Christmas baking

I think one of the best parts of Christmas is the baking.  There are so many delicious holiday recipes and I love finding new favorites every year.  Every time I start baking these days, Aiden immediately pulls up a chair to help me out. He is actually a pretty good little helper.  He likes to snack while he cooks and bakes too...just like me.  If we make cookies, we eat more cookie dough than the actual cookies.  And if we use icing, we eat more icing than cookies.  I am definitely teaching him some good cooking skills :)  Here are two of my new favorite Christmas recipes...


Double Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies
(Anything minty and chocolate tops my list so obviously I love these. They are addictive so beware!)
1 devils food cake mix
½ C. oil
2 eggs
1 C. Chocolate Chips
1-2 pkgs. Andes Mints; unwrapped (Depending on the size of your cookies, you’ll need 25-35 mints)

1. In a large mixing bowl combine the cake mix, oil and eggs. Mix well.
2. Stir in the chocolate chips, until well combined.
3. Spoon ½ -1 inch scoops of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, 12 at a time. Using the back of a spoon, slightly flatten the cookie dough.
4. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.
5. Immediately after they come out of the oven, place one mint on each cookie. Let them melt for about 30 seconds to a minute. Then, using a knife, spread like frosting all over the top of the cookie.


Nutter Butter Santa Cookies
Nutter Butters
white melting chocolate
red hots
mini chocolate chips
white chocolate chips
red colored sugar
icing to glue on eyes and nose


Aiden loved helping me out on these cookies.  Maybe that's why they didn't turn out perfectly and have a little more "character" to them :)