Well, it's here - the last day of my 2016 cookie tour! I decided to make my last cookie be one with my favorite flavor - mocha! Since I'm avoiding coffee right now, I've talked myself into being allowed to eat mocha-flavored goodies ;)

These cute little cookies don't have any pretzel in them, but they are formed into the shape of a pretzel! You really can't go wrong with these!

I hope you've enjoyed my cookie tour and I am always up for suggestions on new recipes!

Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes (includes chill time)
Chilling Time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 dozen

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup white chocolate melting bits (for drizzling)

Mocha Glaze Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons hot coffee or espresso
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, chocolate and vanilla; mix well.
2. Combine flour and salt and gradually add to cream mixture. Mix until just combined. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place parchment paper on 2 baking sheets.
4. Split dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long log and cut into 12 pieces. Then, roll each of these pieces into a 9-inch rope. Form dough into pretzel shapes and place pretzels on prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake for 7 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheets for 1 minute before moving to wire cooling racks.
6. Once cookies are completely cooled, combine all mocha glaze ingredients and whisk until smooth. Dip the front side of cookies in the glaze and place on waxed paper. Allow the glaze to set. Then, melt white chocolate and drizzle over cookies with pastry bag or spoon. Enjoy!!

Source:  Taste of Home

Ever since I was a baby, my family spent our Christmases in Lancaster visiting my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was always such a joyful time playing games, opening presents, and eating a TON of candy and cookies. Even though my grandpa was a dentist, he had the biggest sweet tooth of them all! 

My mom was telling me about how my grandma would make dozens upon dozens of her delicious cookies, and grandpa would always be there to help take the trays out of the oven and be grandma's helper :) 

Some of my favorite foods of Christmas include grandma's sugar cookies and ham sandwiches in the evening, Wilbur chocolates, and my Aunt Leslie's M&M cookies!
My sister doesn't usually like too many sweets, but these M&M cookies are eaten by the handful when she sees them! I'm so glad my Aunt Leslie shared the recipe, because I will be home for Christmas again this year, as I prepare for my own holiday traditions in our house!

You really can't go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie that uses M&Ms instead of chocolate chips!

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: About 5 dozen

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 11-ounce package M&Ms Minis Baking Bits (or use can use regular M&Ms - see below)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a few baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla and mix until creamy.
4. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Fold in the M&Ms (don't use a mixer, as they will break).
5. Roll 1-inch balls of dough and place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake 8-11 minutes, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Store in a tightly covered container. Enjoy!!

Source: Aunt Leslie Staskel!

I love every opportunity that I have to spend with my mom and dad! Last Friday after school was over, I met my parents for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants before checking out the Irwin Christmas cookie tour. The Colonial Grille is our favorite Sunday breakfast hang out with a delicious breakfast buffet, and the best coffee you can get! It just kills me to not be able to drink the coffee right now! Chocolate milk will have to do :-)

Irwin is a great little town that is really being spruced up to bring in a new crowd! There are lots of cute shops, bakeries, and a renovated theater called The Lamp that was really big in its time. Now, I may be a bit partial, but the best part of Irwin is our amazing Catholic church, Immaculate Conception! Just look how beautiful it is during the Christmas season!

During our cookie tour, my mom and I stopped in The Cheesecake Café. We decided to purchase a few pieces of cheesecake, which were delicious! On the way out, we sampled the Oreo cheesecake cookies and loved them right away! Thankfully we got the recipe and had to try it this week! For only having five ingredients, these cookies are amazing and simple! As silly as it may sound, they remind me a lot of one of my favorite blizzards at Dairy Queen - Oreo Cheesequake!

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (includes chilling time)
Chilling Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons flour
• 10 Oreo cookies, crushed into small pieces

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat well.
2. On low speed, add in flour until just incorporated. Fold in Oreos until evenly distributed.
3. Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, and up to 2 hours.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
   
5. Scoop out a Tablespoon of dough and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until just golden at the edges. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Source: The Cheesecake Cafe in Irwin

Pittsburgh is such a cool place to live! There are so many things to do around the city including a lot of holiday events. Pittsburgh also recently become a restaurant hotspot with lots of craft breweries. It's a great little city to visit if you are not from around here and ever get the chance to check it out! We have one of the best orchestras in the world, and Mike and I get to spend one of our last date nights attending the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Highmark Holiday Pops concert! Hopefully, baby will like the concert too :)

​Last year, my mom and sister went to the cookie tour in Lawrenceville, which is a neighboring community of Pittsburgh. Sadly, by the time they got there, most of the cookies were gone. However, they managed to grab quite a few recipes from the local businesses! This is one recipe they definitely had to try! If you like ginger snaps or gingerbread cookies, you will definitely like this modern twist!

Now, I have to be honest… I have been so busy with school and trying to manage some relaxation time, that my mom helped out by making these cookies for me! While I did take this picture, she surprised me by bringing these cookies one day! After all, isn't that what moms are for??

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes (includes chilling time)
Inactive Time: 30 minutes
Baking Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 15 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 3/4 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Granulated sugar, for rolling

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat well to combine oil, butter, sugar, eggs, molasses and cocoa powder.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. On low speed, incorporate into the wet ingredients, until just combined. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a few baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Use a mini cookie scooper or roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place sugar in a small bowl or plate with sides. Roll dough balls in sugar and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Since these are smaller cookies, you can fit 20 cookies on a large cookie sheet. Bake for 7 minutes or until cookies are set. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

​
Source:  Recipe from A Bountiful Kitchen and presented at Lawrenceville's Joy of Cookies Cookie Tour 2015

Since today is national cookie day, I figured I would surprise you with an extra cookie recipe! This is an extra special recipe, because it originated in Italy, and was passed down through generations!

Since this recipe is pretty involved, I have included my Youtube video at the bottom ​explaining how to flatten and fold the crostoli. Hope it helps!

Shout out to my amazing partner-in-crime and mommy for helping me tackle all of this Christmas baking and our weekly Sunday family dinners :)

Total Time: 3 1/2 - 4 hours, depending on your helpers! :)

Yield: A TON! There is such a variable here, but I would say about 25 dozen

Ingredients: 

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 1/2 shots whiskey (best part!)
• 1/2 stick butter, melted
• 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 1/2 cups flour
• Lots of powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, half and half, whiskey, melted butter, and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. In a medium bowl, combine one cup flour with baking powder, and salt. Add to wet ingredients. Slowly incorporate remaining flour until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Switch to dough hook on medium speed and continue to add flour until the dough feels tacky and no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.
3. Lay dough on lightly floured surface and cover tightly with plastic wrap, so it doesn't dry out while frying. Heat oil in an electric skillet or heavy duty pot to 350 degrees F.
4. (See video below) If using a dough roller, cut a golf ball sized dough ball and roll through at thickness 2. You may need to coat in flour so that it does not stick to the roller. Continue to roll through again at thickness 5 and then again at 7. Lay on a lightly floured surface. If using a rolling pin, roll until dough is paper thin.
5. Using a pizza roller, cut dough into small rectangles, about 1 inch by 2 inch. Cut a small slit slightly off from the center of the rectangle. Pull the top of the dough through the slit and back up so it creates a little knot.
6. Fry in batches in oil until lightly golden brown, and flip. Once both sides are golden, transfer to paper towels to drain and cool completely. Continue with the rest of the dough.
7. In a plastic or paper bag sprinkle several crostoli with plenty of powdered sugar and toss gently to coat. Shake off excess sugar and lay on paper towels. Crostoli can be stored in open bags or containers to avoid getting soggy.

You know that one particular food that you find yourself munching at all hours of the day? Maybe a handful of pretzels...a few carrot sticks...okay let's be real. For me, it's these truffles. I have to make myself not go past the fridge because I know I'm going to pop one of these babies in my mouth!

I also love that these are so versatile! You can turn any of your favorite Oreo flavors into a truffle! The recipe below is for a simple, but amazingly decadent traditional Oreo dipped in white chocolate - I do think these are my favorites - but you can also use peanut butter filled Oreos dipped in semi-sweet chocolate, mint filled Oreos in dark chocolate, or any other combination you like! (Comment below to tell me your favorite!) Now if only they'd bring back the coffee filled Oreos...mmmmmm...

Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes (including refrigeration time)
Inactive Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Yield: about 3-4 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1 box traditional Oreos
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 10 ounce bag (or similar size) white chocolate melting wafers
• 1/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips, for decorating

Directions:

1. Using a rolling pin or food processor, finely crush Oreos. Combine Oreo crumbs with cream cheese (it's okay to get in there and use your hands!) Refrigerate for about an hour.
2. Roll a Tablespoon of dough in your hands and set on a baking sheet covered in waxed paper. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
3. Melt the white chocolate and dip each Oreo ball, turning to coat. Carefully set back on the waxed paper and repeat until all are dipped in chocolate. Place back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, or until the chocolate hardens. Melt the semi-sweet chocolate and pour into a pastry bag to drizzle on top. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to harden the chocolate.
4. Truffles should be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or frozen in an airtight container. If stacking the truffles, make sure to layer with parchment or waxed paper so that they don't stick to each other! Enjoy!!