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Smelling Salts Journal

December 5, 2020

Advent Day 5, 2020: Black and White Street Photography [with Freezer Cookies]

Today’s Exercise Includes Camera Work!

Today, we’ll take be taking a walk around our city neighbourhood and taking black and white photographs of this year’s very different holiday scene. Then, we’ll come home and bake up a batch or two of cookies we stashed in the freezer last week. [Below, you’ll find a list of SSJ’s favourite freeze-ahead cookies!] Served with a hot chocolate or a hot toddy, perhaps!


SSJ’S VERY BEST FREEZE-AHEAD COOKIES

Print Recipe

Reverse Chip Brookie Cookies

Servings: 36

Ingredients

Brownie Batter

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 tbs cream cheese [or more butter]
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 3  oz unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled [or .5 c dutch processed cocoa]
  • 2 1/4 c flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 c  [one 226 g bag] white chocolate chips or chunks [substitute dark semi-sweet or peanut-butter chips or chunks if desired]
  • [Or go “nuts’ by adding 1 c chips and 1/2 c chopped walnuts or macadamias]

Cookie Batter

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 tbs cream cheese [or more butter]
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 1 tbs molasses [optional]
  • 2 1/4 c flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks 
  • [Or go “nuts” by adding 1 c chips and 1/2 c chopped pecans or walnuts]

Instructions

Make Brownie Batter

  • In a mixer or by hand, beat butter, cream cheese [or more butter] and sugar until fluffy.
  • Add egg and vanilla and beat to incorporate.
  • Add cooled melted chocolate [or cocoa powder] and beat to incorporate.
  • Sift in flour [1 1/2 c to start if using cocoa powder], soda, and salt and mix to combine.
  • [If using cocoa powder, add additional flour by the quarter cup until dough becomes firm]
  • Add chips or chunks [and nuts] and combine.
  • Place brownie batter in refrigerator or freezer while making the chocolate chip batter below.

Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Batter

  • In a mixer or by hand, beat butter, cream cheese [or more butter] and sugars until fluffy.
  • Add egg and vanilla and beat to incorporate.
  • Add molasses and beat to incorporate.
  • Sift in flour, soda, and salt and mix to combine.
  • Add chips or chunks [and nuts] and combine.
  • If your house is warm or if the batter is soft, refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 15.

Combine and Bake

  • Heat oven to 350.
  • Line baking sheets with parchment or silpat.
  • Portion the chocolate chip batter into 2-3 dozen 1- in spheres and refrigerate while working on the brownie batter.
  • Portion the brownie batter into 2-3 dozen 1-inch spheres and refrigerate if necessary.
  • [You may end up with more spheres of one batter than the other. We had 3 extra balls of chocolate chip dough. You know what you can do with those…]
  • Smash one chocolate chip and one brownie sphere together at a time. *
  • Place brookie cookie spheres a few inches apart on baking tray.
  • Press cookies down fairly flat.
  • Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes. [Ours baked for 11 minutes and were just soft enough.]
  • Bake only until edges are set and cookie middles have just begun to set.
  • Cool cookies on the pan for 3-5 minutes.
  • Cool cookies completely [or almost completely..] on wire racks.

Notes

*FREEZE AHEAD! These cookies make great freeze-ahead cookies! After smashing the chocolate and brownie spheres into one another and forming into a sphere, place the cookies in a single layer on a piece of waxed paper or parchment [or stack multiple flat layers] in a Ziploc-style bag or freezer safe-container and freeze. I find it best to place my a Ziploc-style bag on a tray until the flat-lay packages are fully frozen. No need to defrost. Simply bake 2-5 minutes longer than the time called for in the recipe.
Print Recipe

Santa Babies

Servings: 45 Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 c unsalted butter softened
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • 1/2 c granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 c all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 c oats
  • 1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 c toffee bits or 4 skor bars crushed 
  • 1/2 c flaked coconut [sweetened or unsweetened]
  • 1/2 c chopped pecans [If you have nut allergies you can leave these out, and the recipe will be just as good.]

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 350.
  • Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
  • Add eggs and vanilla and mix until creamy.
  • Separately, mix flour, salt and baking soda.
  • Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
  • Separately, mix chocolate chips, toffee bits, oatmeal, coconut and pecans.
  • Add as many of these mixins to the cookie batter as you can, mixing first by machine, then, fully incorporating with a spatula. The dough will be very stiff and bursting with mixins.
  • Drop 1-2 tbs of dough 2 inches apart on parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheets.*
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes.
  • Cool on wire racks.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

*FREEZE AHEAD! These cookies make great freeze-ahead cookies! Form the dough into balls & place the cookies in a single layer on a piece of waxed paper or parchment [or stack multiple flat layers] in a Ziploc-style bag or freezer safe-container and freeze. I find it best to place my a Ziploc-style bag on a tray until the flat-lay packages are fully frozen. No need to defrost. Simply bake 2-5 minutes longer than the time called for in the recipe.
Print Recipe

SSJ’s Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Servings: 5 Dozen

Ingredients

  • 2 ¼ c all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 c unsalted butter [room temperature]
  • ¾ c white sugar
  • ¾ c brown sugar [packed]
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 c chopped walnuts [optional]
  • 1 tsp cinnamon [optional]

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 375 F and line two cookie sheets with parchment or silpat.
  • Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a hand mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and sugar together until they are creamy.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined.
  • Add the vanilla and beat until just combined.
  • Beat in the flour mixture by the ½ cup or thereabouts until combined.
  • Stir in the chocolate chips.
  • [If desired, stir in the nuts and cinnamon.] *
  • Drop by rounded tablespoon onto lined cookie sheets.**
  • Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges are just golden brown.
  • Allow the cookies to remain on the sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks and cooling completely.

Notes

* We only tend to add the cinnamon when adding nuts to the cookies. Do as you please
**FREEZE AHEAD! These cookies make great freeze-ahead cookies! Simply form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls, place the cookies in a single layer on a piece of waxed paper or parchment [or stack multiple flat layers] in a Ziploc-style bag or freezer safe-container and freeze. I find it best to place my a Ziploc-style bag on a tray until the flat-lay packages are fully frozen. No need to defrost. Simply bake 2-5 minutes longer than the time called for in the recipe.

View the 2020 Advent Calendar

Filed Under: Advent Calendar, Christmas, Holiday, Living

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Welcome to Smelling Salts! I'm Roseanne, and this is where I record my best recipes, take notes on arts, culture, and style, and write essays about what keeps me going.
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