Happy Holidays everyone! I 'm Lorajean from Lorajean’s Magazine. I am so excited to share one of my favorite holiday cookie recipes; Chocolate-Dipped Orange Logs! I love eating fruit in its season, It makes our Christmas time that much more special because this is the only time of year we buy oranges! :) These cookies use the peels to give them a tasty orange flavor. I don't know why it is but chocolate and orange always go together so well, and the end result is such a yummy mouth watering cookie that you will want to eat three batches! (OK maybe that's just me.)

The recipe is fairly simple, the cookie making part goes pretty fast and kind-of makes up for the time it takes to dip each one in chocolate. Another thing I love about this recipe is you can prepare and refrigerate the dough a day or two a head of time.

Chocolate Dipped Orange Logs

Ingredients:

1. 3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
2. ⅓ teaspoon salt
3. 1 cup real butter, softened (none of that fake margarine stuff)
4. 1 cup sugar
5. 2 eggs
6. 3 teaspoons freshly grated orange peel ( I say fresh because once I tried to refrigerate some orange peel over night and it dried up and didn’t work at all)
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla
8. 1 package of semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Combine flour and salt then set aside
3. In separate bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer, beat till fluffy
4. Beat in eggs one at a time
5. Beat in orange peel and vanilla
6. Stir in flour and salt mixture
7. Roll dough into 1in. balls
8. Roll balls into log shapes and place 1in. apart on greased cookie sheets
9. Bake for 16-18 min (till bottoms are golden brown)
10. Cool cookies on wire rack (cookies should harden as they cool)
11. Melt chocolate and dip each cookie in half way
12. Place dipped cookies on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper
13. Let chocolate cool and harden. ( If you are impatient like me you can put them in the freezer for a few minuets to set the chocolate faster.)
14. Makes about 36 cookies

There you have it! A wonderfully delicious cookie you'll want to share with your friends and neighbors! I am making theses cookies today to give out as we go caroling.

And because I can’t share treats without cute packaging, I am making origami boxes with windows to handout the cookies in. You can see my tutorial on how to make origami boxes here on my blog, and learn how to add a window in it here.

I am so grateful to be here on Dana's blog today celebrating Christmas and the yummy cookies we bake to make it a little sweeter. Thanks for having me!

My friend Eva used to bring this to our book club get-togethers and I thought it was amazing. Then she told me there were only 2 ingredients. And I thought it was even more amazing. And to top it off, the cute pink twist was nothing more than food coloring! You know, just for fun.
I like fun.
Now it's my favorite go-to dip for parties.
It's just so easy! And with a piece of tart fruit tastes creamy good.
Marshmallow Creme Dip
(1) 8oz block of cream cheese (room temperature)
(1) 7oz bottle of Marshmallow Creme (sorry if it's not carried in your area. I'm not sure what to substitute)

Mix them together with an electric mixer for about a minute.
Then pick your flavor or color.
If you want to try both, split the recipe into two bowls and add one of each:
* 1 Tablespoon of Cocoa powder (add more if you like a richer chocolate but too much or the dip will be too thick)
* Dab of food coloring. I used Wilton's burgundy color.

Two yummy dips!

Then select and cut your favorite fruits.

Arrange them on your favorite plate.
And eat-it-all.
Yummy.
Granny smith apples and strawberries with pink dip were my favorites.

Sticking with last-minute Handmade gift ideas, here's another one for you--Nutella play dough. Intriguing right? It's from adorable Brazilian blogger Damaris and her site Kitchen Corners. This recipe is not something you actually eat. But it does smell divine and makes the perfect little Christmas gift to hand out.
So from her warm Brazilian weather to your chilly home, here's something to try....
Hi there, I'm Damaris from Kitchen Corners.

At our home in Brazil we play with homemade play dough a lot. In fact we use our cookies cutters more with play dough than with actual cookies. So today I made Nutella play dough because if I was on my death bed and had one one last breath to take in I would hope that someone would put a jar of Nutella up to my nose. It's that good.

I've made chocolate play dough before but other than looking brown it doesn't smell like chocolate, so really what's the point? Nutella on the other hand did not disappoint. This play dough smells like Nutella but tastes like nasty salty play dough, of course. So please make this for a child that knows the difference between play dough and chocolate cookie dough. All the ingredients are technically edible but I would still recommend giving it to an older child.

Place the play dough in a glass jar, decorate it with a ribbon, and you have a simple last-minute gift. If you're fortunate to live by an Ikea I would get the toy baking set that comes with a rolling pin, cookie cutters, and some baking pans. It's one of my son's favorite toys. He actually uses the rolling pin a lot when he makes pizza and we've put the toy cookie sheet in the oven many times and it works just fine. This is why every time I drive by Ikea I make sure to blow them kisses.

Anyway, what do you think? Nutella play dough with a toy baking set? Know any kids who would enjoy this?
Here's the recipe.

Nutella Play Dough
(printable version)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup of powdered cocoa
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 tablespoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons nutella
• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup water

1. Boil the water in a small sauce pan.
2. In a medium sized pan mix the flour, cocoa powder, salt and cream of tartar.
3. Add the boiling water, oil, and nutella to the mix and stir on medium-low heat until it is thick.
4. Cool completly before kneading the dough.
5. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it no longer sticks to your hands.

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Thanks Damaris! I love really simple, cute gifts for kids. Cause when you've got a lot of nieces and nephews it's nice to have an idea you can whip up in batches. And they'd make perfect stocking stuffers! (so much better than the hot pink stuff I bought last week). I can smell the Nutella now....
Mmmm.
Have a warm Merry Christmas in the southern hemisphere!
Check out the Sweets and Treats archive page HERE.