BrightestYoungThings: Easy Bake Christmas

in words by Emma Kelly and photos by Kimberly Cadena

It’s the time of year where everyone is full of holiday cheer and baked goods. I’m no Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart, but I can get some baked goods made in a pinch. I made all of these in a few hours and it’ll take you much less time to make only one or two of the items below. This year, instead of just mooching off of other people’s baked goodness, why not try one of these easy (and fun) recipes and you’ll certainly impress party host/esses, partygoers, the general public and potential dates.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

We literally got the ingredients for this dish (sans the sprinkles) at the liquor store. You have no excuse for not making this.

Recipe:

1 medium bag of pretzels
3 chocolate bars (You can add chocolate chips or other chocolate if you don’t have enough to melt)
Water
Sprinkles

1) Put water in the bottom part of your double broiler and wait for it to boil. If you don’t have a double broiler or don’t know what that means, but a smaller pot or glass or metal bowl inside of a bigger pot with water in it - ta da, you have a double broiler.
2) Put the chocolate in the smaller bowl in the double broiler and melt the chocolate.

3) Dip the pretzels in the chocolate and put them on some parchment paper/wax paper.
4) Apply sprinkles and let it sit until the chocolate is firm.

Hot Cocoa

Who doesn’t like hot cocoa? I don’t want to know that person. We cheated and made ours with the remnants of the chocolate for the pretzels (just add the milk and a touch of chocolate powder), but here’s a recipe in case you don’t have melted chocolate on hand.

Recipe: Makes two servings.

2 cups of milk
2 tbsp of cocoa
2 tbsp of sugar
1-2 shots of Peppermint Schnapps (optional?)
Marshmallows (optional)

1) Heat the milk over medium heat.
2) Add the cocoa and sugar to the milk.
3) Pour the cocoa into mugs and add schnapps and marshmallows.
If you’re vegan or just don’t drink cow’s milk, substitute the milk for almond milk and only add the sugar to taste.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies which have oatmeal in them are healthier, right?

Recipe:

2 sticks of butter
1 cup of packed brown sugar
½ cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
1 ½ cups of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
½ tsp of salt
2 cups of old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup of chocolate chips

1) Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
2) Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
3) Add the eggs and the vanilla to the butter mixture and beat well.
4) Add flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly and beat until it’s all mixed in.
5) Mix in the oatmeal and chocolate chips with a spoon.
6) Place dollops of the batter on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until they’re brown around the edges.
7) Take them off the cookie sheet and allow them to cool on a wire rack or plate.

Gingerbread Loaf

This recipe will make your apartment smell amazing and just like the holidays. You’ll need a loaf pan for this recipe. Fortunately they are inexpensive and will encourage you to make bread (or more ginger loaf).

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking and this recipe.

Recipe

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tblsp ground ginger
2 tblsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 stick of butter
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup warm water

1) Beat the butter, egg, brown sugar and molasses in a bowl and mix until creamed
2) Mix the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt together
3) Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and add the water. Mix until the ingredients are just combined.
4) Put the batter in a greased loaf pan and put it in an oven set at 350 degrees for 30-50 minutes. You’ll know the loaf is done when you can stick a toothpick in the center of it and it comes out clean.

Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are fun to decorate and pretty tasty. Whip out some cookie cutters if you can and make a sugar cookie army/holiday scene. If you don’t have any cookie cutters, use a glass to make circular cookies.

Adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe. Man knows his business.

Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 sticks of butter
1 egg
1 tbsp of milk
Powdered sugar for rolling out dough
Sprinkles

1) Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
2) Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until it looks creamy.
3) Add the egg and milk to the butter mixture.
4) Slowly add the flour to the butter mixture and beat it at low until the mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
5) Put the dough in the freezer for ½ an hour.
6) Take the dough out of the freezer and roll a small part of it out on a table sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll it until it’s ¼ inch thick.
7) Cut the dough with your cookie cutters/glass and place it on a greased cookie sheet.

8) Apply sprinkles.
9) Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes at 375 degrees.