Rummy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Eggnog Icing

Hello everyone!  Hope everyone has had a happy holiday season so far! I've been quiet lately because of how busy I have been, not because I have not been baking.  I've been running around too much the last month and a half, destroying gingerbread men cookies, going to Christmas plays, playing dress up, drinking birthday hot chocolate, eating tamales I made myself, having tea with the girls, shooting bows, destroying more gingerbread men, drinking too much wine, really just enjoying this season.  

But I've baked ALL the cookies.  Lots and lots of cookies.  To give away in mugs for Christmas, to bring to events, to make for "the blog" but then eat them all myself with a cup of tea without even taking pictures of them first...  

Lucky for you I took pictures of these!  (Thank you rain for staying away today.)  Just in time for you to whip some up tomorrow for your New Year's Eve parties.   Or for because it's Monday.  Or Tuesday.  Or any day. Or have left over egg nog and rum in the fridge.  Which is why I made these earlier today.  They are all wrapped up, waiting for tomorrow's New Year's Eve bash.  

Actually, I wanted to make more oatmeal raisin cookies because believe it or not, they're my favorite cookies.  I finally found a recipe (and by found I mean I combined like 5 to make one that sounded good) that pleased me, but those cookies I made last week and are super long gone.  So i wanted more.  But I felt that i would need to add something more to make them appropriate for New Years -- it does signify the end of the holiday season after all. I was debating on maybe adding a glaze on top while looking in the fridge for brekkie this morning and I saw a carton of eggnog.  Lightbulb moment.  

The eggnog, by the way, was also next to the rum... so I soaked the raisins in rum while I ran my morning errands.  By the afternoon, these were baked, photographed, instagrammed, and packaged up. 

Rummy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies 
Makes 18, Bake at 350* for 10 minutes.

7/8 c. flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c oats
1/3 c rummy raisins (soak raisins in rum for 1-3 hours)

Directions:
1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
2. Cream butter and sugar together in a stand mixer.
3. Add in vanilla extract and egg and beat until fully incorporated.
4. Add in flour mixture to batter.
5. Fold in oats, and then raisins. (Note: the rummy raisins will make the dough a little wetter than most dough, refrigerate if you have the time.)
5. Scoop out dough balls onto parchment lined cookie sheets and bake until edges are brown.
6. Let set on cookie sheet for 1-3 minutes and then place on cooling rack.


Eggnog Glaze
1/4 c. eggnog
1 tbsp rum
1 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, whisk together butter, rum and egg nog.
2. Add in powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Can adjust the amount of sugar up or down, depending on taste and consistency.
3. Add in nutmeg.
4. Once cookies are completely cool, spoon onto top of cookies as desired and let icing harden completely before storing.

Or eating. Cuz now that you've made them you must certainly eat one.

The glaze really tastes like eggnog.  The raisins are extra plump and not dried out at all.

Yes, most of the alcohol in the raisins are baked out but they retain that light alcohol-y essence that we boozehouds love.

2012 has finally brought me some much needed sanity and a greater appreciation of life, true friendships and strangely even myself.  May 2013 bring beautiful things to this already very blessed girl, and to all of you as well.

Happy New Year.

xoxo,
Anna

Gingerbread Man S'mores

I am having a bit of an issue.  I am obsessed with gingerbread men. I am not sure why but I just spent the last 30 minutes Googling "pink gingerbread pajamas" but I did.  No luck so far.  I will have to make do with these little guys instead.  He is a Gingerbread Man S'mores Cupcake.  You can make these Gingerbread S'mores without the cute little face, arms and buttons... you know in case you want to be an adult about it.  But make at least one.  Just so you can eat him. *Chomp.

I made these cupcakes for a friend's Thanksgiving dinner.  Pumpkin might have been more in line with the event but it was December 1st, I just made pumpkin cupcakes and I wanted gingerbread! And chocolate.  Together.  And why not add a really key ingredient....

Yup. Marshmallow fluff.  Do you know what that makes when it's on top of a cinnamon graham cracker crust??  GINGERBREAD S'MORES.


Cinnamon Graham Cracker Crust 
12 cinnamon graham crackers
1/4 c butter

Directions:
1. Crush up graham crackers.
2. Melt butter and add to graham cracker crumbs, add just enough to make workable.
3. Add one tablespoon of crumbs to the bottom of a lined cupcake tin and press down.
4. Bake in oven at 350* for 3.5 minutes and set aside to let cool.


Gingerbread Cupcakes
Bake at 350* for 20 minutes. Makes 24.

2 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c oil
2/3 unsulphured molasses
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg togther.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat sugars, oil and molasses together, and add in eggs one by one.
3. In a cup or third bowl, add baking soda to boiling water.
4. Add in the flour mixture and the water in alternating additions to the sugar mixture.  Beat until fully incorporated.
5. Scoop batter into lined cupcakes, over baked graham crust.
6. Bake and core center of cupcakes.  Keep cupcake middle if you'd like to use crumbs to garnish cupcakes.


Chocolate Ganache

4 oz. heavy cream
4 oz. good dark chocolate

Directions:
1. Warm cream in a saucepan until hot, but do not let boil.
2. Pour cream over chopped chocolate and stir with whisk until smooth.
3. Once cool enough to handle, fill cored cupcakes with chocolate.


Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting
Makes enough to generously frost 24 cupcakes.
(If frosting cupcakes like gingerbread men, make half this recipe.)

1 jar marshmallow fluff
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 oz cream cheese
4 tsp cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese.
2. Add in marshmallow fluff and cream on medium until fluffy.
3. Add in powdered sugar by the cupful.
4. Add in cocoa powder -- add enough to color the frosting brown.
5. Frost cupcakes.  If you want to make them into gingerbread, frost with a spatula and garnish with decorations below.  If you want more adult cupcakes, frost with a tip and sprinkle gingerbread crumbs on top.



Decoration

Royal Chocolate flavored mini marshmallows
Red M&Ms
Chocolate Chips
Toothpicks

Assembly:
1. Attach four marshmallow arms and legs to cupcake with toothpicks.
2. Put two red M&Ms in center of cupcake.
3. Melt chocolate chips or melts and put in a ziplock bag, cut end off and pipe smiles and eyes onto parchment paper and let harden in freezer for 5 minutes.
4. On a separate cupcake places two chocolate eyes and one smile on top of the cupcake.  Place upside down to avoid any ridges.
5. Either join the two cupcakes with a toothpick, or just side by side.  You don't have to eat both.

I bought two kinds of marshmallows for this project.  Okay, I lie.  I bought three -- two different packages of marshmallows in two shades of brown and one package of ice cream marshmallows because they are in the shape of ice cream cones and I like buying cute things I don't need, especially when I get to eat them in hot chocolate. I found the Royal Chocolate ones at Target.  Matched almost perfect to the frosting!

Let's be honest.  These little guys are freaking adorable.  Just look at his little marshmallow arms and legs! Don't you want to rip them off one by one and eat them?

No?  Just me?  How about picking off his eyes and smile and eating those?

Funny how I have no problem committing Gingerbread Man genocide, but I couldn't with last year's penguins?

Just in case for some reason you DO have a problem with that, then don't make them into adorable gingery men.  Make them look fancy with a pile of frosting and crumbs.  They'll still taste awesome.

Some small sides notes here before I end this post though.  Do you see it's yummy insides?  Imagine all of that in someones mouth. At one time.  Because that's what my friends Leo  did and he almost choked on it trying to swallow the graham crackers.   There was true pain in his face.  But poor Val might have been worse off.  So word to the wise, don't use these for Cupcake Eating Contests.

Use them for normal consumption, or better yet you can do what pandippo did the next morning; she popped him in the microwave and melted his face off. It looks disgusting, yes, but at least it's all melted together like a true s'mores!!! Melted Gingerbread Man S'mores Cupcakes.  It's how she keeps her girlish figure.

xoxo,
Anna