Basic Cookie Dough Variations

 Last week we talked about a Basic Cookie Dough Recipe from Taste of Home. There were also five suggested variations from their cookie recipe collection. I looked at those, and looked at the other recipes I'd found for Christmas cookies and combined them a little.

The suggested recipe was Jelly Sandwich Cookies. I used the basic cookie dough recipe to make rounds for the sandwich cookies, but instead used a variation for the filling from this Cranberry Orange Sandwich Cookie recipe. It was kind of like a buttercream frosting with orange flavoring. I am so sorry, but I forgot to take photos of this one!

Their Variation 5 was Cutouts, which I also made using this Basic Cookie Dough Recipe.

I also used the Basic Cookie Dough Recipe to make these Cranberry Shortbread Cookies. I chopped the cranberries in my food processor and worked it into the dough, making the whole batch a little pink. I rolled the log and wrapped it in plastic, refrigerating it for a couple of hours till I cut it into slices for baking.

I also used the basic recipe to add a little Caribbean twist, with flaked coconut, white chocolate chips, and rum extract.

These browned really quickly on the bottom and really need to be watched.

The last variation I made from this batch was a twist on these Peppermint Stick Cookies.

I took one section of the Basic Cookie Dough and dropped it into the food processor with two Tablespoons of peppermint extract and some candy cane bits. I processed it until the peppermint flavor was consistent throughout the dough and there were bits of candy cane all over. I rolled the dough into sticks, and baked them on a cookie sheet. Afterwards I dipped them in melted almond bark and rolled them in broken candy canes (smashed to bits inside a ziploc baggie, no muss, no fuss), then laid them on waxed paper to set. 

These were absolutely amazing and probably my favorite of the bunch. The cranberry ones were a little sour. I did like the rum and coconut ones, but they definitely need to be carefully watched because they had a tendency to burn easily.

Credit to my assistants again!