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stacks of slice and bake cookies

Slice and Bake Cookies – 4 Flavors


  • Author: Jenna Barnard
  • Total Time: 45 minutes + 2 hours chilling
  • Yield: 48 cookies

Description

With 2 doughs, this slice and bake cookie recipe makes 4 different flavors. It’s perfect for anyone who needs a really simple Christmas cookie recipe or wants to ship cookies to their friends and family!


Ingredients

Vanilla Dough Base

  • 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/3 cup (70g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 1/4 cups (285g) all purpose flour

Chai Spiced Cinnamon Sugar 

  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom 
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 1/8 tsp allspice 
  • 3 tbsp sparkling sugar, 3 tbsp granulated sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon (for coating)

Dark Chocolate Cherry 

  • 2 oz dark chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar (for coating)

Chocolate Dough Base

  • 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 3/4 cup (225g) all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (40g) unsweetened dark cocoa powder

Chocolate Hazelnut 

  • 1/2 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped + 1/2 cup finely chopped (for coating)

Chocolate Peppermint

  • 1/2 tsp peppermint extract 
  • 2 oz dark chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup white melting chocolate + 2 tsp oil (for coating)
  • 3 crushed candy canes (for sprinkling)

Instructions

Vanilla Dough Base

  1. In a large mixing bowl using a hand or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy.
  2. Mix in the vanilla and salt, followed by the flour. After mixing in the flour, switch to a rubber spatula and continue to mix the dough by hand to ensure all of the flour is incorporated.

Chai Spiced Cinnamon Sugar

  1. Split the dough nearly in half, giving one half a bit more dough. The larger half will be used for the chai spiced cookies. 
  2. In a small dish, combine the cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and allspice. 
  3. Add to this larger half of dough and carefully fold in the spices. Just give it a few folds to swirl the spices throughout. Do not completely mix them in.

Dark Chocolate Cherry

  1. To the smaller half of dough that’s still sitting in the original mixing bowl, add the chopped chocolate and cherries. Mix to combine. 
  2. Lay out two sheets of plastic wrap and place each dough in the center of the sheets. Form each piece of dough into a log that’s about 8-9 inches long. 
  3. Tightly wrap the logs in the plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Chocolate Dough Base

  1. Scrape out the mixing bowl you used for the vanilla dough. No need to wash it, just make sure there are no large pieces of dough or mix ins left in the bowl. 
  2. Just as you did with the vanilla dough, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
  3. Mix in the salt and vanilla, followed by the flour and cocoa powder. 
  4. Use a rubber spatula to mix the dough by hand in order to ensure all of the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Chocolate Hazelnut

  1. Split the dough in half and add one half to a separate bowl. Mix in 1/2 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts.

Chocolate Peppermint

  1. To the dough that’s still in the original mixing bowl, add the peppermint extract and chopped dark chocolate. Mix well to ensure the peppermint extract is well combined with the dough. 
  2. Same as the vanilla dough, lay out two sheets of plastic wrap and add each half of dough to the sheets. Roll each piece of dough into an 8-9 inch log and wrap tightly in the plastic wrap. 
  3. Chill alongside the vanilla dough for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Coating & Baking

  1. Once the dough is chilled solid, they can each be rolled in their coating.
  2. For the dark chocolate cherry dough, sprinkle a plate or pan with the raw sugar. Roll the dough in the sugar to fully coat. You may need to press the sugar in with your hands to help it stick. If you can’t get it to stick, brush the outside of the dough in a thin layer of egg wash (1 egg beat with 1 tbsp water).
  3. Repeat this process for the chai spiced cookies (rolling in the cinnamon sugar mixture), and the hazelnut cookies (rolling in 1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts). The peppermint cookies are left bare.
  4. Slice the ends off of each log and then slice each log into roughly 12 cookies. 
  5. Preheat the oven to 350F and place the sliced cookies in the refrigerator to chill while the oven heats up. 
  6. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. When the oven is preheated, place the cookies onto the baking sheet, each spaced about 2 inches apart. Keep the remaining slices of cookie dough in the refrigerator while the first batch bakes. 
  7. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are a very pale golden brown and the tops have turned matte. 
  8. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and bake the rest of the dough. 
  9. Once cooled, all that’s left to do is dunk the chocolate peppermint cookies. Place the melting chocolate and oil in a heat safe bowl and microwave in 30 seconds intervals until smooth.
  10. Dunk one half of each cookie into the chocolate and then top with crushed candy canes. Transfer these cookies to the refrigerator for 15 minutes to set. 
  11. Now your cookies are ready to enjoy!

Notes

FREEZING – The dough can also be frozen in either the log form or sliced. In a log, allow it to chill firm in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Then wrap in an extra layer of foil and place in the freezer. If sliced, let the dough chill for 2 hours and then slice. Place the slices in a freezer safe bag or container to freeze. Both should keep for up to 1 month. (I recommend freezing in slices as it’s very hard to cut the frozen logs of dough). 

SHIPPING – These cookies make the perfect gift because they ship very well. Group together the cookies according to flavor, wrapping about 3 together at a time in plastic wrap. Then package accordingly. I recommend wrapping the peppermint cookies in plastic wrap and then foil to prevent the other cookies from absorbing the peppermint flavor.

  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: slice and bake cookies, slice and bake, shortbread cookies

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