Twelve days of Small-batch Christmas cookies and Christmas movie recommendations.
Hey, did you know that as of today, Wednesday the 13th of December, there are only 12 days until Christmas? One, where did the first half of December go, wasn’t it Thanksgiving like yesterday? And Two, that means you have just 12 days left to savor all the Christmas joy you can wring out of this cold dark world before you have to pack it away for another year. Time to double your effort.
Aside from the obvious things, friends, family, sharing, caring, PRESENTS, etc., my favorite things this time of year are Christmas cookies and Christmas movies, so today I’m sharing a round-up of both. Small-batch Christmas Cookies, so you can bake to your heart’s content this month without sweet-ing yourself out ahead of all the holiday parties and the very best Christmas movies to fill these long December evenings. If you make one recipe and watch one movie a day starting today, this list will take you all the way up through Christmas Eve, and it will be a delicious, delightful ride.
Day 1: Let’s start out this cookie journey with a couple of classics, Small Batch of Cut-out Sugar Cookies and Miracle on 34th Street.
Day 2: Load these Small-batch M&M Cookies with Christmas M&M’s and put on The Muppet Christmas Carol , the best and truest Christmas Carol adaptation of all the Christmas Carol adaptations (currently available on HBO).
Day 3: It doesn’t get much better than some Chai White Hot Chocolate , a couple Small-batch Peanut Butter Cookies , and the 2005 Doctor Who Christmas special (the first outing with Ten!).
Day 4: Have yourself a White Christmas with these Small-batch Snowball Cookies with Kisses .
Day 5: Time for some warm and gooey Small-batch Chocolate Chip Cookies to go with the warm and gooey Last Holiday .
Day 6: Can’t go wrong with Small-batch Chocolate Cookies With Oreos and Andes and the perfect Christmas romcom, While You Were Sleeping .
Day 7: Give these Small-batch Chocolate Mini M&M Cookies and Iron Man 3 a try, because if Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie because it takes place during Christmas, so does Iron Man 3 .
Day 8: Speaking of Die Hard , now seems like a perfect time to watch it with some Small-batch Giant Christmas Cookies .
Day 9: The time has come for Small-batch Shortbread Cookies and The Grinch (the good one) .
Day 10: Let the Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials keep you company while you wrap some last-minute presents and nibble on Small-batch Gingerbread Cookies .
Day 11: Make Christmas Eve Eve extra extra with these crazy rich Small-batch Buckeye Brownie Cookies , some Rich and Thick Hot Chocolate , and Elf .
Day 12: And finally, Christmas Eve calls for Hot Chocolate , Miniature Hot Chocolate Cookies , and a trip aboard (my perennial fav) The Polar Express .
Bonus Recs: Readers also highly recommended The Family Stone , the ’51 version of A Christmas Carol , and Krampus . And if you need full-size Christmas cookie recipes you HAVE to make these Chai Sugar Cookies with Eggnog Glaze and Snickerdoodle Sandwich Cookies With Eggnog Buttercream .
What is your favorite Christmas cookie/movie pairing?
Small luxuries for the kitchen, the perfect gifts for friends and family who love to cook.
It’s my favorite time of year again, gift guide season! There’s nothing I love better than reading through prettily arranged lists of items recommended by my favorite bloggers, trying to match presents to people on my list and secretly just making an extra long list for myself. And as is tradition around here, I’m back this year with another incredibly specific gift guide of my own. (I know, I’m excited about it too!! 😉 ) Last year, it was Nerdy Mugs , and this year, it’s Small Luxuries for the Kitchen.
What are small luxuries? They are the little items that might never quite make their way into someone’s budget, but that would make their time in the kitchen just a little easier or more enjoyable. Every single item on this list falls into the category of I didn’t think I needed this, but now I don’t know how I ever lived without it . And I think that’s the very best category to gift from.
Cookie Scoops // Because perfectly even, perfectly shaped cookies are a luxury everyone deserves.
Butter Warmer // What’s the point of a tiny, tiny pot? To make hot chocolate of course, and lattes and cheese sauce and everything else good in this world.
Cookbook/iPad Stand // Keep your cookbooks and tablets safe from spills and easily accessible.
Silicon Baking Mats // Be kind to the planet (no more parchment paper!) and never burn the bottoms of your cookies again.
Immersion Blender // You don’t think you need an immersion blender until own one, and then you won’t know how you ever got by without it.
Spoon Rest // Put my cooking spoon on a plate? What am I, a peasant? Give me a dedicated spoon rest or nothing.
Kitchen Speaker // Phone speakers are good, but a Bluetooth kitchen speaker is better. Jam out or play your favorite podcasts while you make something delicious.
What’s on your Christmas list this year?
This Small-batch Oatmeal Cookies recipe makes six big and beautiful cookies, perfectly sweet and spicy, packed with cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg and drizzled with vanilla icing.
I have a question for you: Do you like oatmeal cookies?
I’ll be honest, on oatmeal cookies in general, I’m pretty meh. Give me a big doughy oatmeal cookie, barely sweet, and stuffed full of raisins, and I’ll happily give it right back to you (bleh!).
But these oatmeal cookies? These wonderful, lovely, perfect oatmeal cookies I’m sharing today? These oatmeal cookies I LOVE. And you should make a batch as soon as is humanly possible.
These oatmeal cookies are a little chewy and a little crunchy and can be more of either depending on how long you bake them. They’re perfectly sweet and spicy, packed with cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg, drizzled with vanilla icing and best of all, NOT A RAISIN IN SIGHT!
This is my favorite type of cookie recipe, the type that uses melted butter and requires no dough chilling, so you can decide to make oatmeal cookies and be eating one warm out of the oven within 30 minutes.
Bake up a batch on a cold, drizzly day and they’ll make your house smell amazing and your day feel five times cozier. And since this is a small-batch recipe, it makes just six big beautiful cookies. Plenty to share, or just the right amount to keep tucked away for yourself and enjoy for a few days.
And look, sharing is great, but I definitely won’t judge you if you decide to go with option two. 😉
Small-batch Oatmeal Cookies Recipe Notes
- In the recipe, I have you partially grind your oats in a food processor before adding them to your dough. If you don’t have a food processor, this step is optional, but I recommend it, as unprocessed oats make for a pretty rustic and “oaty” cookie.
- If you have a chopper/grinder attachment for your immersion blender like this one , they also work great for this and is what I usually use.
- To make these cookies, you can use old-fashioned oats ( also called rolled oats or whole oats ) or quick-cook oats. You cannot use steel-cut oats.
Looking for more Small-batch Cookie Recipes ? Try these Small-batch Cut-out Sugar Cookies , Small-batch Chocolate Chip Cookies , or Small-batch Shortbread .
Ingredients
Small-batch Oatmeal Cookies
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 40g ) uncooked oats quick-cook or old-fashioned
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 60g ) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- ▢ 4 tablespoons ( 2oz ) unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 1 large egg yolk
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla Icing (Optional)
- ▢ 1/3 cup ( 40g ) powdered sugar
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1-2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
Small-batch Oatmeal Cookies
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line 1 baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a food processor, pulse oatmeal 5 or 6 times, until oats are partially chopped, but not completely ground. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and processed oatmeal.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together melted, slightly cooled butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.
- Whisk in egg yolk and vanilla until well-combined. Add flour and oatmeal mixture and use a spoon to stir together until well-mixed.
- Drop 6 rounded spoonfuls (about 1.5-ounces each) on prepared baking sheet as far apart as possible (these cookies spread) and bake until cookies look just set: 12 minutes for softer cookies, 14 to 16 minutes for crunchy cookies. Cool on the baking sheet until cool enough to handle. If icing, cool completely.
Icing
- In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon of milk. Add just enough milk, up to 1 teaspoon more, to get a drizzling consistency. Spoon over cooled cookies. Allow icing to set for at least 15 minutes, and enjoy!
Notes
Adapted From Shugary Sweets
