Thursday, December 11, 2014

Candy-Dipped Ginger Thins




My kids were invited to a cookie exchange down the street. I LOVE cookie exchanges, and apparently my kids have inherited this trait (crazy as it seems--who likes cookies?!?), because they were all excited to participate--from the toddler to the teenager.  

Then it dawned on me, I would be making A LOT of cookies for this event. It is no secret that I enjoy baking. But this has been a busy week, and having the required 160 cookies (4 different kinds) ready was causing me a bit of stress....

But then while walking through Costco yesterday, I had a light bulb appear above my head, along with  a mysterious "Ding!" 

Costco is currently carrying boxes of Annas Ginger Swedish Thins. Each box costs about $7 and has over 260 cookies.  And they are melt-in-your mouth yummy. I decided to buy these and just dress them up a bit! 


All you need for this delicious cookie exchange hack is:
  • Annas Ginger Swedish Thins
  • Candy for dipping (I used Ghiradelli's White Chocolate, Hershey's Cinnamon Chips, and Ghiradelli's Semi-sweet Chocolate chips)
  • Household Paraffin (optional--It helped with the Cinnamon Chips not getting thick when they were melting).
  • Toppings to sprinkle on the dipped cookies while still hot: crushed candy canes, chopped roasted pecans, sliced almonds, coconut, candy sprinkles
  • Wax paper
Directions:

1. Follow the directions for melting on the candy coating you are using's package. I have the most luck with the double-boiler method, but I've used the microwave as well (with mixed results--the microwave seems to go from under- to over-cooked in less than 3 seconds). 

2. Dip cookies one at a time in the melted coating. Set on wax paper and sprinkle immediately with topping.  Cool. Store in air-tight container.



Here are the white chocolate with crushed candy cane variety. I crushed about 4 candy canes (which was more than enough). After unwrapping, I broke the candy canes up in a glass bowl. Then I used the bottom of a small, sturdy glass jar to crush them in the bowl (like a mortar and pestle).

I had cookies made for two of my kids (the other two were covered) to bring to the exchange in less than an hour. And they even helped! I even made extra to put away for our Christmas festivities! 

These are the ones I dipped in melted cinnamon chips. They are sprinkled with roasted, salted pecans. Mmmm...


2 comments:

  1. These look delicious! What a great idea! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!

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  2. What a great idea to dress up store-bought cookies when you have to make en masse! Our office delivers homemade cookies to our clients each year so we all have to bring ten dozen cookies, this would be perfect for that! Thanks for sharing these at On Display Thursday, see you this week!

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