We’ve cooked up a little treat for you this year! These special holiday recipes were developed specifically for our friends and clients and are sure to make your holidays merrier.
If you have a chance to make any of these sweet treats we’d love to hear your stories, just tag @aaronvanphoto or #aaronvanholidaytreats on instagram so we can share in your adventures.
Boozy Hot Cocoa
This isn’t your standard supermarket powdered mix! With real dark chocolate, cinnamon sticks, brown sugar and spiked with Tito’s Vodka and Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, this is a relaxing, warming holiday treat.
Makes 1/2 Gallon
Ingredients
1/2 gallon milk
10 ounces dark chocolate (I like using a bag of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Morsels)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon Turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup Tito’s Vodka
1/2 cup Godiva Chocolate Liquour
Mini Marshmallows
Candy Canes
Directions
Pour the milk into a saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a gentle simmer. (Careful not to boil the milk or it will get scalded.)
Break the chocolate into bite-size pieces and add to the milk.
Add the cinnamon sticks and sugars then stir frequently until the chocolate is melted.
Add the vanilla extract and mix with a small hand whisk. While whisking, add the booze slowly until well mixed
Take out the cinnamon sticks and serve with mini marshmallows and candy canes.
Hot Cocoa Cookies
What could be better than combining the warm comfort of a holiday beverage favorite with a cookie! These will make definitely make you the envy of any holiday party!
Makes 12 Cookies
Ingredients
2 sticks room temperature salted butter
2/3 cup cane, brown or white sugar
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour (more as needed added slowly)
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 10oz bag dark chocolate chips/chunks
Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you’re like me and you’ve forgotten to take your butter out ahead of time to bring it to room temperature, just microwave it for 15sec or so. Not completely melted but were going for soft here.
Using a stand mixer or electric beaters, beat the butter with the sugars until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and the egg; beat on low speed until just incorporated - 10-15 seconds or so (if you beat the egg for too long, the cookies get stiff).
Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt to a separate bowl and mix. Slowly add the mixed dry ingredients into the wet ingredients while mixing slowly. The dough is ready when it just starts to form a ball, just between "wet" dough and "dry" dough. If it’s still a bit soft, add a touch more flour, a tablespoon at a time, until you get the right consistency.
Add half of the chocolate chips/chunks to the dough and incorporate with your hands.
In a separate bowl add the other half of the chocolate chips/chunks and a similar amount of the marshmallows.
Roll the dough into 12 large balls, roll and press the top of each ball of dough in the chocolate/marshmallow mixture then place upright on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 13-15 minutes until the cookies look puffy and dry and just barely golden. Be sure not to overbake, this is important to keeping them soft and moist. Take them out no later than 15 min even if they look like they're not done yet.
Let them cool on the pan for a good 30 minutes or so They will sink down a bit and turn into chocolatey ooey gooey yummy disks of goodness. These should stay soft for many days if kept in an airtight container or you can freeze them and reheat a couple anytime you have a hankerin’