Christmas Cookies and Chili

Two Cookies, One Dough

Yesterday some friends and I made Christmas cookies. We ingeniously invented a wonderful Candy Cane glaze for the regular sugar cookies.  For the second style of cookie, I decided to add some cocoa powder and make two colors for pinwheels!

3 ¾ cups Flour

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup unsalted Butter, softened

1 ½ cup White Sugar

3 Eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Cocoa Powder

Green Sprinkles

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Gradually blend in the sifted ingredients until fully absorbed into dough. Divide in half. Cover one portion and place in refrigerator to chill for ½ hour-2 hour. Divide the second half in half again. Take the one of the second portion and kneed in cocoa powder. Cover the two dough portions and place in refrigerator to chill.

Sugar Cookies

Once dough is chilled, roll out the plain dough between two sheets of wax paper. Cut with cookie cutters, as desired. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.

Candy Cane Glaze

½ cup Powdered Sugar

3 or so Tbsp water

1 Candy Cane, crushed

Mix powdered sugar and water until glaze reaches a soupy consistency. Add crushed candy canes.

Spoon over cooled cookies. Allow to set for about 1 hour. Add green sprinkles if desired.

Pinwheel Cookies

Now take the second two portions of dough. Divide each section in half. Roll out each portion between two pieces of wax paper. Layer on top of each other, every other color. With a sharp knife, cut away a two-inch strip. Roll the dough into a log. Slowly cut ¼-inch circles from log. Place on greased baking sheet. Repeat until dough is gone.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Half way through, add sprinkles, if desired.

Vegetable and Bean Chili

If you remember, my old soup pot bit the dust. So I was on the hunt for a new one. I found this beauty last week at Home Goods. For its inauguration, I decided to make some chili.

Olive Oil

Garlic

1 Purple Onion, chopped

1 Zucchini, chopped

1 Sweet Potato, peeled and cubed

6 or some Mushrooms, chopped

1 can Low Sodium Black Beans

1 can Low Sodium Kidney Beans

1 can of Low Sodium Diced Tomatoes

1 can Low Sodium Chicken Broth, or 8 oz homemade broth

1 can Tomato Paste

½ tsp. Cumin

½ tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Cocoa Powder

Chili Powder (to taste, but at least 2 Tbsp)

Paprika (to taste)

Italian Spices

Black Pepper

3 tsp. White Vinegar

Sauté onions, mushrooms and garlic in olive oil. Add sweet potatoes and zucchini. Cook until vegetables begin to tender. Add the rest of the ingredients except vinegar and bring to a boil. Simmer until sweet potatoes are soft. Then add vinegar.