Marshmallow Gingerbread Kiss Blossoms.

Pillowy-soft gingerbread cookies topped with puffy marshmallows, white chocolate Hershey's Hugs, and caramel Kisses. 

It's December (for a few more days)... and that means we can add marshmallows to absolutely anything.

Lately I've been thinking about the gingerbread bundt cake I baked two years ago. Or, as I like to call it, the bundt cake that finally made me fall in love with all things gingerbread. Not the crispy cut-out, iced, old-fashioned gingerbread men (my least favorite Christmas cookie ever), but actual molasses-rich, spicy, cakey gingerbread.

Or maybe I'm just blinded by the creamy cheesecake center and sprinkles of merry-Christmas-to-me powdered sugar. Either way: it's love.

But it's not the time for the cake (even though it's always the time for cake). I'm deep in peppermint and chocolate, baking every holiday cookie ever to gift this season this week and you just can't put a bundt cake on a cookie platter.

These bite-size gingerbread blossoms were just what I needed to add some Christmas sass to my cookie platters. They're pillowy-soft, rolled in sparkling sugar, and full of holiday spice. To top these cookies off, literally, we're throwing mini-marshmallows in the mix, just before they're finished baking, giving them enough time to puff up nice and toasty.

On top of it all: a frozen Hershey caramel Kiss or white chocolate Hug (you could also use milk or dark chocolate Kisses!). The frozen Kiss is my secret/not-so-secret way of keeping your chocolate from melting.

It's a s'mores twist on a holiday favorite. You know... just without graham crackers. Gingerbread, white chocolate, and marshmallows. It's exactly everything I want this Christmas.

I'm obsessed with baking blossom cookies. This is just one of my many Hershey-kissed cookies:

•  Chocolate Crinkle Kiss Cookies 

•  Cinnamon Pumpkin Spice Kiss Blossoms

•  Oreo-Stuffed White Chocolate Raspberry Kiss Cookies

•  Peanut Butter Blossoms

•  Pumpkin Spice Kiss Gingerdoodle Blossoms

Marshmallow Gingerbread Kiss Blossoms

Printable Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup mini marshmallows
60 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped and frozen (For mine, I used Hershey's Hugs and Caramel Kisses)

Whisk. In a large bowl, whisk together the first six ingredients (flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt). Set aside.

Mix. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add molasses, egg, and vanilla, and mix until nearly combined. Mix in the flour mixture and beat until full combined. 

Chill. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2-4 hours or overnight. 

Prep. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with a baking mat or spray with baking spray. Remove dough 20 minutes prior to baking- dough should be firm,but still easy to work with and roll. 

Roll. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, roll in sugar, and place 2-inches apart on baking sheet. 

If topping with just Hershey Kisses: Bake 8-10 minutes (mine were perfect at 8 minutes). Remove from oven and immediately press a frozen chocolate Kiss into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool completely.

If topping with marshmallows and Kisses: Bake for 6 1/2 minutes. Remove from oven and gently press 3-4 mini-marshmallows into the center of each cookie. Return to oven and allow cookies to finish baking for another 1-2 minutes, or until marshmallows begin to puff up. Remove from oven and immediately press a frozen chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool completely.

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Source: Adapted from Baked by Rachel.

Soft, Chewy White Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cookies.

The time is now. 

In two weeks time we'll be looking back on two thousand-twelve and making our New Year's resolutions. We'll be picking out glittery dresses, skyscraper heels, getting midnight kisses and/or high-fives, and putting rum and cake vodka in basically everything.

So I hear. I wouldn't know. I'll still be drinking peppermint coffee and eating gingerbread things.

I've been stress-baking my way through December, but it's time to face the facts: Christmas is in eleven days. Eleven. Days. No more I need to Christmas shop... but I think I'll make peppermint bark instead. I spent how much on Amazon? I really should make banana bread. My boyfriend and I can't decide where we'll spend Christmas... and my phone bill just came?

Sounds like a bundt cake situation to me.

Can we just stop? Put down the whisk and just chill?

My favorite Christmas moments aren't the ones I spend stressing about what needs to get done... they're the moments in between the Christmas shopping and present-wrapping. Sticking peanut butter cups in a peanut butter cookie. Driving around with my family with no purpose but hot chocolate and Christmas lights. That moment when there's a new present under the tree and I am 100% certain it's for me. Finding the perfect gift for someone. Hiding new ornaments on the tree while watching The Holiday so no one knows it's December 14th and I'm still buying cupcake and/or elephant shaped ornaments.

I think we should just skip New Years resolutions this year and make Christmas resolutions instead. Like... slow down, breathe, enjoy the season. Sing more carols. Watch The Santa Clause. Spend an afternoon hidden in a coffee shop with a half-finished good book and a stack of Christmas cards. Let's do all that instead.  

Wait. Work is calling? They want what?

Nope. Gingerbread cookies with white chocolate chips. I can't even deal.

Soft, Chewy White Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cookies

Printable Recipe

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 package white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening, brown sugar, egg, and molasses until smooth and creamy. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves until combined. Add to molasses mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in white chocolate chips.

Scoop onto an ungreased baking sheet at least 2 inches apart using a cookie scoop (or roll in tablespoon-sized balls) and bake for 10-11 minutes, until lightly brown. Remove from oven and let cool for at least three minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Source: Barely adapted from Hanging On by a Needle and Thread.

Cheesecake-Filled Gingerbread Bundt Cake.

It's two thousand and twelve and I have just discovered the bundt pan. 

I've also discovered a few other things. Like... gingerbread is a situation I like finding myself in.

Adding cheesecake is bold. Do it.

Sometimes cake for breakfast is totally a necessary thing. Is it cake if there's no buttercream though? One could argue that it's just a round, cake-y quick bread.

One could argue that every morning for a week.

I've learned that baking gingerbread will make it all about Christmas, all of it, for 40-50 minutes. It's basically baking Christmas spirit.

And on that note: let's discuss how deeply I wish I still believed in Santa.

Maybe it's being an indepedent young lady, living life with a career and a pretty permanent boyfriend and her first ever apartment. Is decorating your own Christmas tree and baking your own Christmas cookies being an adult? I think it might be.

Is reminding yourself to slow down, get off Amazon (you've ordered enough already!), keep calm, eat some gingerbread, and maybe do some laundry what being an adult is all about?

It totally is. And if it's not, don't tell me.

Maybe it's recently finding out I have to change my Christmas plans, from being with family to driving 300 miles back in the opposite direction on Christmas Eve so I can spend Christmas day working. Maybe it's that. That sudden realization definitely ended with an angry white peach margarita Saturday night.

I wish Christmas magic was still as effortless as believing in Santa. I wish that kind of wonder was something I woke up with. But I've learned that, as an adult, Christmas magic is kind of a thing you have to make for yourself. It's a real thing, don't get me wrong, but it's kind of like fitting into your jeans at the end of December. It's not going to happen unless you believe it will... and then get out there in the world and make it happen.

So I make peppermint bark at midnight. I let my boyfriend whisk me away for night of Christmas shopping, eating respectable amounts of deep-dish pizza, and seeing Rise of the Guardians... even though there's at least a hundred five other things I should be doing. I very stealthily fill out Christmas cards at work. I call home. Often. Most importantly... I try and put that magic into somebody else's life.

Sometimes that magic comes in the form of spicy gingerbread cake stuffed with a creamy, sugary cheesecake center. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it happens for breakfast.

Bundt cakes are way too easy. It's a mix-and-pour situation. And cheesecake centers? Stop it. I can totally make this happen. I'm not always patient and I'm not always as kind as I should be... but I can definitely can bake you a cake and tell you you look nice today.

And you do, really. You totally deserve cake.

This is real Christmas magic. Make it happen! 

Cheesecake-Filled Gingerbread Bundt Cake

Printable Recipe 

Filling
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg

Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup molasses
Powdered sugar, for dusting over finished cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter (or spray with a nonstick baking spray) and flour a bundt pan. 

To make the filling, beat together the softened cream cheese, sugar, flour, and egg, until well combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and ginger.

In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, oil, and molasses until well combined. Whisk into larger bowl with flour mixture until just combined and no clumps of flour remain.

Pour 1/3 of the cake mixture into the bundt pan, using the a rubber spatula to evenly spray to edges. 

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop cheesecake mixture on top of the gingerbead mixture, being careful to keep it in the center and not spread it to the edges. You want it to be a surprise baked inside your cake!

Pour the rest of the gingerbread mixture over the cheesecake, again using a spatula to gently and evenly spread it. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Place wire rack on top of bundt pan and inverse to remove cake. Allow to cool completely. 

Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Source: Group Recipes, originally from Taste of Home.

Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies.

Every year I bake gingerbread and I have finally, finally found a recipe that I am in love with.

I love the smell of baking gingerbread. It's like Christmas Eve and tree-trimming and the North Pole and cinnamon-sugar and watching White Christmas in front of a fireplace and magic all at once. Yes, all that. 

I like my cookies soft and plump, as close to the consistency of cookie dough or cake as possible, and most gingerbread recipes I've tried come out crisp and thin. Even my gingersnaps.

These are perfect and delicious. The solution? I'm not sure. Maybe the frosting. 

I love everything about these cookies. The mini M&Ms, the sugary green frosting, the cute Christmas tree shapes... and how pillowy soft they are. Not too soft to make frosting impossible, but no usual gingerbready crunch when you bite into them. Sigh. Perfection.

Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies

Printable Recipe

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mini M&Ms
Buttery Decorator Frosting (recipe follows)

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses. Combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 325°F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness.

Cut with a floured 3-inch tree-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2-inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Gently press mini M&Ms into half of the cookies.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

When cool, make frosting and tint green if desired. Spread over the bottoms of plain cookies; top with decorated cookies. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes 24 cookie sandwiches.

Source: Taste of Home: Simple & Delicious, November/December 2009


Buttery Decorator Icing
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups powdered sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and salt. Beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl. Add 2 tablespoons milk; beat at high speed until light and fluffy. Add additional milk for desired spreading consistency.

Source: Pillsbury Fall Baking, #93