It's that time of year again! No, not Christmas silly. Well, yes, it is Christmastime, but that's not what I meant.
I meant it's time for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Where food bloggers get together and share their cookies and recipes with each other all for a good cause, Cookies for Kids Cancer.
This year I received Oatmeal Orange Cranberry cookies from Erica over at Sun and Good Eats, Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry cookies from Anne at Wit Wisdom and Food, and Molasses Chai cookies from Susannah at Feast and West.
And I sent off my Gingerbread Russian Tea cookies to Ashley at Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen, Jessica at A Southern Mother, and Ellen from Like Mother, Like Daughter.
It's so fun to meet other food bloggers this way and try some of their creations!
Last year, I sent off my Christmas Russian Tea cookies that I made with red and green candied cherries.
I love Russian Tea Cookies with their melt in your mouth yumminess, plus they ship really well, something I had to keep in mind when baking cookies for the swap. So I wanted to make Russian Tea Cookies again with a Christmas twist.
Since I'm loving everything gingerbread right now, I decided to make my Russian Tea cookies with gingerbread. Luckily, my baking fairy was still around when I made these because they turned out just the way I was hoping on the first batch.
I can't wait until next year to see what yummies I'll be getting from other bloggers. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy these Gingerbread Russian Tea cookies, and you can too!
If you want to try my Christmas Russian Tea Cookies from last year, just click on the name.
I will be posting soon where you can link up to see all the food bloggers and the cookie recipes we shared this year at the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. And if you're interested in participating next year, you can sign up here.
As always, a big Thank You goes out to Lindsay over at Love & Olive Oil, Julie at The Little Kitchen, Dixie Crystals, OXO, and Land O' Lakes who all help make this event possible to help raise money and awareness for the Cookies for Kids Cancer.
Gingerbread Russian Tea Cookies
Christmas invades Russian Tea Cookies with this delightful gingerbread flavor.
Prep time: 10 minutesCook time: 18 minutes
Total time: 46 minutes
Yield: about 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 cups All-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons molasses
- 4 Tablespoons Paradise candied ginger, chopped into small pieces
- 1-2 cups pecans, chopped
- 2 cups powdered sugar in a bowl (for rolling cookies in AFTER baking)
- Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add sifted flour, salt, and spices. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and molasses.
- Gradually add dry ingredients into butter mixture, mixing well.
- Fold in candied ginger and pecans. Mixture will appear crumbly but it rolls together nicely when making ball shapes.
- Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon, take 1 scoop of cookie dough and gently roll together into a ball shape. Place on lined cookie sheet.
- Repeat leaving about 2" between cookie balls. Dough should maintain round ball shape and not spread during baking.
- Place into preheated oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Cookies will be light in color, if not the same color as when uncooked. Do Not allow cookies to brown.
- Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack, where they can cool completely.
- After cookies have cooled completely (see Helpful Hints below*), roll in bowl of powdered sugar, covering entire cookie with powdered sugar, and place back on wire rack. Repeat with remaining cookies.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
*Helpful Hints*
- If cookies are not cooled off, powdered sugar will melt to cookie, looking smudgy and not powdery. So be sure to give cookies at least 2 hours to cool off before rolling in powdered sugar.
- If shipping cookies, place in a zip lock bag, then place into a protective container (plastic or tin cookie boxes work best), and pad the empty space in the shipping box with packing peanuts, bubble wrap, or bulk paper to protect the cookies from breaking during shipping.
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