Bite-Size Christmas Cookies

I love playing Bonko.  It’s such a good excuse to get out of the house and hang out with my girlfriends one night a month.  I have been in this particular group for over 11 years now, if that tells you anything.

This year, I volunteered to host in December, the one month a year that we have a pot luck dinner with our dice game.  I made a glazed ham, some really yummy stuffed mushrooms*, and a few of my favorite cookies.  The dinner and the evening were both wonderful, and I even came away with a prize.

I did something I’ve never done before and made the cookies bite-size.  I had to adjust the baking times a little, but other than that they were just as easy and twice as fun.   They were about 1.5 inches in size.

The first one I chose was the Brown Sugar Cookie.  They are my new favorite cookie for every occasion.  My friends described it as “very worthy” and “a perfect cookie.”  No surprise there; you cannot go wrong with browned butter and dark brown sugar.

My second cookie was the Cranberry Pistachio.  I just love how easy these are to make, and how festive they look.  One friend told me they were her favorite of the three varieties I made.  They’re certainly the easiest to make.

My third cookie is may be my favorite recipe on this entire blog, the Chocolate Gingersnap.  I cannot think of a tastier combination.  It seems my friends agreed with me, because at the end of the night, the bowl with the ginger cookies was the closest to empty.  Then again, it might have had a head start.  Maybe.

As far as baking times go, the Brown Sugar Cookies baked in 8 minutes at 350 degrees; the Cranberry Pistachio in 6 minutes at 350; and the Chocolate Ginger in 6 minutes at 375.  I used my size 18/8 scoop and broke each scoop into two cookies.  I used a glass to flatten the Pistachio cookies before baking and the Ginger cookies after baking.  The Brown Sugar cookies flattened all on their own.

I still have a ton of cookies leftover, and I think I may freeze them and bring them out closer to Christmas, or whenever I need a few for entertaining.  If you are entertaining, I encourage you to try this smaller size.  It makes people feel that they can sample more than one flavor, and really gives some variety to the spread.

*If you are interested, my very popular stuffed mushrooms are made from one pound of sausage and 8 oz of cream cheese, stuffed into mushroom heads and baked until the mushrooms are cooked through, about 15 min at 350 degrees.  I’ve never once taken home leftovers.