Frosted Eggnog Cookies

Hello! Long time no bake. Well, that's a lie because I actually baked quite a bit while I was at home, but it was all things I've already made and shared before. I made swedish gingerbread and cinnamon rolls, I baked biscotti for my dad (sorry, but this recipe I consider a family secret - 7 generations back to Italy!), and my dad and I made my grandma's butter cookies for his office cookie swap.

But now I'm ready to share again. And speaking of sharing, I posted about my 30 before 30 challenge yesterday and I'm excited to get started on that. There's a lot of things that I've been putting off and I'm excited to make some changes soon that I'll tell you about some other day. What sort of things would you like to accomplish in the next few years, either personally, travel-wise or anything else? I'm curious to see what other people want to do. While compiling my list over a month or two, I read so many other people's blog posts about what they've done and some things gave me great inspiration!

So these cookies. I made them for the unofficial holiday party we had for work. The second they mentioned it, I jumped on the dessert train. I had visions of a boozy hot chocolate bar, mini pecan pie bites, and some sort of chocolate peppermint or eggnog cookie thing. Boozy hot chocolate bar definitely happened with homemade marshmallows, hot chocolate mix, and peppermint schnapps. The mini pecan pie bites definitely happened, which I'll tell you about soon. And then when talking with my co-worker Ben, I suggested  frosted eggnog cookies and he agreed within 2 seconds.

The party was so much fun, filled with good friends, good desserts, good drinks, and lots of laughter. My co-workers are definitely great taste testers so it was no surprise when the desserts disappeared off the table.

Now, I know that eggnog probably is disappearing from the shelves soon if it hasn't already. You might have some still leftover from the holidays and if you do, and don't know what to do with it because you're tired of drinking it, I recommend baking with it. I was never big into eggnog (but it was actually pretty delicious) but in the cookie?

Frosted Eggnog Cookies

makes about 2-3 dozen

For the cookies:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup eggnog
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat baking sheet. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add in egg yolks, eggnog, and vanilla and mix until smooth and cream. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until everything is just combined.

Roll dough into 1 1/2 to 2 inch balls and place on cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Gently press down the tops of the cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to turn a light golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheets for 10-15 minutes and then cool completely on wire cooling rack.

While cookies cool, prepare the frosting. Cream butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Slowly add in powdered sugar until crumbly. Mix in egg nog, nutmeg, and cinnamon until smooth and fluffy. Frost cookies however you desire.

[source: recipe from The Baker Chick]