In medium bowl, beat ¾ cup butter and the granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy.
Beat in egg and ¼ teaspoon rum extract until well blended.
On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt about 1 minute or until dough forms.
Shape dough into 36 (1¼-inch) balls.
Place 1 ball in each muffin cup.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set and edges are light golden brown.
Using end of wooden spoon handle, press 1-inch-deep indentation in center of each cookie to form a cup.
Run knife around edges of cookie cups to loosen.
Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
Remove from pans to cooling racks.
In large bowl, beat powdered sugar and ⅓ cup butter with electric mixer on low speed until well blended.
Add ⅛ teaspoon rum extract and 1 tablespoon milk; beat until smooth and spreadable, adding additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed for desired consistency.
Stir in pineapple.
Spoon about 2 teaspoons filling into each cookie cup.
Sprinkle with coconut.
Store on plate in refrigerator, loosely covered with plastic wrap.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Make-Ahead Magic
Make and bake the cookie cups as directed. Place cooled unfilled cups in plastic storage container or resealable freezer plastic bag; keep frozen up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature about 30 minutes or until completely thawed. Fill as directed.
Kitchen Secrets
To toast coconut, heat oven to 350°F. Spread coconut in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.
Assorted candiesgumdrops, peppermints, candy canes, red cinnamon candies, candy sprinkles, if desired
Instructies
Heat oven to 350°F.
Line 15x10x1-inch pan with cooking parchment paper.
Make cookie mix as directed on pouch, using butter, water and egg.
Roll dough in pan to about ¼ inch thick.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are set and golden brown.
Cool 5 minutes.
Use pizza cutter to cut gingerbread house shape from cookie.
Cool completely.
Use frosting and candies to decorate gingerbread house as desired.
Use any excess cookie pieces as decoration.
Cut into pieces to serve.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Gingerbread House Decorating Ideas
Decorating a gingerbread house can be as unique as you are! Here are some great ideas for decorating your house. You can purchase your favorites or snoop around your cupboards and find foods that would work.
ROOF
Bite-size frosted mini wheat cereal
Chocolate flat candy bars
Colorful flat candies
Crackers
Fruit slices candy
Gumdrop halves or slices
Pretzel sticks or rods
Small cookies, such as vanilla wafers
DOOR
Candy bar
Graham cracker
Oval-shaped flat cookies (cut off one end, for bottom of door)
Sugar wafers
CHIMNEY
Candy sticks or straight candy canes
Chocolate chips
Chocolate rocks
Jelly beans (especially tan, brown, black and speckled)
Sugar ice-cream cone, cut lengthwise in half
WREATH
Green holly and red ball decors, arranged in a circle
1container12 oz fluffy white whipped ready-to-spread frosting
Small candies and candy sprinklesif desired
Instructies
Heat oven to 375°F.
Line 15x10x1-inch pan with foil.
In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms.
With moistened fingers, press dough in bottom of pan.
Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown.
Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Cut tree shape from baked cookie.
Cut star for top of tree from cookie scraps.
Stir food color into frosting.
Decorate cookie tree with frosting, candies and sprinkles.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Make-Ahead Magic
You can bake the cookie tree the day before decorating. Cover with plastic wrap or foil until you’re ready for the fun to begin!
Festive Touch
Cut a star for the top of the tree from the scraps left after cutting the tree shape. You could also cut squares or rectangles for “gifts” to place under the tree on the serving platter.
Copy shape
on 11×17-inch paper; cut out. Trace shape on cardboard; cut out. Place cardboard shape on cookie to use as a guide for cutting.
In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy; stir in vanilla.
In small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and cinnamon.
On low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture alternately with whipping cream.
Divide dough in half; wrap in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350°F.
Lightly grease 2 large cookie sheets with shortening or cooking spray.
On lightly floured surface, roll one portion of dough until about ⅛ inch thick.
Cut with 3-inch floured cardinal-shaped cookie cutter.
On cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart.
Repeat with second portion of dough.
Place chocolate chip on each bird for eye.
Sprinkle top of back, crown, tail and wing of each bird with red sugar crystals; neck and eye with black sugar crystals; and beak with yellow sugar crystals.
Leave bottom breast of bird without sugar.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until light brown and set.
Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Kitchen Secrets
If you don’t have a cardinal-shaped cookie cutter, trace the outline of a cardinal from a coloring book or bird book onto waxed paper; or find one online, print it and cut it out. Place the pattern on the dough, and use a small paring knife to cut around it.
Line 2 large cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
In large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form.
Beat in peppermint extract and salt.
Gradually add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on high speed until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved.
Spoon half of meringue into medium bowl; add food color.
Beat until well blended.
In large decorating bag fitted with #827 star tip, place spoonfuls of white and red meringue side by side, alternating colors and working up from tip of bag.
Do not mix colors together.
Onto cookie sheets, pipe meringue into 1-inch mounds.
Bake 3 hours or until meringues are dry to the touch.
Turn oven off; leave meringues in oven with door closed 1 hour.
Finish cooling at room temperature, about 45 minutes.
In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Add granulated sugar; beat until creamy.
Stir in milk, vanilla, almond extract and salt.
Stir in flour until well mixed.
Measure ½ cup of dough into small resealable food-storage plastic bag; refrigerate.
Divide remaining dough in half; roll each into 6-inch log.
Put the decorating sugars in separate shallow dishes.
Roll 1 log in yellow sugar; roll other log in blue sugar.
Wrap logs separately in plastic wrap or waxed paper.
Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
Heat oven to 350°F.
For each cookie, place 2 pretzels with flat sides touching on ungreased large cookie sheets; place 3 inches apart.
Unwrap logs; cut into 48 (¼-inch) slices.
(If dough cracks, let stand at room temperature a few minutes.
) Fold in opposite sides at top of each slice to make triangular-shaped body; place each slice on top of 2 pretzels so double loops of pretzels form angel wings at each side.
Press lightly into pretzels.
Using reserved dough from plastic bag, roll ½ teaspoon dough into ball; place at top for head.
Press 2 sliced almonds into dough to make songbook.
Bake 11 to 14 minutes or until edges are firm and just begin to brown.
Cool 2 to 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.
Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
Pipe yellow icing onto cookies to make eyes and hair.
Pipe pink icing to draw mouths.
Let stand until set.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Festive Touch
Use this recipe for the project at a kids’ holiday party or even a gift exchange. You could bake the cookies up to 3 days in advance and store them in loosely covered containers to leave the decorating for the party. It’s fun to create together!
In large bowl, beat butter, powdered sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon until well blended.
Stir in flour.
Divide dough in half.
Stir peppermint extract and food color into one half of dough.
Divide red dough and plain dough in half.
On generously floured surface, shape each piece of dough into 12-inch-long rope.
Place 2 ropes, 1 red and 1 plain, side-by-side; twist ropes together.
Repeat with remaining dough.
Cut twisted ropes into ½-inch pieces; shape each into ball.
On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 1 inch apart.
In small bowl, place granulated sugar.
Dip bottom of glass in granulated sugar, and flatten each ball to about ¼ inch thick.
Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until set.
Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Make-Ahead Magic
You can make and freeze these cookies up to 12 months ahead! Place baked, cooled cookies in a freezer-storage container. Cover and freeze up to 12 months. For softer cookies, thaw covered in container at room temperature 1 to 2 hours. For crisper cookies, remove from container to thaw.
