Wednesday, December 14, 2011

French Christmas Cookies- 12 Days of Cookies Day 6



Day 6 of 12 Days of Cookies: French Christmas Cookies. Ok, these aren’t French at all and I have no idea where the name came from. I really doubt that the French would use graham cracker crumbs and use milk chocolate. It’s just not their thing. Maybe they would use dark chocolate, but certainly in a different combination. None the less, these sounded good and I like things that bake in little cups. Plus they seemed easy to put together. It’s good to have a mix of cookies that require more effort and those that require less.

The recipe that you see here is a half batch, as the original said that it made over 9 dozen cookies. With all of the baking that I am doing this Christmas, I didn’t need anything that made 9 dozen! Mine must have been a little bigger, and this half batch made just over 3-1/2 dozen. They are super-fast to put together; the most time was spent processing the graham crackers to make crumbs. Just mix everything together in the mixer and they are ready to bake. They seem a little bit like a no bake cookie, as you could eat all the ingredients in their raw state. But these bake for a bit and they become great little cookies.

Maybe they are called French Christmas Cookies because they are small and similar to French truffles? They do have a candy-like quality to them and are surprisingly rich. I love the graham flavor coupled with the milk chocolate chips. You could add some marshmallows and make s’mores cups, which would also be very tasty. So I will never know the reason for the name behind these cookies, but they would make a great addition to any Christmas cookie tray.

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup milk
1-1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cups finely chopped pecans

3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, melted
1 teaspoon shortening

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Have mini muffin cup liners ready. You will need about 4 dozen liners.

In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in milk. Gradually add the crumbs and mix well. Stir in chips and pecans.

Fill the baking cups three-fourths full. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool on wire racks.

Melt the ¾ cup chocolate chips and the shortening in the top of a double boiler or in the microwave. Drizzle the cooled cookies with chocolate.

Recipe from Taste of Home

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

These sound awesome. I bet French people would enjoy them, even if they wouldn't admit it!