I’ve been feeling christmassy since the leaves started falling, but now its less than a month till the big day I think I can get away with vocalising my excitement. Christmas pudding isn’t a favourite dessert for me, but it’s a such a festive tradition that these christmas pudding cookies are the perfect alternative. All of the cute and none of the heavy fruit!
Christmas for me is all about making and baking presents. I’ve always got some jam on the go, fudge to make and gingerbread to wrap up. The festive season is such a great reason to spend time with family and friends and show my love for them. For me, that’s usually through baked goods. There’s something about receiving something handmade that is so much more special.
These christmas pudding cookies could totally be used as gifts as they last so well. You can also make the cookie dough up to three days before baking, giving you precious time for festivities! The cookies are really thick and chewy, quite American in style I’d say, which is my favourite kind.
I used dark chocolate in the dough to balance out the sweet white chocolate decoration. It works really well, which means you get to eat at least two at once without feeling too bad! Always a win in my eyes. The dough is so easy to make, just one bowl, although be careful not to eat it all before baking – its easy done believe me!
Obviously to make these cookies into christmas pudding cookies, they need the cute decoration. For this, I really simply just melted some white chocolate and piped it on. I made sure to leave the melted chocolate to cool for at least 10 minutes so its easier to pipe, then piped the outline first before filling in. I used the end of a cake tester to make sure the shapes were completely filled, though you could use a cocktail stick instead.
If you’re going to splurge on one thing for this bake, make it the white chocolate. Cheap white chocolate can taste very synthetic and as its the main decoration I think it deserves to be the star. I used Green & Blacks cooking chocolate which has flecks of vanilla seeds throughout making it all the more luxurious. The little holly and berry decorations were from Waitrose, though I’m sure you could find them in most supermarkets. I think they look so cute. It’s funny how quickly they can go from just plain old cookies, to cute festive christmas puddings!
Let me know if you bake up a batch as presents, or just for yourself!
Christmas Pudding Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 115 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g light brown soft sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 125 g plain flour
- 53 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp milk
- 200 g dark chocolate chips
Decoration
- 150 g white chocolate
- holly and berry decorations
Instructions
- For the cookies: In a large bowl beat the butter for a minute until it's smooth and creamy. Then add both the sugars and using a hand-held mixer, mix on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat on a high speed until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Then on a low speed, slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick at this point. Switch to a high speed, and add in the milk and dark chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be very sticky and look hard to handle at this point, so it must be chilled before using.
- Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours, and up to three days. (I chilled mine overnight).
- Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and leave to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes, or 30 minutes if you chilled for longer than 3 hours. Preheat oven to 175C and line two large baking trays with baking paper. Scoop and roll balls of cookie dough and place onto the baking trays, I allowed for about 2tbsp of dough per cookie.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. They will feel very soft when you remove them from the oven, so leave to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes. Then place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- For the decoration: Melt the white chocolate over a bain marie being careful not to burn the chocolate. Leave to cool for at least 10-15 minutes, then place into a piping bag. Snip off the end, to make a very small hole and pipe the outline of the christmas pudding decoration to make a dam. Then fill the outlines with the remaining chocolate, using a toothpick to smooth out and push the chocolate into the edges. Add the holly and berry decorations and leave to set at room temperature.
