Here's a fun little idea I just happened to think up while making some Christmas cookies. Not much of a story really, more like a collection of scenes with some of the Loud House's characters. To be completely honest it will mostly consist of dialogue about how to make some different cookies, so if you were hoping for something more interesting you may want to keep looking. But I hope that this will provide some of you out there with new ideas for this holiday, or even just anytime you feel like making something sweet to eat! I've put the recipes at the end as well for anyone who may wish to try their hand at baking these treats!
Christmas Cookies
Disclaimer: I do not own the Loud House and make no profit from this story. All recipes below are from the Taste of Home magazine.
Lincoln & Mr. Grouse
Lincoln scanned the living room from his place on the staircase. He could see seven of his ten sisters presently, all of whom were watching a movie together. Only Lori, Leni and Lisa were unaccounted for. Lori was off at work, having just left a short while ago. Lisa was with their mother, on their way to pick up Darcy to bring her over for a visit. And Leni was busy putting the finishing touches on her new Christmas outfit for that year. Which meant all of them would be distracted while he went out.
Minding his step on the creaky staircase, Lincoln made his way down to head out the front door. But just as he approached it and reached for the knob, a sudden honking sounded and startled him. Luna sprang up from her place on the couch and rushed over towards Lincoln, or to be more precise, the door.
"That's my ride. See you dudettes later!" She said, putting on her winter hat and grabbing her boots from the pile of footwear by the door. "Oh, hey bro. Where are you off to?"
"Me? Oh, um, you know. Just heading out. I was thinking of swinging by the hobby store to browse around a bit."
"You want a ride little dude? I'm sure Sam's mom won't mind. She's pretty cool like that." Luna offered.
"That's nice, but I would rather walk, thanks. It won't be getting dark any time soon and I'm in no hurry."
Luna nodded. "Okay, bro. If you're sure. I'll see you later."
She opened the door and ran out to the sedan parked on the side of the street out front. After watching her climb into the back seat, Lincoln also left. He waved to his sister as the car drove off and then he immediately turned and rushed over to their next door neighbor's house. Lincoln rang the doorbell and waited a moment before it was answered. He smiled at his elderly neighbor as he came into view.
"Hi Mr. Grouse. Thanks for letting me come over."
"Well thanks for askin'. Unlike last year when ya just let yourself in." Mr. Grouse replied, a smirk appearing on his face. "Anyway, I got the list of things you wanted. It's all in the kitchen. Come on in and let's get started."
Mr. Grouse led Lincoln into the kitchen where an assortment of ingredients was set on the counter top. There was also two large bowls, a small bowl, a few baking sheets and the necessary utensils. As Lincoln looked over the many items, he noticed that there was more there than he had expected.
"What's this other stuff for?"
"It's for a favorite of mine, actually." Mr. Grouse explained. "I figured that since we'd be making cookies, we might as well give it a whirl. But to be honest, I ain't much for bakin' sweets. So I hope you know what you're doing, Loud."
Lincoln nodded. "Don't worry. I've got this down pat. My Dad showed me how to make them last year. I'd make them with him, but I want to surprise my sisters. They really, really, REALLY like these."
"Well then you can take charge, I'll just do what ya need me to do. We'll start with yours."
"Okay. So first thing, we need to melt the chocolate for the cookie dough so it can have time to cool a little before we mix it in. Then we have to cool the dough in the fridge for a while. Did you soften the butter and cream cheese like I asked when I called earlier?"
"Sure did. Should be all set to go. So we use those first then, I presume?"
"Yup." Lincoln said with another nod. "We need to cream them in a large bowl with the sugar until it's light and fluffy. I can do that part. Could you melt the semisweet chocolate in the microwave for me?"
Mr. Grouse did as requested and set the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl. While he began to melt it, Lincoln combined the cream cheese, the butter and sugar together. He creamed them as the recipe required and then waited for the melted chocolate to cool a little. Once it was ready he added that to the mix along with vanilla extract, beating the contents of the bowl together before finally adding in some all purpose flour and a bit of baking soda. After mixing it all together well, he set the bowl into the refrigerator.
"Okay, now we need to let that sit for an hour. Do you want to start on your cookies while we're waiting?"
"I don't see why not. Let me just preheat the oven first. You can start by mixing that softened butter with some brown sugar. You'll need one-third of a cup of each."
Lincoln did as instructed, once again creaming the ingredients in a new bowl. Mr. Grouse cracked a large egg into the bowl as Lincoln kept mixing it. This was followed by the addition of some molasses. And while Lincoln continued beating the new ingredients in, Mr. Grouse used a whisk to mix together all purpose flour, baking soda, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves in a separate bowl. Then he stood beside Lincoln and held his bowl next to the one the boy was using.
"Okay, you keep on mixing while I gradually add this to the dough. Then it should be ready to go in the oven."
He added the final ingredients for Lincoln to finish mixing and then he lined some baking sheets with parchment paper. From there they dropped the finished dough by the teaspoonful onto the baking sheets, keeping them about one inch apart from each other. Mr. Grouse put the baking sheets into the heated oven and between six and eight minutes later, the edges had turned begun to brown. He removed them from the oven and transferred the cookies with a spatula onto a wire rack to let them cool down.
"Lookin' good." the senior noted. "Now, we got to let them cool completely before the next step. Then we can make the filling."
"Filling?" Lincoln repeated. "What filling?"
"These are gonna be sandwich cookies." Mr. Grouse explained. "We'll be putting two of em together with the filling in the middle. Just wait until ya try em, they're pretty darn good! At least they should be, I haven't made em before myself. Hope they taste as good as they look."
"I'm sure that they will. So, we still have some time before my cookie dough should be ready to be baked. How about we move onto the fun part now?"
"What are ya talking about, Loud?"
Lincoln smiled. "We need to crush up the peppermint candies to put on top of the cookies."
"Oh, so that's why you need a tenderizing mallet."
"Well, we could use a rolling pin, but this way is easier. And we need to put them into a sandwich bag too. Helps to avoid a mess."
The two white haired bakers began to unwrap the candies, setting them into a baggie and sealing it shut. Mr. Grouse took his mallet and gently crushed them into small bits. For good measure, he tossed a couple more in and then allowed Lincoln to crush it all up before setting it aside. They passed the remaining time with conversation until Lincoln's cookie dough had sat in the fridge for the necessary hour.
"We'll need to roll the dough now into little ropes." Lincoln instructed. "Each one should be about three inches long. Then we can set them on the sheets, bending one end to shape them like a candy cane. Keep them about two inches apart, okay?"
"Sounds easy enough. How long do they need to bake?"
"About eight to ten minutes. They'll need to cool for a minute on the baking sheets before we can put them on the wire racks."
When the time had passed, a fresh batch of new cookies was set alongside the others that they had baked. Lincoln inhaled the delicious aroma, his mouth beginning to water just a little bit. Mr. Grouse did the same, a rare smile coming to his face.
"Hoo-boy, do those smell good! So, what's next?"
"Once they've cooled down, we melt some white chocolate and stir it until smooth. We drizzle that over the cookies and then sprinkle them with the crushed peppermint candy. And they'll be all set for eating. How about yours? Are they cool enough to finish them?"
Mr. Grouse checked his cookies with a gentle poke of his finger. "Hmmm, not quite yet. But we can start the filling anyway. Get another bowl, a smaller one. I'll measure out some butter, confectioner's sugar and orange extract. You mix that and then we add in some sweetened shredded coconut and it'll be good to go!"
"Great! I can't wait to try one!"
"Same here. You know, this has actually been pretty fun. I'm glad you talked me into it."
"Me too!" Lincoln said, his smile fading just a little. "It's just a shame that we're almost done. Time just flew by, huh?"
Mr. Grouse snorted out a laugh. "What are you going on about, Loud? We still have loads of ingredients left!" he said, making a grand sweeping gesture to the many items still on the counter. "I bet we could get at least a couple more batches of each of our cookies with all of this! How about it? You want to keep going?"
Lincoln's smile returned, widening from ear to ear. "Sure! Let me just text my Dad to let him know!"
"You do that." Mr. Grouse said. "Let me go and get my radio. We can find something to listen to while we work. And we're gonna need something to store all of these cookies when they're all done."
"I think my Dad has a tupperware platter we can use. Let me ask him."
Lincoln pulled out his phone and began typing up the message to send to his father. Meanwhile, Mr. Grouse retrieved his radio from the other room and set it down onto the counter, plugging it in. He found a station for them to listen to and the kitchen was then filled with the sound of music as the two set back to work.
End of Part 1)
Okay, so as I stated above, I have the recipes for anybody who took an interest in the cookies that the characters made in this chapter. There will be three more chapters with more recipes that I selected to share.
Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies (Makes 4 dozen)
Ingredients needed:
3/4 cups butter, softened
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 oz. white baking chocolate
2/3 cups of crushed peppermint candies
1) Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for one hour.
2) Divide the chilled dough into 48 pieces; shape each into a 3-inch rope. Place them 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets; curve the top of each to form the handle of a candy cane. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool the cookies for 1 minute before removing onto a wire rack to cool completely.
3) Melt the white chocolate in a microwave; stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cookies and then sprinkle with the crushed candies. Let stand until set. Enjoy!
Gingersnap Coconut Creams (Makes 4 dozen)
Ingredients needed for the cookies:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup molasses
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
For the Filling:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1.4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1)Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and molasses. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and spices; gradually beat this into the creamed mixture.
2) Drop the dough by level teaspoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake for 6-8 minutes or just until the edges begin to brown. Remove from the pans to wire racks to cool completely.
3) For the filling, in a small bowl, mix the butter, confectioners' sugar and extract until blended; stir in coconut. Spread the filling onto the bottoms of half of the cookies and then cover them with the remaining cookies. Enjoy!
