The Billionaire’s Christmas Cookies—because there’s more than one way to be rich!
Hi there! Victoria James shared the wealth of her talent with readers in her book The Billionaire’s Christmas Baby. Her team of Entangled publicists (Heather Riccio and Kym Roberts) didn’t want to drag her away from her children and her writer’s desk during the holidays, but after seeing Victoria’s picture of Jackson and Hannah’s cookies, we decided to share the riches of Christmas Cookies that will fill your house with a wonderful aroma any time of year!
In The Billionaire’s Christmas Baby Hannah Woods makes the best sugar cookies in town. Jackson Pierce’s sugar cookies look more like alien-blobs! (Hannah’s perfect gingerbread boy is on the right. Jackson’s cookie would be that unidentifiable thing on the left on the cover of the post.)
For a special treat, we’ve gathered enough cookies recipes to make your family affluent with sweets! We’ll start off with one of my favorites posted by a friend of mine at Mystery Lover’s Kitchen who obtained it from Payard Patisserie & Bistro. She says there are a few alterations to the recipe along the way and I’ve altered it even further.
Chocolate Featherweights
(don’t let the name fool you. These are not low-cal, but they are gluten free!)
Yield: 14-15 lg cookies Prep time: 15 min. Cook Time: 14-17 min.
Ingredients:
3/4 c. Nestlé’s Tollhouse unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. vanilla
4 large egg whites, at room temp.
1 3/4 c. walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 c. chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Set rack in middle position. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, and salt, taking care that there are no lumps.
- Combine the vanilla and egg whites in a measuring cup. Slowly add them to the cocoa mixture, beating at low speed. When you have added all the liquid, continue to beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes (until the batter is glossy and smooth). It will be fairly thin, but quite viscous. Batter – consistency of cake batter.
- Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
- Using a 2 Tbs. cookie scoop, place 5 mounds of batter about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. The batter will spread a lot, so don’t crowd the cookies.
- Slide the pan into the oven, reduce heat to 325, and bake until the cookies have small thin cracks on their surface.
- Remove from the pan from the oven and set it on a rack until the cookies are completely cool. Peel them gently from the parchment paper.
- Repeat the process with the remaining batter, increasing the oven temp to 350 before each round. It should take three rounds total to use all the batter.
Chocolate-Butterscotch Peanut Clusters
From Heather Riccio’s mom ;)
With only three ingredients, Heather says this a nearly fool-proof recipe!
What she didn’t realize is that these are also Gluten-free!
Yield: 2 doz. Clusters Prep time: 15 min. Cook Time: 5 min.
Ingredients:
One 12oz bag butterscotch chips
½ 12oz bag of chocolate chips
1 can Spanish peanuts (about 2 cups)
Directions:
1. In a double boiler melt butterscotch and chocolate chips together. Stir until mixture is nice and smooth. Add peanuts and stir.
2. Immediately drop little blobs of the clusters onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper using a spoon and a cookie scoop.
3. Let them sit until the chocolate is set.
We saved our Billionaire Christmas expert for last—and we worked her overtime! She doesn’t have just one. No, Victoria has two recipes to make your holidays richer! Check these out!
Heather’s Jam Thumbprint-– Yum!
(obtained from Ina Garden’s recipe)
Ingredients:
¾ lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 ½ c. all-purpose flour
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 Tblsp water, for egg wash
7 oz sweetened flaked coconut
Raspberry and/or apricot jam (my favorite the raspberry)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla.
- Separately, sift together the flour and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together.
- Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale they should each weigh 1 ounce.)
- Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger.
- Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.
And finally, one more to tip the scales. Of wealth that is! We’re not thinking about the other kind right now!
Heather’s Toffee Bars
That were stolen from her mother, who stole them from her mother, and so on and so on… She says she eats these like there’s no tomorrow :D
Ingredients:
12 oz bag of chocolate chips
1 bag chopped nuts
Crust:
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla, 2 c. flour
Directions
- Mix crust ingredients together and spread out over bottom of jellyroll baking pan.
- Bake at 325 for 15-20 min.
- Sprinkle with 12 oz bag of chocolate chips.
- Let melt and spread over crust with knife.
- Sprinkle with chopped nuts.
- Cut and serve in squares
Thanks for joining Victoria James’ The Billionaire’s Christmas Cookies extravaganza! Now go out and share the wealth with love and cookies!
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