Sprinkles. Everywhere.
Stuck in the cracks of our placements, bleeding red and green dye under our fingernails, and sticking to my bare feet.
It’s the kind of thing where you say to yourself, “Why did I do that again?”
Not the cookies.
I mean the kids. The kids doing the cookies. In our apartment which.is.tiny.
And then the neighbors getting invited in from their peeking post at the window. The shyness. The laughter. The little hands that made their way into sticky mouths.
The lack of a vacuum cleaner.
I’m still sweating.
Highlight reel includes:
- Chocolate. Chocolate frosting.
- Our sweet, shy neighbor kids accepting the invite to join us.
- Realizing they didn’t know what to do with frosting when they started eating it. Straight up. Either that or they’ve been spying on me for the last few months.
- My girls, my students, laughing.
- My girls laughing so much that it got a little annoying.
- Team sprinkle cleanup and the discovery that we do indeed have a broom. #itsbeenfivemonths
- Sweating nonstop. I think it helps for losing weight in between cookies or something.
Then I took these glamour shots of the frosted, sprinkled, cutie pie cookies in some pre-typhoon light.
Yeah, like Super Typhoon Bopha that ripped through the Philippines earlier this week. That happened. {FYI: we stayed safe here in Cebu as the storm passed mostly to the south of us. But let’s all please send our thoughts and prayers to the communities in the neighboring islands who lost homes, and also the families who lost loved ones. Although the storm was far less destructive than it could have been, there are many people who experienced and will continue to experience significant loss.}
That pre-typhoon light was totally gorgeous. I felt a little distracted and flighty and nervous and all, as I often do about these typhoon sorts of things. Power went out mid-shoot at which point I started to put my stuff away, at which point I realized that you don’t need electricity for a food photo shoot. What?! Somehow that was stressful.
The wind picked up. Just when I thought it wasn’t possible, the light got even better. Sprinkles were flying in the wind and squishing between my toes because team sprinkle cleanup didn’t quite pan out like we had hoped, so there’s still sprinkles. Three days later. Everywhere.
Cookie –> mouth. And again.
These are fudgy bliss. Unless you don’t want them to be fudgy, in which case you can bake them on the longer end and let the frosting set longer and you’ll end up with more of a shortbready sort of thing. No further comment.
If you can seriously resist underbaking these, I don’t think I know you.
- 2 sticks + 2 tablespoons of butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 heaping cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons hot water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- holiday sprinkles
- Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the ⅓ cup cocoa powder and mix until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Roll into small balls and make an indent with your thumb in the center of the ball. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until dry looking and lightly cracked on the surface but still very soft. I left mine a little bit underdone so they were softer and fudgier, almost like a brownie.
- When they come out of the oven, press the centers down again to make a more defined well for the frosting. Allow to cool.
- Whisk the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla. Spoon the frosting into the centers of the cookies and add sprinkles. Allow frosting to set before storing in tins.
PS. I tried/started/practiced making a video on my iPhone. Fun times! What do you cool kids think are the best movie making apps?
And no, those are not my pajamas. Nope nope nope.
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Love love love! Anything with mint is awesome!
Oh my, I am swooning over that picture with the fudge dripping down!
I agree, that photo is awesome!
That last picture is just perfect. Can I get a typhoon over here in NY if it means that kind of light (minus all the destruction of course).
These look fabulous!
So glad to hear that you guys are okay; the pictures of the devastation look terrible and the numbers of people killed/homes destroyed do seem to have gone up hugely in the last couple of days. My thoughts are with everyone.
Awkward segue into how cute & delicious these cookies look (but they do).
I’ve heard from people “on the front lines” that it’s even worse than what we’ve seen in the newspapers because there is no coverage in the villages that were hit the hardest. I have a few friends who will be going to distribute shipments of food to the areas hardest hit later this month and I think there is a fair amount of relief aid active in the region now, but not nearly enough. All that to say, thanks for caring about these people who are hurting. It’s kind of overwhelming.
I bet those girls had so much fun baking with you! It’s a memory they will never forget I’m sure and look back on fondly.
The cookies look super cute and easy. I bet my kids would have lots of fun making these.
Great recipe!
How fun!…and messy! I wish I could have been there for the decorating party! The girls are so darling! The cookies look great too. Proud of you Lindsay-girl…and I sure do miss you! :/
love you – mom
Miss you too mom!! All the time.
Those look like some crazy fun cookies to do with kids!
I want to just smoosh my thumb into one of those cookies and then smoosh it into my mouth
They look fabulous! love all the sprinkles and the oozy filling!
Those cookies look so delicious and Christmas-y!
I’m so glad to hear you are safe, but will definitely keep families in the affected communities in my thoughts!
Ohhh sprinkles. Why is it that the most fun things in life are often the messiest?
My mom made jam thumbprints every year at Christmas growing up, so thumbprint cookies have a very special place in my heart. Love your mint-chocolate take!
I watched my 3 cousins last weekend and we decorated cookies…I didn’t realize going into it that they would decorate, eat, decorate, eat, etc. until I told them they had to decorate a few and save them for their parents!
Lots of giggling = precious.
I’m happy to hear that you’re okay and my thoughts are with those affected.
And these cookies look magical. And those sprinkles… you found those in Cebu?! Or you’re just a good planner? Absolutely love the filling.
Mom brought them.
Kieran watched this with me during recess. She was so happy to hear your voice!
Ohh Kieran! Stayin in for recess, huh? Your classroom is always a recess hot spot.
These look like the perfect Christmas cookie. I’m going to try these with some peppermint extract.
Yes! That’s what I wanted to do but, alas, no peppermint here.
You can do it for me and let me know how it goes!
I think you did a wonderful job on your video…so personalized! Haven’t found any quirky apps yet for videos, but I am on the hunt
These cookies look amazing and so glad you all are safe!
I bet those girls loved baking (and spilling sprinkles) with you! These cookies are adorable and that frosting looks fantastic!
The first thing I noticed when I saw this post was the lighting and how different it was for you. I love it though! The pictures are beautiful (as always!)
You guys are so kindhearted it’s amazing!
The cookies look fantastic and I’m so glad there are people like me out there who like things underbaked; I was seriously just thinking about this today after baking intentional slightly underbaked bars… haha.
Good luck with the sprinkle mess.
Oh I love the photos in this post! Gorgeous and those cookies look so good!
That frosting looks so good! I can imagine why those girls couldn’t stop tasting it! I wouldn’t either.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of the typhoon. So sad to hear about that.
These look like fudgy bliss! And I love the picture with the bite taken out of the cookie. That is so how I roll : )
Loved your video. And these cookies look delicious!
Watching your video is so cool. As is everything about your blog. And I don’t even bake (hardly ever) and I still enjoy it!
The photos of the girls decorating is priceless. What a fun time you all must of had! Your iPhone video is great! I’ve never seen thumbprint cookies filled with icing before and I love the idea.
I’m glad that you made it through the typhoon without any damage. My thoughts and prayers are with all those who were not so fortunate. May relief from the destruction and the loss they have suffered come soon for all of them.
Another killer recipe!!! Absolutely gorgeous!
) Thank you Lindsay!!
Will be trying these tomorrow!
These look amazing! Hmm…don’t have any suggestions on the video app front.
I am saving these to make hopefully this holiday season!! I love mint so they should be gone pretty fast!
Those look so wonderful. Great picture.
Just found your site, and I love it! I’m enjoying going through all the previous posts, and looking forward to new ones!
Thank you!
Stomach full of chocolate goodness. Love the balance between the cookie not being too sweet and the sweetness of the frosting. Can’t wait to share (must share, must share
).
Love the video! I’ve started using my phone too. It sure is easy and I like that it adjusts to the light as well.
These look absolutely scrumptious and so pretty! What a wonderful neighbour you are.
I bet those girls had a blast! Cookie-making is fun, but it’s 10x more awesome with a bunch of giggling girls!
I don’t which is cuter: the ADORBS lil cookies or the ADORBS kids!! Isn’t baking with kids the best/worst??? Granted, I usually bake with four-year-olds which = sneezes and germs and “can we eat the flour?” and “can we eat the raw eggs??” and “can we draw in the piles of spilled flour and raw eggs???”
So festive and cute!!!
What a fun activity to do with the girls, even with all the sweat! These cookies are gorgeous too!
Hi !! i just wanna know for the number one instruction, when i add the cocoa powder, is it the 3 tbsp OR the 1/3 cup that i use ??!!! :O
It’s a little bit confused, but i’ll make this recipe for christmas for sure
Thanck you !!
The 1/3 cup of cocoa powder is for the cookies and the 3 T is for the frosting. Hope you like them!
Thanck you
!!!
I’m gonna try the recipe today
It’s me again, sorry, loll, but i made the recipe today and they are AMAZING!!
WOW!!! so good and tasty, they are perfect and everyone in home like them
I love iMovie app for videos and I can’t wait to try these cookies!
Love this recipe! Will be linking back to this in my upcoming post
Thanks Marla!
We made these cookies over the weekend- they are seriously amazing. Mine didn’t turn out as pretty as yours, but these are definitely a new Christmas cookie in our house! Thank you! Happy Holidays!
That’s great to hear! Thanks for the comment Emily!
Hi, I am from South Africa – read about you on twitter last night x How much is 2 sticks of butter 250g?
Hi
I’m about to make these cookies for a farewell party! They look incredible and I hope they taste as good as they look. Just a quick question… Do you use salted or unsalted butter for the cookie?
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to try these
I usually use salted because I like the flavor better.