Bundoo’s Twelve Days of Christmas: Holiday cookies and staff treats

It’s that time of year again—and we’re not talking about shopping, opening presents or even seeing family. It’s time for Christmas and holiday cooking! We polled the staff here at Bundoo for interesting holiday recipes and picked a few winners, just in time for a busy weekend of baking. Trust us, Stephanie’s Grinch Juice tastes better than it sounds, Raquel makes a mean Mexican wedding cookie, and you haven’t really lived until you’ve tried Dori’s banana bread peanut butter muffins!

Grinch Juice from Stephanie Winans

Two years ago, I started a new tradition with my daughter based on a Christmas classic we both adore: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Not only is this fun drink (that doubles as a dessert) a kid pleaser, but I have to admit that I love it, too!

Rim your glass in green sugar sprinkles. (We rimmed ours in red because it’s my daughter’s favorite color!) Tip: To make the sprinkles stick, dip the glass into the green soda first.

Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the glass.

Top with green soda. (Tip: Jones pure cane soda in green apple works great, or add a drop of green food coloring to Sprite. Izze sparkling apple isn’t green, so if you use it, plan to add food coloring.)

Add a green straw & enjoy!

Mexican Wedding Cookies from Raquel Anderson

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup pecans, finally chopped
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Additional powdered sugar (approximately ¾ cup)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine flour, pecans, cinnamon and salt; mix well and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy.  Add vanilla; beat well.  Gradually add flour to butter mixture; beat on low speed just until dry ingredients are incorporated.
3. Scoop dough into 2 inch rounds, drop level scoops of dough, 2 inches apart onto baking sheet.  Bake 12-14 minutes or until cookies are set, but not brown.  Remove cookies to cooling rack and cool 5 minutes.  While cookies are still warm (this is important so the sugar sticks) roll in additional powdered sugar to coat.  Cool completely.  Repeat with remaining dough.

Yield:  about 4 dozen cookies

Banana Bread Peanut Butter Muffins from Dori Zinn

I spent weeks searching for a banana bread recipe when I never found one I truly loved. When I discovered this one and manipulated it to my liking, the bread experiment resulted in a toasty outside with a raw inside because it was just too much. I could’ve made multiple loaves, of course, but that’s where the idea for muffins came in—individual banana bread peanut butter muffins that were cooked all the way through but still exceptionally moist.

This recipe is versatile—feel free to add any treats you’d like. I’ve experimented with chocolate chips, walnuts, and even cinnamon sugar. Peanut butter is still my favorite.

Ingredients

• 1 pkg (8 oz.) of softened cream cheese
• ¾ cups softened butter
• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-4 smashed bananas
• 3 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1-2 cups peanut butter chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin/cupcake pan.
2. Mix 1 8-ounce package of softened cream cheese, ¾ cup of softened butter and 2 cups of sugar until it becomes a light, fluffy texture.
3. Beat two eggs into the mixture, one at a time, then add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
4. In a separate bowl, mix 3 cups of flour and ½ teaspoon each of the following: baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Once combined, slowly add that mixture to the creamy mixture.
6. Add smashed bananas and fold in peanut butter chips.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on your oven. Finished when a toothpick comes out clean.