Merry Christmas!,Elegant Christmas Wreath Cookies

   

 Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas day, enjoying a special breakfast,opening gifts and indulging in a grand feast.This is the very day to enjoy the company of your friends and family along with serving them some homemade goodies.Everyone loves a new treat to enjoy this season and for this year I am serving my family Peppermint Twist Wreaths, along side a homemade batch of eggnog I made last night.These are definitely a crowd pleaser cookie just by their appearance.

Peppermint Twist Wreaths are quite unique and are well worth the effort to create them.They will impress your guests and they will wonder how you were even able to create such a design.These elegant cookies are also made with a pretty simple cookie dough, using very common baking ingredients and easy to follow directions.They are also a chilled cookie dough,which makes it ten times better to handle when creating the twist and wreath designs.The assembling part of this recipe is quite fun;however can be quite fragile and you must be patient.

It does take take time to master the skill of rolling,twisting and creating the wreaths without breaking.A big tip I learned through this recipe is to keep the dough as cold as possible and not to handle it to much.In the end,I was able to make about forty-eight cookies in total with doubling the recipe since I knew if I'm putting this much effort into this design I want a lot in the end.More is always better.This recipe in the end was very adaptable.I was able to double the recipe and give my own design choices.They became my own unique Christmas wreaths.So I have to give this recipe two thumbs!

Now for the best part of any goodie,is the taste test.Well these cookies were exactly as I imagine.They had that great soft,melt in your mouth texture that works so well together.They were also buttery with a balance of sweetness, along with a twist of refreshing peppermint and vanilla flavor.The combination is delicious and everyone that has so far tested them out have nothing but good things to say.So this is definitely a cookie to serve up this Christmas and I recommend everyone to try it out.It may not be the quickest recipe to get done for Christmas;however if you want to impress the guests this year.I recommend making them in the morning to serve in the afternoon.Anyways, I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday and Happy New Years as well.

Peppermint Twist Wreaths 
(Adapted From Peppermint Twist Wreath)

 

2/3  cup  butter, softened
2/3 cup shortening  

1 1/2  cups  sugar  

 2  teaspoon baking powder  

1/2 tsp teaspoon  salt  

2 lg  eggs 

2  tablespoons milk  
2  teaspoon  peppermint extract  
1 tsp  teaspoon vanilla  
4  cups  all-purpose flour  
1/4  teaspoon  red food coloring

1/4 tsp green food coloring
2  egg whites, lightly beaten (optional)
Coarse sugar (optional)

My Glaze

Icing sugar + water. 

In my electric mixer,I beat the soften butter and shortening on medium for 30 seconds,until creamed.

Then I added the sugar, baking powder and salt.Beating in until just combine.I turn off the machine and scraped the sides with a rubber spatula.

Then I beat in the eggs,milk,peppermint and vanilla until combined.
 

Then I beat the flour gradually into the mixture, until fully mixed.

 

Then I divided the dough into four halves.Two halves went into one large bowl and the other two halves in another.I dropped a few drops of red food coloring in one and the other with green food coloring.I gently mixed the coloring into the dough and used my hands just a little to help the mixing process.Then I covered each bowl and chilled them for 1 hour or overnight.Chilling will help make the dough easy to handle.

On my lightly floured surface,I rolled each dough portion into a 12 inch roll.I used m kitchen ruler to help get a good length and with each roll I cut twenty four slices that were about 1/2 inch thick.

Then I rolled each piece into a 6 inch rope.Then I placed a pink rope against a green rope and twisted them together about 5-6 times.Then I shape the twisted rope into circles and pinching them together at the ends.Pinching them helps to keep them together.

Then with a parchment lined cookie sheet I placed the wreaths and baked them for exactly 8 minutes,until they were firm to the touch and not brown.Then I cooled them on a cookie sheet before decorating.

 

Glaze

Then I added icing sugar and water together in a small bowl, until I reach my desired consistency.Then I used it to help stick on the sugar silver balls.These can be store at room temp for up to 3 days and freeze for up to 3 months.Keep in an airtight container.