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Have you started your Holiday Baking? Over the weekend I cleaned off my kitchen counters and made room for cookies! There are several cookie recipes that I make this time of year, and only this time of year. They’re the cookies that my family loves to snack on while we are watching family Christmas movies and they are the cookies we love to leave out for Santa with a note and a tall glass of milk. I like to give some of my Christmas cookies to people as gifts too. A small bag of festive cookies tied with a pretty bow are always a welcomed treat! We added these simple & yummy Dark Chocolate Holiday Nut Crunch Cookies to our cookie to do list this year and they were a huge hit at our house! If you are looking for a little more inspiration in the kitchen, be sure to check out Cooking Up Good, where you can find recipes, sweepstakes, loyalty programs, coupons and more this season!
I’m always looking for creative, tasty things to add to my recipes. When I was at Walmart last week, we walked past this cute Planter’s Holiday Sleigh display. As I picked up a can of Planter’s Holiday Nut Crunch that I needed for these cookies, I noticed a picture of the interactive app Blippar. Do you know what Blippar is?
You can download Blippar for free on your apple, android, blackberry or windows device (learn how to download at: https://blippar.com/en/) . After downloading and opening Blippar, you can scan (or blip) one of the Planter’s seasonal nut items. A mobile site will pop up and show you a menu bar with the following choices: Take A Selfie, Take a Selfie with Mr. Peanut Holiday Products, Browse a list of seasonal Planter’s items, or Browse recipes. How cool is that? My older kiddos loved playing around with this after we made our cookies and they took this picture.
These cookies are so much fun to make with your family. Mixing the dark chocolate dough in your mixer and then adding the Planter’s Holiday Nut Crunch and chocolate chips is really easy for little ones and it’s the perfect way to let them “help”.
We scooped the dough out together (which was really nice because it took less time with everyone helping) and when these cookies were finished baking my whole family wanted to try some warm from the oven. Yum!
We tested out a few (just to make sure they were extra delicious 🙂 ) and then after the rest have cooled I started packaging them up for gifts.
You can gift these with some of your other Holiday cookies in a box or on a platter, but I like to give these in a festive bag, stacked high and tied with a ribbon and a little note. These are perfect for teachers, your mail carrier or for your neighbors. Spread a little Holiday cheer and bake up a batch of these chocolatey cookies for your family & friends this year!
Don’t forget to search #GoNutsForNuts for other great Holiday recipe ideas this season!
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup shortening (I use Crisco)
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup special dark chocolate cocoa (unsweetened)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup Planter's Holiday Nut Crunch mix
- 1 (12 oz.) dark or semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- In your Kitchen Aid Mixer, combine the butter, shortening and sugars and cream together until fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.
- Add the vanilla and mix.
- Scrape down the sides of the mixer to make sure everything is well blended.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until a nice dough comes together.
- Stir in the Planter's Holiday Nut Crunch MIx and the chocolate chips.
- Place Tablespoon sized scoops of dough onto an cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let rest on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before moving to a cooling rack.
- Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
- *To freeze, let cool completely and store in a freezer friendly container or freezer bag.
- These make wonderful Holiday Gifts packaged in a festive cookie bag, tied with a pretty bow.
- Enjoy!
*Linking up at Living Well Spending Less
Gale says
I would like to know what kind of shortening to use? Can you use more butter instead and if so how much?
Gale
Gale says
Hi,
Can I skip putting in the shortening and just add more butter? How much more butter?
Shannon says
Hi Gale! You could use all butter, it might make then a little crisper, but I think they would still be good:) Just replace the shortening with the equal amount of butter. Let me know how they turn out if you make them that way!
Amy | Club Narwhal says
Oh my, Shannon! These totally speak to my chocolate loving soul (I love how gorgeously DARK they are). And I can’t resist those crunchy bits you stirred in 🙂
Amy | Club Narwhal recently posted…PEPPERMINT BARK BROWNIE TRIFLE
Shannon says
Thanks so much Amy!:)
Gale says
What kind of shortening do you use? Is the dark cocoa unsweetened chocolate?
Shannon says
Hi Gale! I use Crisco shortening and yes, the dark cocoa is unsweetened.
Jenna Wood says
Wow, just look at how rich that cookie dough looks- how do you not eat it from the bowl! I bet Santa would love to try these cookies! #client
Shannon says
Thanks Jenna! They are very good! I store the extra cookies in the freezer…they are less tempting that way! 😉