Christmas time is here again, and I hope we are all ready for it. The hustle and bustle, shopping, festivities, it’s all part of the fun, and don’t forget the cooking and baking! To help you out, I have delved into our recipe archives and come up with an excellent Christmas cookie recipe. Between Christmas parties, family get-togethers, and gift giving, a good cookie recipe can come in very handy at this time of year – at least that’s what Deanna tells me. I had to defer to her on this as I have to admit, I am not the baker in the house. But, I feel sure that you can’t go wrong with this recipe which was submitted by one of our friends and customers in the Houston area – Toasted White Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies.

This recipe uses our Fischer & Wieser Toasted Cinnamon Pear Preserves in the dough. They provide a sweet combination of toasted cinnamon and pears that fit the cookie perfectly. These preserves can also be spread on waffles, ice cream, toast, or used as a filling to a cinnamon roll recipe, so if you haven’t tried them, you may just discover a new favorite. White chocolate chips are the other important ingredient here. These cookies are meant to be soft-baked with brownie-like centers. They will be chewy on the edges and have a toasted cinnamon aroma that will be hard to resist. The white chocolate has a sweeter taste than milk or dark chocolate and adds the white color that’s perfect for a Christmas cookie.

The recipe is made exactly the same as a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. Just substitute the white chocolate chips for brown chocolate chips, take out the cinnamon +nutmeg + preserves, and you have a traditional Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe at your disposal. You’ll only need 2 bowls for this recipe, and for the best tasting cookies, bring the butter and eggs to room temperature before mixing. If the butter or eggs are cold, the cookies won’t spread enough, and they’ll have a dry texture. Here’s a tip on how to quickly bring butter and eggs to room temperature:

To quickly soften butter, warm a bowl with 2-3 cups of water in the microwave for 2 minutes. Remove water from the microwave, place butter inside the warm microwave and close it. The butter should be softened after 10 minutes. To quickly bring an egg to room temperature, use a similar method: place a bowl of water in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. Remove the water from the microwave, place the egg in the water for 10 minutes, Oila!

I hope this recipe comes in handy for you this season, I’m definitely going to ask Deanna to bake some.

Ingredients:

For Dough

1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar + ¼ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp Fischer & Wieser Toasted Cinnamon Pear Preserves
½ cup white chocolate chips

For Glaze

¼ cup powdered sugar
2 tsp almond milk

Directions

For Dough

1. In a small bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, + nutmeg together. Set aside.

2. In a separate medium bowl, beat butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and Toasted Cinnamon
Pear Preserves together.

3. Add 1/2 the dry ingredients (flour mix) into the wet ingredients. Mix until all flour is absorbed. Add the remaining 1/2 of the dry ingredients. Once fully absorbed, add chocolate chips and mix well. Seal cookie dough tightly and set in the fridge for 45-60 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using a cookie scooper (or a spoon), scoop dough into 1 inch balls. Set on parchment paper 3-4 inches apart. Bake for 12-13 minutes. (Once removed from the oven, the center may look a bit gooey, this is normal. Once it cools, the middle will settle)

5. Let cookies cool for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack or a plate.

For Glaze*

1. For glaze, mix 2 tsp of almond milk with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Mix until it forms a thick glaze. Drizzle onto cool cookies + top off with cinnamon!

*For more flavor, heat + add 1 tbsp of Toasted Cinnamon Pear Preserves to the glaze.