Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. And this year, it’s especially wonderful because Mother Nature is clearly sunning herself in Florida somewhere and is still dumping rain on the Northeast instead of snow. So while there might be a bunch of kids out there praying for a white Christmas, I think it’s safe to say my prayers were answered first. I realize that makes me old because who wouldn’t want a white Christmas, but I’ll embrace my crotchity inner Scrooge and enjoy smooth travels and 60 degree weather this holiday week.

My friend Francesca was hosting a holiday party on Saturday night, which was a good excuse to get my cookie baking on early this Saturday. I decided that before I’m all holiday-cookied-out I should try to get a new peppermint recipe on the blog. If you follow @thesaltedcookie on Instagram, you’ll have picked up on my ability to sniff out and find the Pinkberry location in any airport. I don’t really like to eat a lot before getting on a plane, so my fly-home Thursday or Friday dinners lately have been Peppermint Pinkberry topped with Oreo crunch. #cleaneats So when I came across this Peppermint Oreo cookie recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Two Peas and Their Pod, I knew this recipe was just calling my name. I adapted the recipe a bit (because I couldn’t find white chocolate pudding in my Stop + Shop). These are definitely a good addition to any holiday cookie plate with the red swirls from the peppermint and Oreo filling and the white chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 (3.4 oz) package white chocolate instant pudding mix (or vanilla instant pudding)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped holiday Oreos (you can substitute regular Oreos)
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup crushed candy canes

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add in the pudding mix, eggs and vanilla extract.

Step 2: Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet batter and mix until combined.

Step 3: Stir in the Oreos, white chocolate chips and crushed candy canes until evenly distributed. Be careful not to overmix and crush the Oreos.IMG_2070

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Step 4: Use a medium-size cookie scoop to place even-size balls of dough on a sil-pat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet to set for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. IMG_2072

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One bite of these and you’ll be fa la la’ing all the way home.  They are soft, chewy and pack a peppermint punch. It’s like my favorite airport dinner in a much easier to transport form, just in time for the holidays. And much more enjoyable to eat in the comfort of my own home on my couch in sweats than in terminal C at PHL.IMG_2074

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I can’t believe tomorrow is already Christmas eve. The past two months have been a complete whirlwind. Fourteen flights, 2 train rides, and a partridge in a pear tree. When I woke up yesterday and realized I didn’t have to go to the airport I quoted the great Iggy Azalea and shouted “Praise Jesus Hallelujah!” My body has taken the phrase “travel headache” quite literally, which has contributed to the delayed blog posts lately. Although I bet some late night blog posting on this new medicine might lead to some pretty funny blogs. That’s for another day. So after my doctor’s appointment yesterday, I packed up the car last night and headed to the great state of Connecticut for Christmas with the family. I like to keep myself busy during the two and a half hour car ride to CT by listening to the new Taylor Swift CD on repeat and having deep intellectual conversations with my Grandpa. We spent about 25 minutes trying to list all of the cities, states and regions we could think of that start with the word “New”. He spent a good 5 minutes trying to convince me New Boston was a place, which I vehemently denied, until I found New Boston, New Hampshire on Google Maps. Well played Grandpa, though I still don’t think New Oklahoma is a real place. I’m sure this conversation will continue for several hours on Christmas day.

I was traveling all week last week, first starting with a trip to good ol’ Philly. On Wednesday night I flew to Atlanta, and was happy to wave buh-bye to Philly for this year. Next year I’ll have to find some time to explore Philly and maybe I’ll embrace it a little more. If nothing else, this job has given me some time to perfect my up-in-the-air Instagram shots. IMG_8074

I was in Atlanta in training Thursday and Friday, and got this view of NYC from 30,000 feet Friday night on my way home to Boston.IMG_8090

I packed in some good quality friend time this weekend. Francesca threw a super fun holiday bash Saturday night with a guest appearance from a very energetic Santa who had busted out some serious dance moves. Because I had no Sunday Scaries to deal with this weekend, I made the most of my Sunday at home. I ventured over the river to Davis Square to have a nice brunch with my friend Allie and a bunch of other new friends at The Painted Burro. Insert thumbs up emoji for this brunch benedict.IMG_8102

In the afternoon my friend Amanda came over for some cookie baking. I busted out some browned butter blondies, spritz cookies, browned butter gingersnaps and Pizzelle’s in just a few hours while catching up with Amanda. Pizzelles were one of my favorite cookies that my Grandma used to make during the holidays so I promised my Grandpa I’d make him a batch for Christmas. Sweet, crunchy with a hint of licorice. Just like Grandma used to make. During the holidays my Grandma used to have a big cookie baking day with multiple mixers and would bake hundreds of cookies to put together lots of cookie trays for friends and family. I can definitely see my brother, sister and I recreating this tradition one day, but for now I am a well-oiled-cookie-baking-machine during the holiday season. IMG_8103

And now it’s time for some stretch pants, relaxation and TV watching with my parents. So far I’ve seen three different commercials for FarmersOnly.com which is apparently a new online dating site for people who enjoy … farming? They’ve got a catchy slogan at least – You don’t have to be lonely at FarmersOnly dot commmmmmm. Oh god, I can’t get it out of my head.

Here’s to wishing you and your families all safe travels and happy holidays this year. Merry Christmas to all, and to all no more flights! (at least until January 5).