Annual Girls' Night Cocoa Party

Want to see our cocoa party pictures?

Visit my other blog at Creative Mommas.

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

I was in charge of making the cookies for our annual Girls Night Cocoa Party last year & the theme was snow, so I made snowflakes.

I decided to make the whole batch of my sugar cookie recipe that I always half. Now I know that the recipe makes around SEVEN DOZEN big cookies!!!

That's a lot of cookies!

I'm just glad that I didn't have to decorate them myself! Tiffany, Lynne and I spent quite a long time decorating these--in between refereeing, feeding & consoling kids :)

I used Martha Stewarts Royal Icing for these cookies.

This awesome picture was taken by the AMAZING photographer Lynne & it was from our "Winter Wonderland" cocoa party. Want to see a lot more pictures of this party, click here.

Here's the sugar cookie recipe I use from "Now ....you're cooking":

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup shortening (I always substitute "I can't believe it's not butter" -ICBINB)
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine sour cream, sugar, ICBINB, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients until everything is completely mixed together. Let the
   dough chill for about 15 minutes.
4. Form dough into small balls, or use fun cookie cutters.
5. Bake until LIGHT golden brown - no more than 10 minutes. When you take them out of
   the oven they may seem underdone, but they aren't. Just let them cool on the pan and
   you will find that they are perfectly soft and moist. If you prefer sugar cookies that are a
   little harder and more crumbly, bake them longer.

This recipe is linked up at:

Layered Oreo Dessert Cups

Ingredients:

• Oreo cookies, crushed
• 1-8oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1-8oz container of cool whip

Directions:

1. Combine cream cheese, sugar, milk and cool whip.

2. Layer Oreo cookie crumbs and cream cheese mixture.

3. Top with cool whip.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Made by Jen.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter or “Smart Balance”, softened (margarine doesn’t work well)
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 cup flour (white or wheat)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans (or almonds)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ½ cup powdered sugar (for rolling)

Directions:

1. Cream butter with sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour. Fold in nuts. Chill dough. Roll into 1 inch balls.

2. Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes.

3. Let cool, then roll in powdered sugar.

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

Made by Camille from Nestle Toll House

• 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Baking Cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12 oz. package) White ch. chips

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

5. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

*Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Macaroons

Made by Rachel from "March 2009 Better Homes and Gardens" magazine

Prep: 25 min. Bake: 10 min. Per batch. Oven: 350 degrees.

• 2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cup sweetened flaked or shredded coconut

1. Melt chocolate in double boiler set over simmering water. Remove pan from heat; set aside to cool.

2. Move oven rack to center position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or grease lightly.

3. With electric mixer on medium-high speed beat egg whites until foamy, about 30 seconds. Add a pinch of salt and beat until soft peaks form. Add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating for 10 seconds after each addition, until stiff peaks form, about 6 minutes total. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice. Fold in the coconut and melted chocolate.

4. Drop batter by the teaspoon, 1 inch apart, on prepared baking sheet (batter will stiffen as it stands). Bake until macaroons puff, 10 to 13 minutes. (Do not allow the edges to brown.) Cool on baking sheet on wire rack, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer macaroons to rack to cool completely.

5. Repeat with remaining macaroon batter. Serve immediately.

EACH MACAROON 56 cal, 3 g fat (2g sat. fat), 15 mg sodium, 8 g carbo, 1 g fiber, 1 g pro. Daily Valued: 1% iron.