I remember doing a project on Australia when I was in middle school. I think middle school might be the time when you start realizing that there’s a world outside of your own little bubble, and that maybe people do different things outside of your tri-county area. And while I’m pretty sure that I always knew that Australia was in the southern hemisphere, this is the first time I realized that Christmas in Australia would occur during the summer. And while conducting what I’m sure was very thorough research for a 6th grader, I learned that people in Australia often celebrate Christmas with a picnic on the beach. Living in Kentucky, this rocked my world. People go to the beach for Christmas? Swimsuits on Christmas? Clearly, this was a defining moment in my development, as I still think about this from time to time today.
We’ll be spending Christmas in San Diego this year, visiting Eric’s family, which means a trip to the beach on Christmas is probably in our future, although there’s no way I’m going swimming. But reading Becca’s post yesterday about Baton Rouge temperatures in the 70’s made me think that most of the country is experiencing summer-like temperatures this December. It’s just mind-boggling. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s not quite 70 degrees, but I have managed to go at least a week without a winter coat, so I’m going to say it’s pretty darn warm here, as well. In fact, I’m currently sitting by an open window at a coffee shop. This is absurd.
But today’s cookie is perfect for this unseasonably warm winter weather. No need to turn on the oven today. I made Picky Palate’s No-Baked Stuffed Cookie Dough Bites. For those of you who can’t help eating raw cookie dough, this is the recipe for you, minus all the salmonella (although I like to think that years of eating brownie and cookie batter have built up a stomach of invincibility). These taste exactly like cookie dough, which is good and bad. Good, because cookie dough is delicious. Bad, because it’s so ridiculously sweet that you can only eat a bite before you get sugar brain (that feeling when everything starts to spin and you feel like you need to eat a steak to get back to earth).
Other than the pure joy that comes with eating cookie dough, these bad boys also get a snack hidden inside. Jenny wisely suggested using miniature sized candies inside these bites, but I was a rebel and used regular sized candy (less because I’m rebellious and more because I couldn’t find anything miniature at the store). You should definitely use miniature candy so that your cookie dough bites can actually be bite-sized, rather than mammoth fist-sized bites.
No-Bake Stuffed Cookie Dough Bites
recipe from Picky Palate
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour (as usual, I used 1/2 whole wheat)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (she recommends mini, I used regular sized)
fillings of choice (I used Reese’s cups and Nutella)
Mix butter and sugars until creamy. Add vanilla, beating until well combined. Add flour, salt, and chocolate chips, mixing until just combined. Place 1 inch scoops of dough onto a parchment paper-lined counter top.
Press the tip of your finger into the center of each dough, making room for the filling. Fill each cookie with your treat of choice, and cover with a little more cookie dough. Form into a ball shape.
Serve at room temperature.
Honestly, I think whipping up a batch of this dough and mixing it into some vanilla ice cream would be pretty delicious too.
Be sure to check out One Many Extras for Becca’s peppermint-chocolate biscotti. And be thankful that we live in the northern hemisphere, so we won’t need to wear bathing suits during these 12 days of gluttony.
-Ally
Nathaniel R says
These look amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! FYI!