Blog With Friends: Traditions

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and publish a projects based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

This month our theme is Traditions. My contribution is Peppermint Creme Sandwich Cookies.

This time of year is just steeped in tradition. No matter what your religion, chances are there are yearly activities you look forward to in December. Most of these are family related, but the one I'm honoring today is about friendship.

Every year, either with friends or neighbors (or both) people get together for a Holiday Cookie Exchange. Which, we all know, is about so much more than just cookies. With my friends, we'd actually bring a cookie dough. We'd have lunch and spend the afternoon baking our cookies together.

The neighborhood exchanges would generally be in the evening. We'd all bring an appetizer and 3 dozen cookies, spend a few hours together and go home with a tray of assorted treats.

I have some great memories of these events over the years. One year the party was just three houses up, but it was icy. Not wanting to walk carrying our cookies (no, that's not a euphemism) in the ice, a bunch of us somehow (probably just with the promise of all those treats) talked my husband into picking everyone up in his car and driving us up the street.

Then there was the time it was my turn to host and everyone ended up staying till the wee hours of the morning doing shots of Vanilla Rum. I take no responsibility for that one. Who am I kidding, that was all me.

Although I'm a big fan of traditional cookies, I also like to bring something new each year. It's a fun time to experiment with the flavors of the season and I've always got a house full of kids willing to taste test.

Because I don't always have all day to spend in the kitchen, I like breaking up my recipes into tasks that I can do ahead, or even partially ahead. For this cookie I started a day in advance. I made the filling, placed it in a sealed bag and stored it in the fridge. 

At the same time that I was crushing the candies for the filling, I crushed extra for the embellishment along the sides.

To bake and assemble, I brought the filling to room temperature while mixing up the cookie dough. 

From there it was easy peasy. I baked, cooled, filled and decorated.

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:


Robin of Someone Else's Genius shares her recipe for a delicious dinner, Shrimp Thermidor.

Rabia of The Lieber Family blog shares how to Creating a Family Time Capsule as a winter family tradition for years to come.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares recommendations for Family Favorite Holiday Movies. 

Peppermint Creme Sandwich Cookies

                                            ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes 3 dz):
4 TBSP butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2/3 cups baking cocoa
2 TBSP chocolate syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 TBSP butter, softened
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme 
10 oz peppermint candies, finely crushed
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
*Beat 4 TBSP butter with brown and white sugars until smooth. Beat in vanilla and eggs.
*Lower speed and carefully beat in 1 cup flour, then 1/2 cup buttermilk, followed by the baking cocoa, salt and baking soda. Once incorporated, beat in the other 1/2 cup buttermilk and the chocolate syrup. Last, beat in the final cup of flour.
*Scoop or pipe about 1 TBSP batter onto baking sheets, about 30 per sheet. Bake approximately 8 minutes or until they puff up and the centers are completely set.
*Allow to sit on the baking sheet for one minute before removing. Cool completely before filling.
*While the cookies are cooling, beat the cream cheese and 2 TBSP butter until smooth. Beat in the peppermint extract and marshmallow creme just until incorporated. Mix in the powdered sugar and a little over 1/2 of the crushed candies. Place in a piping bag or a plastic gallon bag with the corner clipped.
*Pipe about 1 TBSP filling onto the flat side of half of the cookies. Cover with the other half of the cookies to form a sandwich. Press together gently.
*Place the rest of the crushed candy on a plate, roll the sides of the cookies in the candy.

*NOTE: I like to  store these in the fridge and bring to room temperature for serving.