing from the sheets to place on cooling racks.
Ray LaVoie
Scotcharoos
A spin on your traditional Rice Krispie treat, with butterscotch and chocolate combining for a delicious treat
Serving size: 24 bars
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. Unsalted butter, or as needed
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup white sugar
6 cups crisp rice cereal
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
Directions:
Butter a 9” by 13” pan.
Mix peanut butter, corn syrup and sugar in large pot. Bring mixture to a boil on medium then remove from heat.
Stir in rice cereal until coated evenly, then transfer mixture to buttered pan.
Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips on medium heat, stirring until smooth.
Spread melted chip mixture over top of the cooling rice bars.
Let cool completely, then serve, cutting into 24 squares.
Snowballs
Serving size: two dozen
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups toasted pecans, finely ground
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
1. Mix together butter, sugar, vanilla and salt using whisk or electric mixer.
2. Gradually add flour until fully incorporated.
3. Stir in the finely chopped pecans.
4. Cover and refrigerate dough for 45 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Scoop the cookie dough and make 1-Tbsp. sized balls. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet, ensuring not to flatten them.
7. Bake for 14-15 minutes. The bottom of the cookies should only be lightly browned, while the tops remain pale in color.
8. Let the cookies cool for approximately five minutes, rolling them in powdered sugar while they are still warm.
9. Let the cookies cool completely and roll them in the powdered sugar again.
Ray LaVoie
Thumbprint Cookies
Serving size: three dozen
Cookie Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, separated
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts or colored sugar (optional)
Jelly or icing for filling
Icing Ingredients:
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp. milk, adding more if necessary to make it until smooth
Flavor and food dyes (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium bowl, xix butter, shortening, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla.
Slowly add flour and salt until dough holds together.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes before shaping into 1-inch balls.
Beat egg white slightly and dip each ball into egg whites, then roll in nuts or colored sugar.
Place 1-inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Make indent in center of each ball. Fill with jelly or leave indent empty if using icing.
Bake for 10 minutes or until light brown.
If using icing, fill immediately.
