Christmas cookies – Brownie Mischief

Cranberry Orange Crumb Cake Cookies

Posted on November 13, 2024February 27, 2026 by Mari Vasseur

When you combine cranberry orange crumb cake with white chocolate chip cookies, you get these delicious, unique cookies that are perfect for the holiday season. They make a festive addition to your holiday cookie platter. I came up with these delightful cookies when I was looking for a way to use up leftover cranberry sauce. If your family is like mine, it’s rare for us to have leftover cranberry sauce because we love it so much. Click here to view my Cranberry Sauce recipe. Don’t worry, you can certainly use store bought whole berry cranberry sauce for this recipe and the cookies will be just as delicious.

Cranberry Orange Crumb Cake Cookies

by Mari Vasseur

Orange scented vanilla cookies with white chocolate chips, topped with cranberry sauce, crumb topping and orange icing

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Servings 16 cookies

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

¾ cup (96g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (50g) packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 ½ tablespoons (64g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed

Cookies

2 cups (255g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
Zest of 1 medium orange
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanila extract
¾ cup (128g) white chocolate chips
½ cup (113g) whole berry cranberry sauce, purchased or homemade

Icing

⅔ cup (80g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 pinch fine sea salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1-2 ½ tablespoons (15-38ml) orange juice

Instructions

Crumb Topping

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt until well blended. Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks sandy with no large pieces of butter. Press the mixture together to form chunks. Set aside in the refrigerator while you make the cookie dough.

Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line 2 large cookies sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt until well blended.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and orange zest, with an electric mixer at medium speed, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg and egg yolk in two separate additions, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat the flour mixture into the batter, just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
Form the cookie dough into sixteen 2-tablespoon size balls. Place them about 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Press a 1-inch wide indentation into each cookie using your thumb or a pastry tamper. Fill each indentation with a generous teaspoon of cranberry sauce. Top each one generously with the crumb topping. Gently press the topping into the cookies.
Bake until the topping and the edges start to turn light golden, about 11-13 minutes. (Be careful not to over bake to avoid drying out your cookies.) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Icing

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of orange juice until well blended. Add additional orange juice as needed to achieve your desired consistency. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies.

Keyword cookies, cranberry orange

Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Tartlets

Posted on December 2, 2022February 12, 2026 by Mari Vasseur

My fascination with Christmas cookies started as a child when my elderly neighbor used to bring over a tray of her homemade Christmas cookies every year. I loved the moment where I got to choose a cookie from the beautiful, interesting selection. In my humble opinion, I think a holiday cookie should be something special. It should be something that you don’t eat on a regular basis, maybe because it seems fancy or requires a little extra work to make. Or maybe it has a special meaning or a fond memory. These Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Tartlets check all the boxes for me. They have that something special a cookie needs to be the star of the holiday cookie tray…tender jam-filled chocolate dough, dipped in shiny chocolate with a pretty pop of red.

Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Tartlets

Print Recipe

Servings 20 cookies

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (6 ounces) powdered sugar
⅓ cup (1 ounce) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (9 ounces) all purpose flour, sifted
½ cup (5 ounces) raspberry jam or or fruit spread
4 ounces melted semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 teaspoon melted coconut oil or vegetable shortening
crushed freeze dried raspberries or sprinkles of your choice Optional

Instructions

In a medium bowl, sift together powdered sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth.
Add powdered sugar mixture and beat until well combined.
Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined.
On low speed, beat in flour just until combined.
Divide dough into two equal portions. Wrap with plastic wrap and form into disks. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll dough between two sheets of wax paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut dough into 3-inch rounds, re-rolling scraps as necessary. If dough becomes too soft at any point, chill in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes then continue with recipe.
Place rounds on prepared baking sheets. Top each round with a teaspoon of jam.
With a small food safe brush or with your finger, apply a small amount of water to the edge of half of each round. Fold over and press edges to seal.
Bake until tops of cookies look set, about 9-11 minutes. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
In a small bowl, mix melted chocolate with coconut oil until smooth.
Dip cookies about 1/3 of the way into melted chocolate. Top with freeze dried fruit or sprinkles.

Notes

*To find freeze dried raspberries, click here.

To find the cookie cutter I used, click here.

To find food safe brushes, click here.

Keyword chocolate raspberry, cookies

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches

Posted on November 5, 2022February 12, 2026 by Mari Vasseur

I never imagined that I’d ever be posting a peanut butter cookie recipe. There are already crunchy peanut butter cookies, soft ones, chewy ones, and those peanut shaped store bought ones out there. I mean, do we even need another peanut butter cookie recipe? After I tasted this one, it’s a resounding YES! These soft, tender cookies combined with a silky, smooth filling are a new peanut butter experience that I had to share.

The key to getting the soft texture in the cookie, without being dry, is cake flour. So don’t substitute it, because it’s vital to achieve the correct texture. Make sure to weigh your flour for the most accurate results. The second important ingredient is heavy whipping cream. Just a little added to the filling gives it a luxurious, silky texture.

This recipe makes sixteen medium size peanut butter cookies, which will give you eight sandwiches. If you want more, you can double the recipe or make the cookies smaller. Smaller cookies will have a shorter baking time.

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Servings 8 cookie sandwiches

Ingredients

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup (4 1/2 oz or 128g) all purpose flour, sifted
½ cup (2 oz or (57g) cake flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¾ cup (6 3/4 oz or 191g) creamy peanut butter
¼ cup (2 oz or 57g) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (1 5/8 or 47g) vegetable shortening
½ cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) packed brown sugar
½ cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) granulated sugar, divided
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Filling

½ cup (4 1/2 oz or 128g) creamy peanut butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons (1 oz or 28g) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup (2 oz or 57g) powdered sugar, sifted
2 ½ tablespoons (1 1/4 oz or 37ml) heavy whipping cream, room temperature
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch fine sea salt

Instructions

Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the peanut butter, butter and shortening until smooth.
Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
Set aside 1/4 cup (50g) of the granulated sugar. Beat the peanut butter mixture with brown sugar and remaining granulated sugar, with an electric mixer at medium speed, until light and fluffy.
Add the flour mixture and beat just until combined.
Roll the dough into 1 1/2-inch (3.8cm) diameter balls (about 1 1/4 oz or 35g each). Roll the dough balls in the reserved granulated sugar.
Place the dough balls 3 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Flatten with a fork, making a criss cross pattern.
Bake until the cookies are puffy and start to crack around the edges, about 9-11 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on baking sheet for 1 minute, then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. The cookies will be fragile, but they will firm up as they cool.
Place a spoonful of filling on the bottoms of half of the cooled cookies. Top with remaining the remaining cookies.

Peanut Butter Filling

In medium bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together until smooth.
Beat in the powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and salt until smooth.

Notes

To find my favorite cookie sheet, click here.

Keyword cookies, peanut butter

Pastel Snowball Cookies

Posted on December 21, 2020February 16, 2026 by Mari Vasseur

This delightful melt-in-your-mouth cookie recipe has been in my family for decades. We call them Snowballs, but they’re also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes or Greek Kourabiedes. I make them every year for Christmas, but they would also be perfect for Easter, Mother’s Day, birthday parties, tea parties, weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers.

Pecans are my favorite nuts to use in this recipe, but you can use almost any nuts you have on hand. The original snowy white version is a classic but you can take them up a notch with pretty pastels and fruit flavors. You can use crushed, freeze-dried fruit for color and subtle flavor. Spirulina is a nutritious, vibrant powder you can use to make beautiful blue cookies. You can also dress up your snowballs with edible glitter or luster dust used for cake decorating. There are endless ways to be creative with these cute cookies!

Pastel Snowball Cookies

by Mari Vasseur

Melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie balls covered in pastel powdered sugar

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Servings 36 cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (120g) powdered sugar, sifted and divided plus more for desired pastel powdered sugar color
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups (255g) all purpose flour, sifted
½ cup (64g) finely chopped pecans

Pink powdered sugar

⅓ cup (40g) powdered sugar, sifted
½ cup (14g) freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries see note below*

Blue powered sugar

⅓ cup (40g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons blue spirulina powder

Lavender powered sugar

⅓ cup (40g) powdered sugar, sifted
½ cup (14g) freeze-dried blueberries see note below*
¼ teaspoon violet edible petal dust optional

Instructions

Cookies

Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, with an electric mixer at medium speed, until smooth and creamy. Add 1/2 cup (60g)of powdered sugar, the vanilla and salt. Beat until pale and fluffy.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, combine the flour and pecans. Gradually add the flour and pecan mixture to the butter mixture, beating on low speed until combined.
Shape the dough into scant 1-inch balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake until light golden brown, about 17-20 minutes.
Place the remaining 1/2 cup (60g) of powdered sugar in a plastic bag. With a spatula, transfer three warm cookies into the bag. Shake gently to coat the cookies with powdered sugar. Transfer them to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
Cool the cookies completely then proceed to the instructions for pastel powdered sugar, depending on which color you have selected.

Pink powdered sugar

Process the freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries into a fine powder in a mini food processor.
Whisk the freeze-dried berry powder with 1/3 cup (40g) powered sugar together in a small bowl.
Transfer the powered sugar mixture to a plastic bag. Place three cookies in the bag and shake gently until coated with the powdered sugar mixture. Transfer the cookies back to the rack and repeat with remaining cookies.

Blue powered sugar

Whisk 1/3 cup (40g) powdered sugar and the spriulina powder in a small bowl.
Transfer the powered sugar mixture to a plastic bag. Place three cookies in the bag and shake gently until coated with the powdered sugar mixture. Transfer the cookies back to the rack and repeat with the remaining cookies.

Lavender powered sugar

Process the freeze-dried blueberries into a fine powder in a mini food processor.
Whisk the freeze-dried blueberry powder with 1/3 cup (40g) powered sugar together in a small bowl. Whisk in petal dust for a more vibrant color, if desired.
Transfer the powered sugar mixture to a plastic bag. Place three cookies in the bag and shake gently until coated with the powdered sugar mixture. Transfer the cookies back to the rack and repeat with the remaining cookies.

Notes

*The ratios for the pastel powered sugar are approximate. Freeze-dried fruit varies in color. Add more or less to achieve your desired shade.

Keyword cookies