Egg Nog Logs {Cookie Week}

Egg Nog Logs are soft butter cookies infused with the flavors of egg nog, then topped with a rum flavored buttercream frosting. This alcohol free cookie is perfect for any holiday cookie platter!

I know that I promised a 3rd slow cooker recipe, but since I have pretty much been living solely off of cookies and chai for the past two weeks, I couldn’t hold out on cookie week any longer. Please try to understand. 🙂

SO, yes! It’s Cookie Week! With a serious exclamation point because:

1. Cookies are awesome!
2. This time of year is awesome!
3. Egg nog cookie logs are awesome!
4. Cookies in general are awesome!

Oh, wait. I already said that.

Cookie Week!!!!

OK, I’ll try to rein it in a little.

Cookies!!! WOO-HOO!!!!

Sorry, I’ll tone it down a bit. Seriously.

The original recipe for egg nog cookie logs came from my BFF Sandy. She brought them to a cookie exchange once, what seems like 67 years ago. No small feat at the time, seeing as Girlfriend had 4 kids, aged 5 and under. So the fact that she was out, let alone baking was quite an accomplishment! (Yes, really.) Now she has 6 of the most adorable, blue eyed, pea-in-a-pod toe-heads you’ve ever seen. They’re totally adorbs!

Anyhoo… Sandy brought her egg nog cookie logs to our cookie exchange, and I was immediately smitten. Everyone must have been smitten, because we all snarfed them down before they could make it onto our trays and home to our families.

If you are not an egg nog fan, I hear ya… hang tight for just a few more minutes. I like the flavor of egg nog, but the texture is just all wrong. Way too thick for human consumption. But these cookies? These cookies have all the delicious flavors of egg nog with the perfect texture. Slightly crisp on the outside, soft and densely chewy on the inside, with a creamy frosting on top.

You SO need to bake a batch of Egg Nog Logs!

They are just that good! These cookies are so easy to make that I let my little helper here do most of the work himself. I’m a little lazy like that. He measured the flour, nutmeg, and salt into a medium sized bowl, and whisked it together.

Allow your child labor helper to add the butter and sugar to the mixing bowl. Remind him that squeezing the softened butter through the wrapper with both hands is not the most efficient way to get it into the bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. I love the way butter looks kind of like a sugar scrub at this stage. Makes me want to dig in there and exfoliate my elbows.

Which is kinda gross when we are talking about cookies. Sorry. I live with a bunch of boys, so sometimes I forget how to relate to polite society.

Add the egg, real vanilla extract, and the rum extract. It’s the rum extract that gives the egg nog cookie logs their egg noggy flavor.

Stir in the egg and extracts until they are just incorporated. Try not to over mix, or the cookies will be too dense. (read: bricks)

Stir in about one third of the flour mixture at a time. The dough is about to get really stiff, so I like to ease my mixer into it.

See what I mean? Stiff stuff.

Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and form it into a large ball.

Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.

In the spirit of equity, give each portion of dough their own sheet of plastic wrap.

Roll each dough portion into a long rope, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Wrap each rope in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hours. Because the dough is soft, I like to roll it into ropes on a large cutting board. That way, when they are all rolled and wrapped, I can carry them to the fridge on the cutting board, and pop the whole thing in there to chill. Ta-da! No broken dough ropes.

After an hour or so, remove the ropes from the refrigerator, and unwrap them. Cut each rope into 2 inch segments, or “logs,” and put them on the prepared baking sheets. I put a dozen logs, 2 inches apart, onto each prepared baking sheet. (This recipe makes about 32 cookies.)

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If you are me, you’ll wait until now to remember that you are doing a blog post, and make a note to take pictures of this step next time.

While the cookies are cooling, make the frosting. Believe me when I tell you that the frosting makes these cookies. Cream the milk, vanilla, and rum extracts into the butter.

Mix in the powdered sugar, and beat until creamy.

Doesn’t that look cool? Kind of like an interpretation of Starry Night in frosting. Once the cookies have cooled completely, frost ’em up!

Usually, I just use a knife to spread the frosting on top of the cookies. Apparently I was under the delusion of have oodles of free time, so I put the frosting into a pastry bag and applied it with a star tip. The boys thought this was awesome, so everyone took a turn frosting with the pastry bag. It worked well for the first half of the egg nog log cookies, but by the second half, our hands had warmed the frosting so much that it started pouring out the end of the bag.

Moral of the story: if you are a nut like me and decide to use a pastry bag, fill it with half of the frosting at a time, or use two bags. Or just use a knife.

Sprinkle a little nutmeg on top, just for pretty. Eat one or two if you simply can’t wait, but I like to let the frosting set up a bit first. The Egg Nog Logs are pretty sturdy once the frosting has set, which makes them great travelers for a cookie exchange or holiday gathering. Just be sure to store them in a single layer in an air-tight container.

If you are really organized, you can make the cookies a week or two ahead of time and freeze them in the container. Just let ’em thaw on the counter for a few hours before serving.

Believe me when I tell you that once you make Egg Nog Logs cookies, your holiday cookie tray will seemed naked without them.

Kirsten Kubert

Yields 30

Egg Nog Cookie Logs {Cookie Week}

Soft butter cookies with a kick of rum and flavors to mimic egg nog, topped with a creamy, boozy buttercream frosting.

2 hrPrep Time

15 minCook Time

2 hr, 15 Total Time

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Ingredients

• For the Cookies:
• 1 C. unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 C. granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. rum flavoring
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• For the Frosting:
• 1/3 C. (5 1/3 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp. rum flavoring
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbs. milk
• 2C. powdered sugar
• Ground nutmeg for garnish

Instructions

1. Combine flour, salt, and nutmeg in a small bowl; whisk to combine.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add the egg, rum flavoring, and vanilla extract, stirring until well incorporated.
4. Add the flour mixture in 3 separate additions, stirring after each addition to combine.
5. Divide dough into 4 equal portions, and roll into 10-inch long logs, about 1/2-inch thick. Wrap logs and refrigerate for several hours, or up to 1 week.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
7. Cut logs into 2-inch pieces. Place on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
9. Remove from oven, and allow to cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. While cookies are cooling, make the frosting.
10. For Frosting:
11. Cream together the unsalted butter, rum flavoring, vanilla extract, and milk. Add the powdered sugar, and stir until blended and creamy. Frost the cooled cookies, with a knife or use a pastry bag.
12. Sprinkle each cookie with a touch of nutmeg.

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Comfortably Domestic - 2016