Christmas came early this year!
At the beginning of the month, Santa (aka, the UPS man) delivered a brand new WonderMill right to my front door. I had never used a WonderMill before. In fact, I’d never ground my own flour before either. I couldn’t wait to try it!
Traditionally, the week before Christmas, is cookie baking time and I go through a lot of flour. This year, instead of picking up a 5 pound bag of flour, I bought a 5 pound bag of soft white wheat berries.
The first cookie on my “to make” list is really more of a bar than a cookie. I had seen several recipes for Candy Cane Kiss Christmas Cookie Bars on Pinterest and they looked simple enough to make. The recipe I decided to go with is from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog.
Now for the fun part…
Set the WonderMill on the table and attached the flour canister.
After pressing the “on” switch, pour soft white wheat berries into the top of the grain mill. (Note: The recipe calls for 3 ½ cups of flour. I recommend using 2 cups of berries.)
In less than 2 minutes, you have fine, fluffy flour.
Wow! Can’t get any easier than that, right?! Now, let’s get baking…
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, line a 9×13 cake pan with parchment paper. (If you don’t have parchment paper, spray the pan with cooking spray.)
Chop the candy cane kisses into small pieces and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Using a mixer, beat until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla and then mix until combined.
Slowly add the flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir until combined.
Fold in the chopped candy cane kisses.
Press mixture into the cake pan, making a “cookie cake”. Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges turn a light golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Cut the “cookie cake” into small bars and then it’s time to make the frosting.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add the vanilla, powdered sugar and milk. Continue beating until the mixture is creamy.
Spread frosting on the cookie bars and sprinkle with the chopped candy cane kisses.
Merry Christmas!
- Cookies
- 3½ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ½ cups, chopped Hershey’s candy cane kisses, about 50 kisses
- Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ cup chopped Hershey’s candy cane kisses
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9x13 cake pan with parchment paper. (If you don’t have parchment paper, spray the pan with cooking spray.)
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Using a mixer, beat until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla then mix until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture. Stir until combined.
- Fold in the chopped candy cane kisses.
- Press mixture into the cake pan, making a “cookie cake”.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges turn a light golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Cut the “cookie cake” into small bars then make the frosting.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
- Add the vanilla, powdered sugar and milk.
- Continue beating until the mixture becomes creamy.
- Spread frosting on cookie bars. Sprinkle with the chopped candy cane kisses.
