Glasses, bowls and plate from Pier 1 Tasting Party™ Collection
Christmas is just few days away and the closer it gets the more party invitations we receive in the mail. Most of them are for Christmas Eve, only a few for Christmas day.
Unfortunately we won’t be able to attend any. We’ve already made Christmas commitments and since those involve a lot of traveling we’ve decide to celebrate Christmas a little earlier at our house giving Tiffany time to play with the new toys (speaking of which I’ll have to talk with Santa, to pay me for assembling some of them).
Some delightful bites with a few good friends and hours later out Christmas dinner was over.
I didn’t want to go with a 7 course meal so I opted for a few bite-size appetizers, a vegetarian main dish and some chocolate delights for dessert. It was wonderful. Everyone got to try different things without feeling stuffed after first course.
I’m not going to talk now about appetizers and main dish, I know you don’t want to hear that. You’re here for the chocolate, and I don’t blame you. If dinner starts with dessert first, I’m the happiest!
For dessert I made some simple chocolate cut out cookies and dressed them up for party with the help of Pier 1 Tasting Party™ Collection.
Few days ago Pier 1 generously sent me the Tasting Party® Starter Set to try it out. Since we were planning already on an early Christmas party I knew it would come in handy but in a bit non-traditional way. Instead of using the small glass and bowl for appetizers I opted for small dessert portions.
I’m made mini-trifles crumbling a couple of my chocolate cut-out cookies and some peppermint-whipped cream for some and cinnamon whipped cream for some. The mini bowls came in handy for the cookie dippers : chocolate-mocha and ginger cream-cheese. I actually spread some on a cookie and topped with another one for a chocolate cookie sandwich.
Everyone got to try a little bit of everything. I already see a lot of taste-testing dinners in the new year using Pier 1 Tasting Party™ Collection
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) salted butter diced
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until the dough starts to form a ball.
- Take the cookie dough ball out and on a lightly floured surface roll it out. With a small cookie cutter cut the cookies and place them on baking sheets.
- When all the cookie dough is cut place the baking sheets in the refrigerator while the oven is heated to 350F.
- Bake the cookies for about 9 minutes or until the edges are firm. Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheets before removing them.
Notes
Recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen
For other Christmas treats check out #25recipestoXmas. You can also see the gallery on Pinterest or onGoogle+
Sending love your way,
Roxana
* I received the Tasting Party® Starter Set for free. Opinions are all mine.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
perfect taster desserts!
How cool is that collection from Pier 1! You lucky, lucky woman. Of course, all your guests were very lucky too. That dessert tasting looks delicious. I think I’d head right for the ginger cream cheese dip. Wow.
How fun. Everything looks wonderful, and a great idea for a Christmas party
These are so, so pretty! Love this idea for a holiday party!
What a lovely idea! It looks so inviting and I would love to sample all those dishes. The invitations at this time of the year are a bit overwhelming – better to spread them out a little. I’m going to do a New Year’s dinner at the end of January.
Roxana, you are killing me with all of your gorgeous holiday desserts! These chocolate cut-out cookies are no exception! I’m also in lust with your ‘first’ bundt cake. Looks more like your 20th! It’s perfect and beautiful!
These all sound delicious! I love small bite sized desserts.Its always fun to be able to taste a bunch of different stuff. These little dishes are so perfect!
I love a dinner that begins with dessert!
These chocolate cut-out cookies are gorgeous, Roxana!
This looks so beautiful. What a great dessert. I love baking cookies. Very good for the soul
These are the cutest little desserts! They look super delicious too!