TTO the Holiday: Christmas Cookies and Sweets

The holiday season is the perfect time to indulge in some sweets.  Cookies are a staple around the TTO holiday headquarters!  Here are a few of our favorite holiday cookies!

• Easy Sugar Cookies
• Aunt Maggie's No-Bakes
• Bakery-Style Shortbread Cookies with Sprinkles
• Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies
• Peppermint Meringue Cookies
• Peanut Butter Blossoms

Don't forget that cookies aren't the only way to cater to your sweet tooth this holiday.  If you're looking for a different spin, try making our Chocolate Bark!  It's easy and doesn't require any cooking!

Twins Take On Holiday Chocolate Bark

• 2 12-ounce bags of chocolate chips (We used 1 milk chocolate and 1 semi-sweet)
• Bark Toppings (almonds, peanuts, peanut butter chips, dried cherries, pretzels, ANYTHING ELSE YOU LIKE WITH CHOCOLATE)

First, pour the chocolate chips (except for a large handful of chips) into a glass microwave-safe bowl.  You could melt over a double-boiler, but we think the microwave is so much faster and easier.

Just microwave at 20-30 second intervals and stop to stir in between.  The chips will melt more as you stir.  You don't want to scorch your chocolate, so don't just set the microwave for 2 minutes and walk away.  You want to do short bursts of heat, stir and only reheat if necessary.

Now, here a trick we've discovered.   Tempering chocolate is a little time-consuming and requires a thermometer.  We want things to be as easy as possible at the holidays, so here's our cheat.  Once the chips are melted all the way, add the reserved handful of chocolate chips and stir them in.  The heat from the melted chocolate should melt them in and will give you a very similar sheen and texture to actually tempered chocolate.

Now, pour your chocolate out on a cookie sheet lined with Silpat or wax paper.  Use an offset spatula to spread it out to your desired thickness.

Time to get creative!  Sprinkle on your desired toppings, pressing gently to make sure they stick down onto the chocolate.  We tried a few different combinations in this batch.  The consensus favorite was the peanut butter chip-pretzel combination!

Let the chocolate cool and set up for a couple of hours.  Then you can break the bark into pieces with your hands (or try a pizza cutter) and there you go!  Chocolate bark makes an easy dessert or a great hostess gift!  Just package it up in a pretty container or cellophane bag with a festive ribbon.  How easy was that?

What's your favorite cookie or sweet treat at the holidays?  Let us know in the comments below!