White Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs cold
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups Ghirardelli Peppermint Chunks
1 cup miniature pretzels, crushed
Crushed Peppermint Candies
Miniature Pretzels
Flaky Finishing Salt

DIRECTIONS
Using a paddle attachment, further soften butter until lighter in texture.
Cream together granulated and brown sugar, until pale in color. Scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add vanilla extract, and mix to incorporate.
Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed until the mixture is smooth. Scrape bowl between additions.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. To ensure even distribution of baking soda and salt.
Add half of the flour mixture to the bowl, and pulse until barely incorporated.
Again, scrape the sides of the bowl, and be sure to lift the ingredients from the bottom.
Add remaining flour, and pulse until just mixed. There will probably be some flour still visible.
Again, scrape the sides of the bowl, and be sure to lift the ingredients from the bottom.
Add peppermint chunks, and crushed pretzels, and mix until incorporated.
It's okay if the paddle crushes the pretzels and chunks, the broken pieces are more evenly distributed.
Using a cookie scoop, (I used a #40 scoop, which is about 1.75 Tbsp), scoop your dough.
Place balls of dough on a cookie sheet, and scoop the entire batch.
Roll the top half of the dough in the crushed peppermint candies, and top with a miniature pretzel.
Refrigerate dough for at least half an hour, up to a day. Then bake.
Preheat oven to 375° F; at least 30 minutes before you begin to bake.
Place dough on cookie sheet, at least 2 inches apart.
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until edges are lightly golden brown.
Top cookies with flaky finishing salt.

This is legitimately my new favorite cookie. I first discovered the flavor combination when I mistakenly thought my niece's favorite thing was white chocolate and peppermint- (she likes it when it's on top of very thick dark chocolate)… so I grabbed a bag of these at Costco, and then quickly became obsessed with them. My favorite flavor of Perk Energy is even inspired by those White Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel Crisps. So when I was making chocolate chip cookies as a request from my grandma, I figured why the heck not? I grabbed a bag of Ghirardelli Peppermint Chunks from the freezer, crushed some pretzel until I had a cup, decided they didn't look quite festive enough, and bam! my new favorite holiday cookie was born. I took them to work the next day to test on some of our clients, and by the double fisting action that went on, I knew they were winners.

Creamy Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese

adapted from Alton Brown's Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese

INGREDIENTS
3 cups elbow macaroni
1/2 stick butter, unsalted
2 large eggs
8 ounces evaporated milk
2 tsp sriracha
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh black pepper
8 ounces Monterey Jack Cheese
8 ounces Medium Cheddar Cheese

DIRECTIONS

Whisk together eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard.

In a large pot, cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot, and over low heat melt in the butter, toss to coat.

Stir egg/milk mixture into the pasta, and add the cheese.

Over low heat, continue to stir for 3-5 minutes, or until creamy.

Enjoy!

You know when the craving for a pot of creamy macaroni and cheese hits, and you're out of the boxed stuff, but you're also going to die before you can whip some homemade goodness up AND pull it out of the oven? Well, that was last Sunday at our home. Everyone was hankering for some hot mac'n'cheese, and none of us wanted to deal with the hassle of a baked mac'n'cheese, but we also didn't have any of the boxed stuff and by the time we got back from the store, even that would have been too long of a wait. So while at the store, I told my sister to throw 3 cups of macaroni in some boiling water, and we would figure it out when we got home. My niece grabbed 8 ounces of cheddar, and 8 ounces of monterey jack when she ran into the store, and we made adjustments based on what we had. I added more evaporated milk, used all the cheese that she bought, the only hot sauce we had was sriracha, and it got doubled because I didn't know how to open it. My niece who hates mac'n'cheese freaking loved this, and it was so easy that it will for sure be how we get our mac'n'cheese on from now on.

I think you could use just about any combination of cheese your heart desires.
This recipe could easily be gluten free if you used a GF pasta.