Sweeten Up Your Holiday Baking

What do you love about holiday baking? Is it making and decorating sugar cookies? Or is it gobbling up gingersnaps and macaroons?

Those are all fun treats to bake. And they make great holiday desserts.  But don’t let your imagination stop there.

I love to try new recipes each holiday, so check out ways you can make holiday baking even sweeter, too.

• Top your favorite sugar cookie with raspberry frosting. Make it by mixing frozen raspberries into store-bought vanilla frosting.
• Kick the flavor up a notch with my recipe for Mexican Chocolate Chipotle Cookies.
• Do you make traditional macaroons? Try them with a touch of almond extract and slivered almonds.
• Make homemade powdered sugar frosting (find my recipe at the end of this post) and mix in a bit of freshly grated nutmeg for a subtle flavor boost. Or stir in a drop of peppermint extract and ground candy canes. Make a fruity version by adding pomegranate juice.
• Make eggnog cupcakes: Bake cupcakes as you normally would. While they cool, place eggnog custard in a plastic bag and clip a corner to create a piping bag. Insert into a small hole in the top of the cupcake and fill with about a tablespoon of custard. Finish by frosting the cupcakes.
• Up the ante on chocolate chip cookies by stirring in oatmeal or coconut (to make them chewier) or Rice Krispies (to make them crispier). A half-cup of each works for a batch of cookies.

Powdered Sugar Frosting

My Powdered Sugar Frosting recipe should get you started on sweetening up the goodies this holiday.

• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 2 T. butter, softened
• 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 T. milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• Food coloring

Sift confectioner’s sugar into a mixing bowl. Add butter, 1-1/2 tablespoons milk, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until mixture is smooth enough to spread or pipe on cookies (add up to 1 tablespoon more milk if necessary). For colored icings, divide the mixture into several portions and stir a few drops of food coloring into each.