These spiced mushroom cookies were made for 2012’s Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, a great event put on by Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil blog and Julie of The Little Kitchen AND sponsored by OXO, the company that makes all sorts of awesome kitchen and home gadgets, from mixing bowls to spatulas to office organization and everything in between.

It was fun to see all the pictures of cookies everyone was sending out and receiving on Instagram with the  #fbcookieswap tag.

I loved the idea of getting to make a “secret santa” style gift for 3 other bloggers. I was sent an email with the 3 I was to send to ( no one I knew) and I wasn’t to contact them to let them know I was sending to them. Who doesn’t love surprise cookies in the mail? Not to mention that this was a great cause as well, our entry fees were matched by OXO and funds went to Cookies for Children’s Cancer.

I think kids shouldn’t even be allowed to get cancer, so anything that is for research for it I am all for. Oxo also sent each participant an adorable little spatula that is part of the Cookie’s for Cancer campaign. I sent these cookies to Molly of the blog CakeFyi , Christy from ASliceofCCakes and Jewel from Eat.Drink.Shop.Love. I received cookies from Erin at BigFatBaker and from Addie from Culicurious

Seriously how cute is that?

And how cute are these??

I went through my cookie recipes trying to come up with something good, would hold up during shipping, and something special for the holidays. I know you’re thinking “ummm mushrooms??” But let me explain. First off there were no real mushroom harmed in the making of these, they are merely shaped like mushrooms, second they don’t taste like mushrooms either, they are a soft lightly spiced cookie wit a cocoa glaze on top and a vanilla glaze as “glue” for the stems to stay in the caps.

I chose these because they are special to me and I wanted to share them with the 3 bloggers I sent cookies to as well as everyone else in the swap with this post and sharing the recipe. These are my absolute favorite Christmas cookie I had as a kid, and still my favorite, that my mom makes. I loved helping her make them as a kid, it was so fun to “glue” them together and dip in icing and watch the icing drip off as they dried. Plus they are so cute!

My mom had made a recipe book for me years ago and this recipe was included in it and I had yet to make them. They were always something she made and sent me long after I moved out when I was 18. She still sends them to me and I am 29 now…for the 6th year in a row… So I hadn’t made them yet, but I knew these would be perfect for the cookie swap

I made a little collage for the process pictures since these do require a few steps from start to finish, more than your normal average drop cookie. Maybe that is why I haven’t made these yet, lots of steps. I wasn’t intimidated, like I am with the thought of making French Macarons ( I really want to try those soon!), but maybe because my mom always made them so great I was worried mine wouldn’t come out as good.

The stems and caps cooling. Cutting out the hole in the cap since it bakes almost shut. And fitting a stem to a cap before icing.

Dipping in the glaze “glue”. Letting the excess drip off. Fitting into the cap. Drying upside down.

I push all the cookies next to each other while the stems are gluing to keep them upright. Once the stems are glued, dip the caps in the cocoa icing. Let the excess drip off. Dry on a cooling rack. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of an alternate way to dry them, but what also works is taking several empty paper towel rolls and cutting 1 1/2′ lengths and setting the cooking inside them upright, so the icing drips down all edges evenly when drying.

This is what I did for most of them. I didn’t have enough paper towel roll pieces for them all so some dried on their side.

I found these super cute boxes at Michael’s to package the cookies in. A dozen fit perfectly and I tried to package them as best as I could to keep them from breaking. I hope they all made it in one piece in transit.

Yield: 36 servings

Spiced Mushroom Cookies

Print

An adorable spiced cookie in the shape of a mushroom

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 1 days 1 hour

Total Time 1 days 2 hours

Ingredients

• ¼ c unsalted butter, room temp
• ½ c granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temp
• ¼ c plain yogurt
• ¾ c honey
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp all-spice
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp ginger

For the Icing and "glue"

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 c water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Combine flour, soda and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside
2. Cream butter and sugar until well combined. Add in eggs, mixing well after each addition.
3 Stir in yogurt and honey.
4. Slowly add in flour mixture and mix until well combined
5. Chill for 12 hours up to 24 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 375, prepare cookie sheets with parchment or silicone bake mats.
7. Once dough is chilled, scoop about a tablespoon sized ball for the mushroom caps. Roll the dough balls round in your hands and then make an indent on the bottom with the end of a small round wooden spoon handle. Gently press so you don’t squish the dough too much. Place bottom side down on baking sheet.
8. For the stems roll about a half of a tablespoon of dough about an inch and a half long with one end pointed and the other slightly flat. Place stems on a separate baking sheet from the caps
9. Bake 10-12 minutes for caps. 8-10 for stems, if the holes in the caps close up, once cooled, scrape a little back out with a sharp knife, just enough to fit the pointed end of the stem in it. Match up stems and caps so they are ready to “glue” together.

For the icing:
Combine sugar, water and lemon juice. Dip pointed end of stems in the icing, let excess drip off and insert into indent in caps. Place cap side down and let fully dry.

Add cocoa to the remaining icing and mix. Carefully dip the caps in the icing and lie on a wire drying rack and let fully dry. These keep well at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week or frozen for several months.

Notes

These aren't too time consuming once the dough is chilled. Chilling takes the longest time. Be careful when rolling out the stems and caps that you don't overwork the dough but still roll well enough to keep shape. Read over the instructions carefully before beginning.

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 0 Total Fat: 0g Saturated Fat: 0g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 0mg Fiber: 0g Sugar: 0g Protein: 0g

I can’t wait to see all the other cookies that the other bloggers made that were a part of the #FBcookieswap, I think there were over 500 that participated. Amazing!!