easy christmas dessert

On a cuteness scale from 1 to 10, these penguin Christmas cookies are… off the scale. With delicate vanilla sugar cookies, a decadent chocolate ganache filling and simple (yet effective) decorations, they are a fun holiday DIY project – that just so happens to taste AMAZING.

Adorable Penguin Christmas Cookies (Gluten Free)

(170 g) unsalted butter, softened

(150 g) granulated sugar

egg, room temperature

vanilla paste ((or 2 tsp vanilla extract))

(300 g) plain gluten free flour blend

tsp xanthan gum

salt

(240 mL) heavy/double cream

oz (170 g) dark chocolate, chopped

5 1/3 oz (150 g) dark chocolate, melted

goggle eyes

orange

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or using a hand mixer with the double beater attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla paste, and beat until evenly incorporated.

Sift together the gluten free flour, xanthan gum and salt, and add them to the rest of the ingredients. Mix with the stand/hand mixer until the dough is smooth and comes together in a ball. The cookie dough shouldn't be sticky to touch.

Wrap the cookie dough in cling film and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF (180 ºC) and line two baking sheets with greaseproof/baking paper.

After 1 hour, briefly knead the chilled cookie dough. At the beginning, it will be very crumbly but after about 1 minute of kneading, it will be firm but smooth.

Roll out the cookie dough to about 3 mm thick. Using a round cookie cutter about 2 - 2 1/3 inch (5.5 - 6 cm) in diameter, cut out the cookies. Re-use the scraps to make more cookies – in the end, you should get 32 individual cookies.

Place the cookies onto the lined baking sheets about 1/2 inch apart.&nbsp;

Bake at 355 ºF (180 ºC) for about 10 minutes. The cookies will be soft directly out of the oven – allow them to cool on the baking sheet.

For gluten free vanilla sugar cookies:

Place the chopped dark chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Heat the heavy/double cream until boiling hot, then pour it over the chocolate.

Allow to stand for 2 - 3 minutes, then stir well until you get a smooth chocolate ganache.

Allow the ganache to cool slightly until it reaches the consistency at which it can be piped.

For chocolate ganache:

Pipe the slightly cooled chocolate ganache onto 16 of the 32 sugar cookies, then place the other cookies on top to make a cookie sandwich.When piping, leave at least 1/4 inch space around the edge of the cookie – when you sandwich the cookies together, press down slightly to fill in the gap with the ganache as it spreads.Allow the ganache to firm up slightly – this will take about 15 minutes (to speed things up, place the sandwich cookies into the fridge).

Dip the sandwich cookies into the melted dark chocolate to get the pattern you can see in the pictures above. To do this, dip half of the cookie into chocolate, then rotate it and dip in the other half, leaving a small triangle of the cookie uncovered.

Pipe small dots of chocolate onto the triangles not covered by the chocolate to make "buttons".

Place goggle eyes and marzipan beaks onto the cookies (see pictures in post).

Allow the chocolate to firm up.

Enjoy!

Assembly:

The penguin Christmas cookies keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place for about 1 week.

Storage:

A no-bake delight full of festive layers of white chocolate and peppermint. 

Candy Cane Lush

Oreo cookies (a 14 oz package)

(1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

(8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

sugar

milk

(12 oz) carton whipped topping, thawed (such

crushed candy canes, divided

(3.3 oz each) packages white chocolate pudding mix

In a food processor, pulse cookies into fine crumbs. Add salt and melted butter and pulse just until combined. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Chill while you prepare the filling.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar and milk and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping along with 1/2 cup of the crushed candy canes. Spread mixture over chilled crust.

In a clean bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes until thickened. Spread over cream cheese layer.

Spread remaining whipped topping over the top. Cover dish with plastic wrap or foil and chill at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, sprinkle with remaining crushed candy canes. Enjoy!

These homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Christmas Trees are just like your favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups disguised as a fun and festive Christmas dessert!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Christmas Trees

peanut butter

unsalted butter-melted

Tablespoons brown sugar

vanilla extract

chocolate chips chocolate

Line 8 x 8 inch dish with parchment paper, leaving the paper overhang the sides so you can easily lift it later and set aside.

Then in a mixing bowl stir together peanut butter, melted butter, brown sugar vanilla and salt, until sugar dissolve. Next, gradually mix in powdered sugar.

Press the mixture into prepared dish. Smooth the top with spatula or simply press it with your palms to flatten into about ½ inch thick layer.

Place it in the freezer until firm enough for cutting.

When the mixture is firm enough, line a tray with parchment paper and set aside.

Using Christmas tree cookie cutter cut out the trees and place them on the tray. Place them in the freezer for 45-60 minutes until completely firm.

Then melt the chocolate and line another tray with parchment paper.

Using a fork, dip each tree into melted chocolate to cover completely. Gently tap the fork to drip of the excess of chocolate. (Since the peanut butter mixture softens really fast at the room temperature, I suggest you to take just a few trees at the time from the freezer, because it’s easier to work with the firm trees!!!) Place chocolate covered Christmas trees on the parchment paper lined tray. Refrigerate until chocolate has set.

Store in the fridge or freeze for longer storage.

I made 18 Christmas trees, but the number depends on the size of your cookie cutter. Mine was about 1 ¾  x 2 ¼ inches. Don’t waste any batter, pick up leftovers, kneed, press with your palms and you will be able to cut out at least 2-3 more trees.

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/4jwMNigp.mp4

Chocolate Peanut Butter Christmas Trees are your favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups disguised in a fun and festive Christmas dessert!

Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Christmas Tree

This super easy Candy Cane Fudge is the perfect holiday gift idea! Made with just five ingredients, this Christmas dessert is the perfect way to celebrate!

Candy Cane Fudge

white chocolate chips

(14- ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

peppermint extract

red food coloring

Line an 8&#215;8 dish with foil and coat lightly with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a heat-safe bowl placed over a pot of simmering water melt the white chips and sweetened condensed milk together, stirring very frequently. Remove from over the heat when the chips are just melted. Stir in the peppermint extract until combined, and then stir in the candy canes.

Add a drop or two of red food coloring and swirl it through.

Press the mixture into the prepared pan and chill for 2 hours until set.

Store airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Top 4 easy christmas dessert recipes from across the web

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Adorable Penguin Christmas Cookies ...

Candy Cane Lush

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Candy Cane Fudge

Top 4 easy christmas dessert recipes from across the web

The most viewed easy christmas dessert recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Adorable Penguin Christmas Cookies ...

Candy Cane Lush

Chocolate Peanut Butter Christmas T...

Candy Cane Fudge

The most viewed easy christmas dessert recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine