Christmas, Cupcakes and Cookies

A collection of festive and delicious Christmas recipes, including Red Velvet Cupcakes, Ginger Molasses Cookies with Lemon Icing, Eggnog Coffeecake and Cranberry Crumb Bars. As a bonus, I’ve included instructions for making beautiful handmade photo Christmas ornaments.

This site contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links.  This in no way affects my opinion of those products and services.  All opinions expressed on this site are my own.

Christmas Cookies and Cupcakes

After all the excitement and anticipation for Christmas to come, the baking, the shopping, the gift wrapping, and the decorating, it feels like it’s over far too quickly, and I always wish it would last just a little longer.  We had a wonderful month of December, and my heart is full.

We started the holiday by hosting a party for a small group of friends and their kids, and I really made far too many treats for the party, but I couldn’t help myself.  There were sugar cookies, which I decorated with royal icing, molded peppermint bark candy, soft and chewy salted caramels, and red velvet cupcakes topped with cream cheese buttercream and decorated with soft peppermints and buttercream wreaths.  The cupcakes were just so pretty to look at, especially finished off with the little royal icing red bows I found at Michaels.

We also had a crock pot of spiced mulled red wine, and a cute little hot chocolate bar with homemade hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, and lots of candy canes.  I used a beautiful vintage plaid thermos to hold the hot water for the hot chocolate bar, and it just needed to be refilled a few times.  To keep the kids busy, I covered our dining room table with brown craft paper, and scattered it with mini candy canes, reindeer antlers, crayons and free Christmas printables for them to color on.  They absolutely loved it!

More Christmas Celebrations

The following week, my parents were able to drive here from South Carolina to visit for a few days before Christmas. Again I busied myself with more baking, as well as decorating the guest room with pretty plaid blankets and pillows, a Charlie Brown Christmas tree of branches hung with vintage ornaments, and a little polkadot box of treats for their drive home.

We ate far too much, but I so love baking for other people when I know how much they enjoy the food.  We had lemon pound cake, soft and spicy ginger molasses cookies with tart lemon icing, cranberry almond cream cheese crumb bars, chocolate cream pie (always a favorite), sausage biscuits, and eggnog streusel coffee cake.

Christmas Day

For Christmas Eve breakfast, I made homemade eclairs filled with rich custard and topped with chocolate ganache, and then for Christmas Day, we had overnight baked French toast, which was really fantastic, and so easy that I was free to enjoy the morning with my husband and son, rather than spend it in the kitchen laboring over homemade cinnamon rolls like I usually do.  I really can’t say enough good things about the overnight French toast, just that you have to try it.  We had a wonderfully relaxing Christmas of enjoying breakfast, opening presents, and watching movies in our pajamas all day, before having prime rib for dinner.

How to Make Homemade Photo Christmas Ornaments

The photo ornaments are a special project that I worked on before Christmas, and I just love how they turned out. We have so many special memories hanging on our tree now.

Supplies.

• Thin Wood Slices
• Photos
• Scissors
• Mod Podge and a Small Brush
• Power Drill
• Twine

Instructions.

1. Cut (or buy) thin slices of wood, about 1/4 inch thick. We cut our own from last year’s Christmas tree trunk. This kit has pre-drilled wood slices, as well as the twine needed for this project.
2. Choose your photos. These ornaments are somewhat small, with the wood pieces only being 4 inches or so in diameter, so you’ll need photos that have a small subject that’s fairly far away from the camera. If the subject fills the whole frame of the photo, that photo won’t work for these ornaments.
3. Print small (3×5) copies of your photos. Black and white looks best.
4. Trim your photos around your subject, so that you have a circle slightly smaller than your wood slices.
5. Use Mod Podge to glue the photos onto the wood, and then brush over the tops of the photos with Mod Podge, as well. Let dry completely.
6. You can even make these ornaments double sided, if you like, with a different photo on each side. Or, just write on the back of the wood the event and date.
7. Lastly, drill small holes in the wood, then loop twine through the holes, so you can hang them on your tree.

---

Favorite Products

---

---

Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies with Lemon Icing

Cookies.

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling the cookies
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 3/4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons, all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt

Icing.

• 2 – 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon meringue powder
• juice and zest of 2 small lemons (about 4-5 tablespoons)

Instructions.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 4-5 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Scrape the bowl down and beat in the eggs, molasses, vinegar and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined.  Cover the dough and refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Use a small cookie scoop to portion out the dough; roll each portion into a ball between your hands, and coat in granulated sugar.  Place the cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet and flatten slightly with your hand.

Bake the cookies for 8 minutes only for soft cookies, then cool on the pan for several minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack.

While the cookies cool, beat all the icing ingredients with a handheld mixer for about 5 minutes, until the icing is smooth, fluffy and creamy.  Add more powdered sugar or lemon juice to reach the right consistency; it should be a very thick drizzling consistency, so that you can spoon it onto the warm cookies, immediately spread it out with a knife, and it will not run off the edges.  It will dry and harden quickly, so work quickly as you ice each cookie.  As the icing dries, the surface will dry to a nice sheen.

Let the icing set for about an hour before storing the cookies in an airtight container.  Cookies will stay soft for many days to come.

Yields about 3 1/2 – 4 dozen cookies

---

Cranberry Almond Cream Cheese Shortbread Bars

Crust and Topping.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold, unsalted butter

Filling.

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 8 ounces almond paste, grated
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups leftover homemade cranberry sauce (or, substitute your favorite fruit preserves or even pie filling)

Instructions.

Preheat the oven to 350 and spray an 8×8 inch square baking dish with non-stick spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.  Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture, until coarse and crumbly, with any remaining pieces of butter the size of peas.  Reserve 1 cup of the crumb mixture for the topping, and press the rest firmly against the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, almond paste, egg, cinnamon and vanilla with a hand mixer for several minutes until well combined.

Remove the crust from the oven.  Carefully spread the cream cheese mixture over the hot crust.  Dollop the cranberry sauce evenly over the cream cheese layer.  Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup crumb topping over the cranberry sauce.

Bake until the topping is golden brown, about 35-40 minutes.  Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Yields about 16 2-inch square bars or 32 1×2 inch bars.
Recipe from Curly Girl Kitchen

---

Eggnog Streusel Coffeecake

Streusel Topping.

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Cake.

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup eggnog
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1 teaspoon maple extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing.

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp eggnog

Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a 9×9 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

Topping. In a bowl, use a pastry cutter to combine the topping ingredients until coarse and crumbly.  Set aside.

Cake. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter for several minutes until light and fluffy.  Scrape the bowl down and beat in the eggnog, sour cream, maple extract and eggs until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients, mixing just until barely combined.  Spread the batter into the greased pan and sprinkle with the topping.

Bake for about 45-60 minutes, until a knife in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, but not raw batter; check for doneness every 5 minutes during the last 15 minutes.

Icing. While the cake cools a little, mix the glaze into a smooth, drizzly consistency, and generously drizzle over the cake.  Let cool for about 20 minutes, then cut into squares and serve warm.

Note: While this could also be baked in a 9×13 pan and only baked for about 30-35 minutes, I like the tall pieces you get with baking it in a smaller pan.  This cake is also fantastic for days after; just warm up a piece for about 30-40 seconds in the microwave and it will be soft and tender.

Recipe adapted from the Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook

---

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cake.

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour or cake flour
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 2/3 cups buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• red gel food coloring

Buttercream.

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 4 1/2 – 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon meringue powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• milk or cream, if needed

Baker’s Note: This recipe makes a generous amount of cake batter, enough for a tall 3-layer 8-inch cake, or about 30 standard cupcakes.  I made 1 dozen standard cupcakes plus 1 dozen mini cupcakes, and baked the rest of the batter in several 6-inch pans to freeze and save for later.

Cake. Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with paper liners.  In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients and whisk until well combined.  Use about 1/4 cup batter for each standard-sized cupcake, and 1 tablespoon for mini cupcakes.  Bake just until the centers are done, about 15-18 minutes for standard cupcakes.  Cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and vanilla, and whip on medium high for about 4-5 minutes, until very light and fluffy.  Only add a little milk if the frosting is too stiff, but it should be stiff enough to hold its shape when piped onto the cupcakes.

---