I had a fantasy in my head of how the Santa Cookie-baking would go: on Christmas Eve morning, my son would perch on the counter and listen in rapt attention while I showed him how to sift together flour and baking soda. He’d help me stir the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar, and then together we’d form little teaspoon-sized balls of dough and drop them onto parchment paper.
Problem Number One: I forgot to buy parchment paper.
Problem Number Two: Two-year-olds think that Buzz Lightyear is much more exciting than mixing.
So I made these myself. It ended up being quite nice, spending the morning drinking coffee and puttering around the kitchen with the sounds of Christmas carols and Toy Story adventures coming from the living room. Santa himself even stopped by to taste-test a couple and gave me his in-advance approval.
(Makes approximately 24 small cookies; recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen – thank you to Alejandra at AlwaysOrderDessert for the suggestion!)
What You Need:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I like Maldon, and large-flake salts generally)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
What You Do:
1. In a stand mixer (or beating by hand), mix together the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until well-blended.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture.
3. Mix in the oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
4. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight (or, if you’re making these for Christmas Eve, just until it’s chilled), and then scoop onto a parchment paper-lined (or, in my case, PAM-sprayed) baking sheet. Keep them small; you’ll get bunches more out of the recipe (and small cookies somehow taste better, anyway).
5. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until golden-brown at the edges (they’ll look a little undercooked on top; that’s okay).
6. Serve with milk (and a big kiss for Santa).
