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HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIE CUPS – Butter with a Side of Bread by Gordon Ramsay

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups are the most fun & festive Christmas cookies ever! Sugar cookie cups filled with fudge, mini marshmallows & sprinkles with a darling candy cane handle!

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups are my favorite Christmas cookie ever! They’re super cute, so festive and absolutely delicious. I saw these darling Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies that Noreen made over at Party Pinching not too long ago and those gave me an idea! I morphed them with my Peanut Butter Fudge Cookies and the result? These darling, delicious perfectly festive Christmas cookies! They’re quite easy to make, especially if you have little helpers. Enjoy!

How to make Hot Chocolate Christmas Cookies

You make Hot Chocolate Christmas Cookies in 3 phases: the cookie cups, the cookie cup fudge filling and then assembling them all. Mix together the cookie cup dough and place scoops in a mini muffin tin. Bake the cookies, then use a small measuring spoon to indent each cookie. Let the cookies cool for about 15 minutes, then overturn them onto a cooling rack to cool completely. The fudge filling is made from 3 simple ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Heat the condensed milk and chocolate chips, then stir in the vanilla and stir until smooth. I transferred my fudge filling into a quart sized ziplock bag and cut a corner to pipe it into the cookies. Top the fudge filling with tiny marshmallows that are the size that comes in hot chocolate packets. Use kitchen scissors to cut the curved part of mini candy canes and adhere them to the sides of your cookie cups with melted white chocolate. Let the cookies cool to set the candy cane handles and fudge filling, then serve & enjoy!

How do you make the best Christmas Sugar Cookies?

Sugar cookie dough is sticky, but once it’s sufficiently chilled, it’s much more workable. Resist the urge to add more flour to the dough before chilling! If you add too much flour, the ratio of wet to dry ingredients is off and the cookies end up drier and more crumbly.

Do not melt the butter! The butter needs to be softened (at room temperature), but using melted butter will ruin the cookies.

Spend a little extra time when you mix the butter and sugars. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.

Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!

Hot Chocolate Christmas Cookie Cups

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
2 TBSP holiday sprinkles

Fudge Filling:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You’ll also need:

24 mini candy canes
tiny marshmallows*
1 TBSP white chocolate chips, melted

Making the cookie cups: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
With a hand mixer, cream together sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, combine sour cream, salt and soda. Add flour and sour cream to butter mixture, beat until smooth. Add 2-3 TBSP holiday sprinkles and mix just until combined. Scoop dough out using a 2 TBSP cookie scoop and put one in each mini muffin cup. No need to roll the dough to make it smooth- it will all bake the same.
Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes, making sure they’re not getting too brown at the end. {If they are, pull them out.}
Right after you take them out, use a small measuring spoon to push into the middle of each cookie cup, creating a space for the fudge filling to go. You don’t want to push through the cookie completely- but make sure you create a big enough space.
Let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then gently run a thin knife along the sides to pop them out. If you greased the pan well, you shouldn’t have any problems here!
To make the fudge filling: Combine the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl. Mix lightly and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes. I have a powerful microwave, so mine only took 1 minute. The mixture doesn’t look melted, but give it a few gentle stirs and you’ll see it’s heated well enough. Add vanilla and stir again until smooth.
Transfer about 3/4 the fudge into a quart-sized ziplock bag. Squeeze the fudge into a corner and snip the corner off. Now you can easily pipe the fudge into the cookies! The great thing about this fudge too is that it sets up super fast, so feel free to fill the cookies well, so that the fudge goes above the cookie- it will set up and not run out! If your fudge gets too solid, just pop it back in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
To assemble the cookies: Cut the rounded part off the candy canes and adhere them to the side of each cookie cup with melted white chocolate. This is actually real easy- just put white chocolate on the cut portion of the candy cane, press it to the side of the cookie cup, then set it down on the counter until white chocolate is solid. After about a minute, the candy cane handle is well attached to the cookie cup!
Fill each cookie cup with fudge. Place several tiny marshmallows on top. Let cool.
Store cookies in an airtight container on the counter top, or in the fridge for up to 1 week.

*The tiny marshmallows can be found next to the hot chocolate. My grocery stores no longer carry the separate containers of them, so I buy the “Marshmallow Lovers” hot chocolate packets. Inside the box the hot chocolate and tiny marshmallows are in separate envelopes. You’ll need about 2 envelopes for this recipe.

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups - Butter With A Side of Bread

If you liked these Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups, check out these other Christmas treats:

HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIE CUPS

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups are festive Christmas cookies! Sugar cookie cups filled with fudge, mini marshmallows & sprinkles. Love the candy cane handle!

Servings: 24

Author: Butter With A Side of Bread

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
2 TBSP holiday sprinkles
Fudge Filling:
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
You’ll also need:
24 mini candy canes
tiny marshmallows*
1 TBSP white chocolate chips melted

Instructions

Making the cookie cups: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
With a hand mixer, cream together sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, combine sour cream, salt and soda. Add flour and sour cream to butter mixture, beat until smooth. Add 2-3 TBSP holiday sprinkles and mix just until combined. Scoop dough out using a 2 TBSP cookie scoop and put one in each mini muffin cup. No need to roll the dough to make it smooth- it will all bake the same.
Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes, making sure they’re not getting too brown at the end. {If they are, pull them out.}
Right after you take them out, use a small measuring spoon to push into the middle of each cookie cup, creating a space for the fudge filling to go. You don’t want to push through the cookie completely- but make sure you create a big enough space.
Let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then gently run a thin knife along the sides to pop them out. If you greased the pan well, you shouldn’t have any problems here!
To make the fudge filling: Combine the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl. Mix lightly and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes. I have a powerful microwave, so mine only took 1 minute. The mixture doesn’t look melted, but give it a few gentle stirs and you’ll see it’s heated well enough. Add vanilla and stir again until smooth.
Transfer about 3/4 the fudge into a quart-sized ziplock bag. Squeeze the fudge into a corner and snip the corner off. Now you can easily pipe the fudge into the cookies! The great thing about this fudge too is that it sets up super fast, so feel free to fill the cookies well, so that the fudge goes above the cookie- it will set up and not run out!
If your fudge gets too solid, just pop it back in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
To assemble the cookies: Cut the rounded part off the candy canes and adhere them to the side of each cookie cup with melted white chocolate. This is actually real easy- just put white chocolate on the cut portion of the candy cane, press it to the side of the cookie cup, then set it down on the counter until white chocolate is solid. After about a minute, the candy cane handle is well attached to the cookie cup!
Fill each cookie cup with fudge. Place several tiny marshmallows on top. Let cool.
Store cookies in an airtight container on the countertop, or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
*The tiny marshmallows can be found next to the hot chocolate. My grocery stores no longer carry the separate containers of them, so I buy the “Marshmallow Lovers” hot chocolate packets. Inside the box the hot chocolate and tiny marshmallows are in separate envelopes. You’ll need about 2 envelopes for this recipe.

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups are festive Christmas cookies! Sugar cookie cups filled with fudge, mini marshmallows & sprinkles. Love the candy cane handle!

LAYERED CHRISTMAS JELLO CUPS – Butter with a Side of Bread by Gordon Ramsay

Layered Christmas Jello cups are fun, festive and easy to make for holiday parties! This layered Jello recipe is made with cherry and lime gelatin for a delicious flavor combination in the perfect colors for Christmas!

Everyone loves jello and this layered jello recipe is absolutely perfect for Christmas! This jello recipe is super easy to make too – all you need is 2 different flavors of jello and vanilla yogurt!

You can make Christmas Jello in a larger dish, but I love the look of the smaller cups and it is so much easier to serve this way too! The other advantage to using smaller dishes is that each layer of jello sets up really fast which is important when you need to wait for several different layers to set up.

What flavors of jello do you need to make layered jello?

I used cherry and lime jello to make this layered jello because the colors are perfect for Christmas and the flavors go together really well, but you can use other flavors if you prefer. I’m not sure that there are any other green jello flavors (maybe green apple?), but there are lots of red jello flavors. Strawberry would work really well and if you want some different shades of red, you could use black cherry or raspberry.

I have also made a Rainbow Jello version of this same recipe – the great thing about this recipe is that you can use various flavors of jello to make the perfect dessert for any holiday! You can do red and blue jello for the 4th of July, yellow and orange jello for Halloween (or purple and green!), and a variety of reds and pinks for Valentines Day!

How do you make layered jello?

For each layer, you mix the gelatin with boiling water and then divide the mixture in half. Half of the mixture is then mixed with vanilla yogurt to make the cloudier, lighter colored layers. I prefer to use vanilla yogurt because I like the vanilla flavor and the texture, but you can use sour cream instead if you prefer!
There are also ways to make a completely white layer in between each color by using unflavored gelatin and sweetened condensed milk, but it is much easier to just use part of the flavored Jello that you are already making and I like the different shades of the colors!
You can skip the cloudier layers in between and just use regular Jello, but many of the flavors of Jello are kind of dark and when you layer red and green right next to each other, the colors don’t pop out as much and it can be hard to tell which colors you used!

How long does each layer of jello need to set up?

Each layer of jello sets up in about 20-30 minutes. The translucent jello layers in this jello recipe set up a little bit faster than the layers that have the yogurt in them.
The smaller the dish you use and the thinner the layers, the faster the layers will set up. You can make this recipe in an 8X8 pan or a glass bowl, but the larger the layers, the long it will take each layer to set up. I like to use 5 oz. parfait dishes like the ones pictured – then you don’t have to worry about cutting the jello when you serve it!

What are the ingredients in Layered Christmas Jello Cups?

4 small boxes (3 oz) Jello – 2 boxes cherry, 2 boxes lime (or other green and red jello flavors!)
2 cups vanilla yogurt
whipped cream for topping if desired

How do you make Layered Christmas Jello Cups?

For each layer, boil 1 cup water (I do this in the microwave) and then add the contents of one flavor of jello. Stir with a fork until the jello is totally dissolved and then divide the mixture in half, saving half in a separate bowl.
Add 1/2 cup yogurt to half of the jello mixture and stir until well combined. Pour the yogurt/Jello mixture into your dishes* and then place in the refrigerator in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes or until completely set.
Add 3 Tbsp water to the other half of the jello that you reserved. Set aside. As soon as the yogurt layer is set, you can pour the reserved layer on top. Refrigerate again until set.
Repeat steps 1-3 with the other flavor of jello and then repeat the steps two more times. If you use a deeper dish, you can repeat the layers as many times as you want – you’ll just need more jello!
I like to put a little bit of whipped cream on top just before serving! Totally optional!

Also, keep in mind that if you are using a bowl or any type of dish that is smaller at the bottom, you may need to use a little less jello on the bottom layers or they will be a lot thicker than the top layers. If you have extra jello that you don’t use in the bottom layers, you can just put it in another bowl/dish to snack on later!

Layered Christmas Jello Cups

Ingredients

4 small boxes 3 oz Jello – 2 boxes cherry, 2 boxes lime (or other green and red jello flavors!)
2 cups vanilla yogurt
whipped cream for topping, optional

Instructions

For each layer, boil 1 cup water (I do this in the microwave) and then add the contents of one flavor of jello. Stir with a fork until the jello is totally dissolved and then divide the mixture in half, saving half in a separate bowl.
Add 1/2 cup yogurt to half of the jello mixture and stir until well combined. Pour the yogurt/Jello mixture into your dishes* and then place in the refrigerator in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes or until completely set.
Add 3 Tbsp water to the other half of the jello that you reserved. Set aside. As soon as the yogurt layer is set, you can pour the reserved layer on top. Refrigerate again until set.
Repeat steps 1-3 with the other flavor of jello and then repeat the steps two more times. If you use a deeper dish, you can repeat the layers as many times as you want – you’ll just need more jello!
I like to put a little bit of whipped cream on top just before serving! Totally optional!

Recipe Notes

*NOTE: I made ten 5 oz. parfaits with this recipe. If you use a different sized dish, you will still follow the same recipe, but just divide the layers accordingly. (If you are making the jello recipe in an 8X8 pan, just pour the entire layer in the pan at once, don’t divide into 10.) Also, keep in mind that if you are using a bowl or any type of dish that is smaller at the bottom, you may need to use a little less jello on the bottom layers or they will be a lot thicker than the top layers. If you have extra jello that you don’t use in the bottom layers, you can just put it in another bowl/dish to snack on later!

How do you store layered jello cups?

Jello cups can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, so you can make them ahead of time!

Are jello cups healthy?

Layered Jello Cups make the perfect dessert, but they are actually pretty low in calories! They are completely gluten-free which is perfect for those with gluten allergies and sensitivities. You can also use sugar-free Jello if you are trying to minimize calories. I have also used Greek yogurt before in the yogurt layers which adds a little bit of protein which makes this little dessert a little bit more nutritious too!

Grilled German Potato Salad – Warming Up to a Great Summer Side Dish by Gordon Ramsay

I’ve never been a huge fan of German potato salad, for two
very good reasons. First of all, my love for mayonnaise borders on
inappropriate, and secondly, the potatoes always seem to be under-cooked.

I
enjoy many things cooked al dente, but potatoes are never, ever one of them. I
know people want clean, neat slices, but to me that’s just not a good enough
reason.

However, if they’re cooked tender, especially over some
smoky coals, I can forgive the lack of mayo, since this is a very flavorful
change of pace, and as I mentioned in the video, perfect for bringing to a
cookout. A German potato salad must be eaten warm, or at least room temp, so
placing a bowl of this on a sunny picnic table works out very well.

I use a ton of bacon in my version, because it’s bacon, but
if you do decide to use less, you’ll have to add some vegetable or olive oil to
the dressing to make up the difference. You could just use less vinegar, but
then you might not have enough dressing to really soak the potatoes, which
would be a shame. So, what I’m trying to say is, use a lot of bacon. Either
way, I really do hope you give this great potato salad a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Portions Grilled German Potato Salad:

2 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, grilled until just tender

1/4 cup freshly chopped Italian parsley

For the dressing:

8 ounces sliced bacon

1 cup diced yellow onion

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

cayenne to taste

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

Note: If you want you dressing tangier, add more vinegar,
but if you want it less so, you’ll have to adjust with vegetable oil, since you
can’t add more bacon fat.