Christmas Pie Cookie Cups

‘Tis the season for holiday baking, and I have created quite a few new recipes I’m excited to share with you all! The first one is what I like to call Christmas Pie Cookie Cups. These cookies combine the sweet, tart, and tangy flavors of strawberries and cranberries with the spicy warmth of cinnamon and cloves in a chewy, cinnamon cookie cup. They really do taste like Christmas in a perfect, bite sized cookie! Added bonus? The process of preparing them will make your house smell like Christmas too!

CHRISTMAS PIE COOKIE CUPS

Ingredients

• 1 c butter, softened
• ½ c brown sugar
• ¼ c granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 ¾ c all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ T cinnamon
• ¼ t salt
• ½ t baking soda
• 1 c cinnamon chips (can substitute with white chocolate chips if necessary)

For the compote:

• 16 oz strawberries, diced
• 1 c dried cranberries*
• 1/3 c sugar
• 1 lemon, juice of (divided)
• 1 ½ t cinnamon
• ¼ t cloves
• 2 T cornstarch

Instructions

Make the strawberry cranberry compote ahead of time by mixing the diced strawberries, cranberries, sugar, and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice together. Simmer over medium heat for five to seven minutes, stirring often to break down the fruit. Stir in the cinnamon and cloves and place on low heat for another minute. In the meantime, stir the cornstarch into the remaining lemon juice one tablespoon at a time until combined. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the fruit sauce, stirring constantly. Once combined, remove from heat and then refrigerate until chilled.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.

Beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with an electric mixer.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda, then add to the butter mixture and mix together until smooth.

In a microwavable bowl, melt the cinnamon chips in 20 second increments, stirring between heating, until the cinnamon chips are completely melted, then add to the cookie dough and mix in.**

Press the cookie dough into each muffin tin until right below the surface level, then bake for 8-12 minutes until the cookie dough is baked through. Remove from the oven and use the back of a ½ tablespoon to make an indent in each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool completely before gently prying each cookie out of each muffin slot, then fill each cookie cup with a spoonful of strawberry cranberry sauce and serve. Makes around 2 ½ dozen cookies.

*I used dried cranberries when I originally created this recipe because fresh cranberries were not yet in season. I have since used fresh cranberries to make this recipe again and added 2 more tablespoons of sugar to make up for the tartness of fresh cranberries.** The cinnamon chips can be added to the batter without melting, if desired.