Recipe - Holiday Cookie Cups

So I heard about cookie cups from a brief blog one day and thought that it would be so neat to make them. I mean, the concept is so simple - all you do is use the backside of a muffin tin! My friend and I thought that they would make good holiday gifts so I set my mind on making them. I did a test batch first though lest my cookie cups turned out like the ever-present cookie cup meme on the day when I needed them. The test batch came out pretty well so here we go with some cups!

Step 1: Ingredients (serving size: 12 thick cookie cups)

      Dough

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

      Coating

• 2 tbsps white sugar
• 2 tsps lavendar vanilla bean sugar

      Filling

• 1 bag gingerbread man-shaped marshmallows
• 2.5 lbs mix of yogurt chips, almonds, cashews, dried cranberries, dried blueberries

Step 2: Making the dough
So actually the dough is the same one I used for my Snickerdoodles recipe. To be quick, combine flour, salt, and baking powder in one bowl; cream sugar & butter in another. Add eggs one at a time to the sugar & butter and then add the vanilla extract. Combine both bowls into one until a good dough forms. Stick dough into refrigerator for 10 or so minutes after covering the bowl with plastic wrap.


Step 3: Setting up the pan
Turn a muffin pan upside down and cut out pieces of foil that will adequately cover the tins. Cover every other so that you give space for the cookie cups to expand when baking. Grease the foil with oil or non-stick cooking spray. Pre-heat  your oven at 400°F.


Step 4: Making the coating
Mix together your sugars. I used lavendar vanilla bean sugar because I had it from the awesome trip I took to the Savory Spice Shop but you can use cinnamon for a Snickerdoodle-like taste. Take your dough out of the fridge and divide into approximately 12 discs. Flatten and spread over the foil pieces (there will be 2 batches); stretch down to the bottom without making holes in the dough. Coat with sugar mixture and put in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Step 5: Prepping your gift bags
I opted to use cellophane bags to present my cookie cups. Pull out your first batch and let it cool before trying to remove the foil lest they break from being too soft. In retrospect, I should've taken completed pictures with the lighter ones than one that looked slightly burnt. Make sure you watch your cups!

Step 6: Finishing
So at the bottom of each bag, I did about 2 spoonfuls of the trail mix and 7-10 marshmallow men (found at Ralph's!). I then placed the cookie cup on top of the marshmallow men and filled it with about 3 spoonfuls of the trial mix and 1 extra man. Tie it up and pass around for holiday cheer!