Christmas is over already and I can’t believe how quick it went! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year. I have been busy brainstorming lots of new ideas for recipes and cakes and can’t wait to share it all with you!

First I wanted to share with you a couple of recipes to use up those left over Christmas treats so this is a recipe for festive cookies including candy canes and Terry’s chocolate orange. I made one batch of cookie dough and split this in to two to create two different types of cookie; candy cane and dark chocolate and Terry’s chocolate orange.

I made these for an event at work so this recipe yields around 50 cookies but it will depend on the size of the cookie you are looking for. I wanted to ensure each cookie was a similar size so I worked out how much each batch weighed and then measured out each cookie before rolling to ensure I would get 25 cookies out of each batch.

Ingredients – basic cookie dough

• 422g plain flour
• ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 169g unsalted butter
• 300g light brown sugar
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 120g candy cane
• 130g dark chocolate
• 90g dark Terry’s chocolate orange
• 125g milk Terry’s chocolate orange

Method

Preheat oven to  180c / gas mark 4 / 350 F. Line baking tray with parchment paper, if you have more than one tray available I would recommend using them so that you can get a production line going!

Sift flour in to a bowl and mix with the baking soda. In another bowl cream both the caster sugar and light brown sugar with the butter and vanilla extract until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix before adding the next.

Once all of the eggs are incorporated add the flour in small amounts. Once mixed you now have your basic cookie dough mixture!

Divide in to two equal portions and prepare your toppings to add to each.

Candy cane and dark chocolate

Terry’s chocolate orange

I had a dark chocolate orange and milk chocolate orange in the house so I used both! Chop 90g dark chocolate orange and 125g milk chocolate orange and mix with the other half of your cookie dough.

Now both batches are prepared chill them in the fridge for 3o minutes. This will help the cookies keep their circular shape when baking.

After 30 minutes you will need to work out how much one cookie will weigh – weigh the batch of cookie dough and divide by 25 and this will tell you how much one cookie will weigh. Roll each cookie in to a ball and flatten slightly on the tray. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden around the edges, once baked rest until cooled or eat warm!

The cookies went down a treat with my colleagues (or they were just being nice because they have to work with me…) but it is a really easy way to use up some of the leftover festive treats you may have laying around. The options are endless so if you have other alternatives from Christmas please use the cookie recipe as a base and let me know how they turn out!

P.S. I absolutely loved how the bottom of the candy cane cookies looked – they reminded me of stained glass!

If you try this recipe I would love to hear about it, please leave a comment below!

Until next time…

Love Amy x