Christmas Baking Time! Chocolate & Vanilla Sugar Cookies - FOOD PHOTO SHOOT

[gringalicious]

I went overboard again, imagine that.

I saw this shirt the other day that said I have OCD (obsessive Christmas disorder). I’m waiting to receive it in the mail since it was clearly designed for me. Please tell me I’m not the only one who, more or less, loses ten years of maturity during the holidays.

It’s passing so fast though. So it's time for these cookies. My mom used to have a huge cookbook collection and every Christmas the shorter me loved to spend hours browsing the Christmas ones and looking at the same pictures I saw the year before. One of my favorites was the checkerboards in this one book and I have some really good memories of Mom helping me figure out how to make the design the right way.

We sold or gave away all of those cookbooks when we moved though (I don’t actually own any cookbooks, are you shocked?) so I didn’t remember which book had that recipe. I decided to try to recreate it based on my rather extensive cookie-making experience and I think I got pretty close. Of course, once I had all this delicious cookie dough I realized how many shapes it could be made into and I couldn’t decide which ones to share. I did what I usually do and just shared them all because they were all so fun and festive, how could I pick?

The trickiest ones are the checkerboards, and I honestly didn’t give them my best effort, as you can see by my lopsided ones. I know, how could I not make them look better, they were only the entire inspiration for this post! You guys should fire me. In my defence though, these were batch number two. When I made the first ones my mom was meeting with some friends and asked if there were any sweets ready that she could take to share and I can never resist the pleasure of sharing cookies so my much prettier prototype checkerboards were devoured before their debut.

This sort of thing happens a lot but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Anyway, even though I failed with batch number 2, they are actually not that hard and they’re really fun. The best part is when you get to slice them and see your work paying off in the form of little checkerboards! I also loved the slice and bake. The trick to those is to let your inside shapes get frozen solid so you don’t mess them up when adding the outside dough.

I did do my best to describe the process for making each of these cookies, but I’m not always very good at that part so if you’re having trouble you can let me know and I’ll try to explain it better. Or (since I haven’t quite gotten around to making videos) you can search youtube for videos of how to do the kind you want to try.

I really should have made this easier on myself and just done plain old cut-outs, but my excitement for the season made me want to do everything at the same time. By the way, I know already have too many choices here but I forgot to make swirls. Just so you know, that’s also something you can do. All you have to do is stack two different colored rectangles and then roll them together into a log and slice the end. Voila, pinwheels!

Oh, and speaking of the colors, I only made chocolate and vanilla and then added some red beet powder for the red in the candy cane cookies. You can use regular food dye, I just try really hard not to because I hate using that nastiness, although if you can find natural food coloring that’s great. I like the simplicity of the chocolate/vanilla contrast though. Do what you prefer, just make these because they are so, so good and they make everyone happy!

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D5300 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

And, by the way, to all the minnows out there, my intro post did a huge $0.21. The key to success on Steemit is to be consistent and persistent.

Oh, and don't forget to follow me on all your favorite social media channels!

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram

Recipe available upon request to the first Steemian friend who says today's words : "Jingle Bells"

Want some other recipes to try? Here's my most recent food posts!

1. Basil, Brie, Roasted Strawberry Crostini

2. Gingerbread Flavored Fudge Candy

3. Puffy Snowball Holiday Cookies [ butterballs ]

4. Rosemary Garlic Roast Beef + Sauteed Mushrooms

5. Homemade 3 Musketeers Chocolate Candies

6. Fully Loaded Mexican Style Twice Baked Potato Skins

7. Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookie Meringue Pie

8. Molten Lava Chocolate Chunk Streusel Coffee Cake

9. CHOCOLATE COVERED CARAMELS

10. Christmas Gift Idea: How to Make Your Own Hot Cocoa Mix

AND A HUGE MASSIVE SHOUT OUT TO@rigaronib for designing my logo!!!! 

Comments

[pariza]

Very delicious Christmas food that recipe you create. Excellent job. "Jingle Bells"

[yummyrum]

So nice! Can you share the recipe? :) Because I wanna Jingle Bells all day :D

[gringalicious]

I posted the recipe @yummyrum, sorry you missed but keep trying

[askaran]

I will start baking today. I hope they look as lovely as yours :)

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @askaran

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[xgirl]

These looks like very delicious!

[gringalicious]

I'm so glad you like them @xgirl!

[dsocer]

looks very good!

[gringalicious]

Glad you like it @dsocer! Thank you so much

[maryahoc]

Awww this is soo cute the recipe is super cute and looks delicious....Christmas cookies thank you for the recipe....loved it.

[gringalicious]

fantastic, did you give it a try?

[blazing]

Excellent !!
Christmas made special with this one :D
HO Ho Ho SANTA Gonna love it :D

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much @blazing

[bxt]

@ gringalicious ， you did a good job , thanks for your sharing , you always make me love your food .

[gringalicious]

Oh, that is so kind of you @bxt!!!

[rdelgadop]

Español Se ven muy deliciosas esas galletas. En otras palabras, muy gringaliciosas.

English They look very delicious those cookies. In other words, very @gringalicious.

[gringalicious]

Haha, that's brilliant @rdelgadop ! Merry Christmas!

[polebird]

These are so pretty!! Haha that OCD shirt is really clever :P

[gringalicious]

I think so to, haha. Thanks @polebird!

[gamainvegas]

Let me get a Dozen. My kids would love them.😍

[gringalicious]

I hope you can give them a try with your kids @gamainvegas

[enews202]

may be i reasteam your post dear

[gringalicious]

I'm thrilled that you liked it @enews202!

[enews202]

thanks ...may be a question dear

[marconah]

Wow, this seems very yummy @gringalicious, it is perfect if we enjoy it with family and friends. May I ask for his recipe?

[aungmyomin]

Good

[gringalicious]

thanks!

[cristinamuah]

Yummmmmm! You know, I think you are the first I’ve seen this year with that Christmas spirit!! Thank you for that.

Fantastic job on building up. I can see the dedication in your layout and writing. ReSteeming and following because cookies, Christmas and wow 😋

[gringalicious]

Oh, you're so sweet @cristinamuah!!!

[suchi]

so you are very excited for christmas preparation.nice christmas food photo.

[gringalicious]

Hey @suchi, thanks so much for stopping by and for the compliment

[chindy]

Very tasty, may I try it.?

[noboxes]

Your staging and photography are just out of this world. Amazing job!!

[gringalicious]

Thanks as always @noboxes!

[fullofhope]

I love those checkerboard cookies, awesomeness

[gringalicious]

Thanks girl! @fullofhope!!!

[mamaloves]

Amazing presentation. All of your creations are just so beautiful!!

[gringalicious]

Thanks! So sweet @mamaloves!

[whitewolfxx]

I enjoy the colors you used and how unique these deserts look

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @whitewolfxx

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[wrladyhawk]

I posted about my cookie baking yesterday. Your photos make it all look scrumptious! Jingle Bells!

[gringalicious]

Thanks for telling me about your post @wrladyhawk, I checked it out

[tesscooks4u]

LOL! I will have to look for that shirt. Yes, a little Christmas immaturity here. The cookies turned out great. Love the creativity. I have been baking cookies. Too many sweets around here and it is dangerous.

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much @tesscooks4u!

[ami92]

very interesting and certainly tastes really good.
I have write recipe food on my blog. visit my blog also for comments.

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @ami92

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[mehakmittal13]

wow, yummy yummy.
They look so delicious. Everything you baked is really cute and attractive.

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @mehakmittal13

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[mrkstn1]

Oh man I can smell them from here

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @mrkstn1

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[takavala]

What a funny cookies. Kids will love it!

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @takavala

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[samlexxy]

These look #gringalicious, am sure it will be delicious. No doubt since you prepared it.. Thumbs up

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @samlexxy

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[milimakeover]

Chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies in different shapes and shades great😍😘😍😘now you have being listed as one if my favorite people of 2017..

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[milimakeover]

You too.

[doctorcro]

Can you move in with me? :)) You are an amazing cook :)

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @doctorcro

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[bitttermelllon]

You are insipring me to finally bake the roll of sugar cookie dough that I have been resting in the fridge:) These look absolutely stellar!

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @bitttermelllon

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[kadri]

I try to do something that.....I hope succeed :)) resteemed

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @kadri

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[mannyfig1956]

Amazing job as always vote & resteem

[babettxx]

Beautiful work! Yesterday I tried to do vegan Christmas cookies, but something went wrong. The dough was delicius, but after baking it, cookies was awful haha! I still have this dough in my fridge, but I know what I can change in it and I'll do delcious pie.

[gringalicious]

I hope that works for you @babettxx, thanks so much for commenting

[bonaventurehoste]

I mean... Christmas is just the best :D

[gringalicious]

Oh my goodness, I totally agree! Have a merry one, @bonaventurehoste!

[shajjad]

thank you for chrismas

[gringalicious]

You're very welcome. Thanks for reading @shaijad!

[hangryginger]

Excellent Photoshoot! Looks Like Fun to Prepare and Photograph :)

[gringalicious]

It really is one of my favorites to do every year. Thanks @hangryginger!

[taylorann]

They look amazing and delicious!! <3

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post @taylorann

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!

[daisyphotography]

Great recipe and awesome photography.

[gringalicious]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my post

AND

MERRY CHRISTMAS and STEEM ON!!