Gingerbread Men and Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I wanted to squeeze in a couple of cookies before Christmas, so I wanted to make a classic gingerbread cookie and Paula Deen's Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies!

First off, I must say that this year has flown by! I can't believe it's Christmas Eve and there is a week left in 2011! Where has the time gone!? Hopefully next year won't fly by so quickly...

So this holiday season, I have decided not to do gifts in order to get my bills paid. As Mrs. Lovett said: "Times is hard." So instead of making meat pies out of alley cats, I'm making cookies!

For the Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies, I used Paula Deen's recipe. This was quick and easy since the base was chocolate cake mix.

• 1 8-oz brick cream cheese, room temp
• 1 stick butter, room temp
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 18-oz box moist chocolate cake mix
• confectioner's sugar, for dusting

1) Cream the butter and the cream cheese until smooth.

2) Beat in the egg, then the vanilla, then the cake mix.

3) Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours so the dough is easy to roll.
4) Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350. Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls.

Then roll the balls into some powdered sugar...

And place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.

5) Bake for 12 minutes and dust with additional sugar after completely cooled, if you want.

And these little guys will be eaten up in no time! They have a brownie- cakey- cookie- type of quality, and they are so good! Using exact tablespoons, I got about 4 dozen instead of the 2 dozen the recipe said it would make! :)

Chocolatey goodness!

Next up is a classic gingerbread cookie recipe. Instead of a teaspoon of lemon zest, I put in about a teaspoon and a half of orange zest (I think orange tastes much better with ginger).

• 3 c all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ginger
• 1 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cloves (I substituted nutmeg)
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• 3/4 c dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp lemon zest (or orange)

1) In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together until blended.
2) In a mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until blended.

3) Add molasses, vanilla, and zest. Mix well.

4) Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth

Yum!

5) Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic. Then let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours.
6) Preheat oven to 375. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
7) Place one portion of the dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/4" thick.

*The dough will look dry, but keep working at it, and it will come together!*
Cut cookies into whatever shapes you choose.

8) Space cookies 1 1/2" apart  and bake for 7-10 minutes.

I had some royal icing left over from the gingerbread house party, so I mixed that up and added some color. That was not a good time to find out I was out of red! Grrr! Green and blue worked fine, though! I had some basic gingerbread men...

Then some clothed ones...

Then some stars...

And some decorated circle shapes...

And I got a little snacky, so I got creative...

Following the recipe, I got a little under 4 dozen with this recipe as well! Nice! The cookies were a bit soft because I baked them for exactly 7 minutes. If you want crispier cookies, roll them thinner or bake them a bit longer.
These cookies are going to go in cute little Christmas Chinese food boxes for gift-giving!

I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season! Be safe, and have fun!