With the flurry of holiday parties, gift exchanges and ... oh, yeah ... finals quickly approaching, it may seem nearly impossible for us students to adequately celebrate the season. While there is little time to accomplish everything from studying to decorating to shopping to baking, it is possible to increase your holiday efficiency by checking two items off your to-do list with only one project.??Why not create edible decorations that are both delicious and visually appealing'
Stained Glass Cookies are a twist on decorative cookies and use hard candies as well. They require a bit more work than most cookies, but the end product is worth the effort as they truly are as appealing to the eye as they are to the palette.??They make great decorative ornaments, resembling stained glass windows. Just remember to poke a small hole in the dough with a straw before baking to put a string through.??
Stained Glass Cookies
Ingredients:
1 stick butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
5 rolls Life Savers or other hard
candy
Beat butter, sugar, honey, egg and vanilla in large bowl with an electric mixer until well blended. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix well.?? Refrigerate for two hours.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with 2-1/2 to 3-inch floured cookie cutters. Trace a smaller version of the cookie cutter shape in the center of the cutout, leaving a 1/2 to 3/4-inch border of dough. Cut out and remove the smaller shape, then set it aside to re-roll as needed.??Place cutout shapes on foil-lined baking sheets.
??Crush the hard candy between two layers of wax paper with a mallet.??Place crushed candy inside centers of cutout cookie shapes.
Bake at 350 degrees for six to eight minutes or until candy is melted and cookies are lightly browned.??Cool completely before removing from foil.??
Traditional gingerbread people are perfect candidates to be transformed into decorative holiday treats. They can be made into ornaments and can be decorated any way imaginable.??
Gingerbread Men
Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown
sugar
1 package butterscotch flavor
instant pudding mix
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Beat butter, sugar, dry pudding mix and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.??Combine remaining ingredients.??Gradually add to the pudding mixture, beating until well blended. Refrigerate one hour, or until dough is firm.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch-thickness.??Use a 4-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out the dough.??Place cutouts on a greased baking sheet and use a straw to make holes near the top of each cookie for hanging.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.??Remove from sheet and cool on wire racks.??
After baking, it is time to decorate. Creativity is key and there are wide varieties of frostings, sprinkles, colored sugars and candies available to personalize your creations.
Another tasty holiday decoration takes minutes to make and freshens breath for moments under the mistletoe. Peppermint Stars are a creative way to light up any tree.
??
Peppermint Stars
Ingredients:
Brach's Starlight Mints
Crushed candy canes
Place a layer of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Put star-shaped metal cookie cutters onto the parchment-covered cookie sheet, being careful not to place stars within an inch of each other. Lay mints flat inside each cookie cutter-as many as will fit flat in each star. Sprinkle uncovered areas with crushed candy canes. Bake the sheet of cookie cutters at 300 degrees until melted, being careful not to brown the mints. Cool the cookie sheet until candy stars are hard to the touch. Pop the candy out of the cookie cutters and off the parchment. Eat stars as they are or attach a loop of ribbon with a small amount of glue to one point and hang as an ornament.
Finally, cookie \ornaments"" can be hung or packaged into festive treat bags as gifts. However they are used, these recipes make it possible for even us busy students to enjoy the holiday season with a bit of strategic multitasking.
