I received free product from Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals and Bob’s Red Mill as part of The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange. As always, all opinions and recipe are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Natasha Red!

Hooray! It's baking season, and I for one, am totally excited. I've been baking away for about a month now and collecting some fun recipes for holiday treats. I share some pretty healthy recipes on the blog, but I think life calls for a little indulgence every once in a while, and Christmas time is just that perfect time!

My friend Erin from the Speckled Palate Blog has put together an incredible collection of holiday cookies and I've decided to join the party! I baked these for our Thanksgiving with family, and they were a hit! I love Andes candies - they remind me of dinners out with my parents when I was a child, picking one up on the way out of a fancy restaurant. I think these cookies would be amazing with some crushed candy canes or peppermint chocolate chips as well!

If you're going to be baking, you also need the kitchen supplies. I've teamed up with a ton of other bloggers to offer you some seriously amazing baking supplies. Info on all that is at the end of the post!

Ingredients

1 3/4 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup pure cane sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups unbleached organic all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 cup Andes baking chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F

Combine butter and sugars in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Turn onto low speed and cream the sugars and butter together. Scrape down the sides as needed.

Add one egg at a time to your butter and sugar, with the speed still on low. Add vanilla and turn the mixer off.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, sea salt and cocoa and whisk together very well. Pour all of the flour mixture into the stand mixer and mix on low speed until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add in your Andes baking chips and mix until just incorporated, do not over mix.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Use an ice cream scoop (like this one!) to measure out your cookie dough, placing them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. If you are like me, and don't have the right ice cream scoop for this, using a spoon and rolling into balls in your hands works perfectly well.

Bake for 10 minutes, then take out of the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Dig in and enjoy these delicious, perfectly chewy and moist cookies! This recipe makes about 30 cookies, soooo plenty to share! :)

GIVEAWAY DETAILS!

I’ve teamed up with 50 other bloggers to bring you The Sweetest Season’s Sweetest Cookie Giveaway! We’ve put together an incredible cookie baking prize package, and I soooo wish I could win!

Be sure to check out our blogs to see all of our cookie recipes throughout the week! We’re using the hashtag #sweetestseasoncookies on social media this week, and we’re joining even more bloggers baking cookies, so lots of ideas for Christmas treats!

Now, on to the giveaway!

A whopping 51 bloggers teamed up to bring you an awesome cookie-centric giveaway! We picked out a stand mixer and other goodies to make baking this season go smoothly. And, a big thank you goes out to the generous sponsors who helped with The Sweetest Season by organizing, as well as providing products to the participating bloggers and donating some incredible prizes for our giveaway! Be sure to check out Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals, Bob’s Red Mill, Cabot Creamery and The Crumby Cupcake for lots of great recipe ideas. And check out Garnishing Co., who designed our graphics.

Enter to Win the Sweetest Cookie Prize Pack! Valued at $690!

We’re giving away The Sweetest Cookie Prize Pack, worth $690! The prize pack includes:

One KitchenAid 5-Qt. Artisan Design Series Stand Mixer with Glass Bowl in Sugar Pearl Silver // $315 value
One $50 Bob’s Red Mill gift card and one exclusive set of Bob’s Red Mill products: One 5-lb. bag Organic All Purpose Flour, one 5-lb. bag Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, one 40-oz. bag Almond Meal, one 28-oz. bag Sparkling Sugar, one 28-oz. bag Cane Sugar // $95 value
Two 4-lb. bags of Imperial Sugar/Dixie Crystals granulated sugar, one My First Cookbook and a silicone baking mat // $50 value
Coupons for $40 worth of Cabot Creamery products, including butter and yogurt // $40 value
One OXO Good Grips 5-Quart Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl // $35 value
One Jenaluca Stainless Steel Medium Cookie Scoop // $33 value
One 2-piece Calphalon Nonstick Baking Sheet Set // $30 value
One 10” x 15” Stainless Steel Metal Cooling Rack // $25 value
One 7-piece OXO Good Grips Multi-colored Nesting Measuring Beaker Set // $20 value
One GIR: Get It Right Ultimate Spatula in Gray // $19 value
One 5-piece R & M Snowflake Cookie Cutter Set // $10 value
One OXO Good Grips 11” Balloon Whisk // $10 value
One OXO Good Grips Silicone Cookie Spatula // $8 value

Giveaway rules:

Enter the giveaway through the Rafflecopter widget below. Everyone gets a free entry! You can enter multiple times, up to 66 total entries by following the giveaway sponsors on social media. (If you’ve followed in the past, that counts! Just enter the information as prompted.) All entries will be verified. No purchase is necessary to win.
The giveaway is open until Saturday, December 19, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. CST. One winner will be chosen at random and e-mailed within 48 hours. Winners must claim prize within 48 hours of initial contact. The retail value of the prize is $690. Prizes listed above are the only ones available.
Open to U.S. residents with a valid shipping address only. Must be 18 years of age as of December 5, 2015.
To read all giveaway terms and conditions, visit the giveaway terms and conditions page or click the option in the Rafflecopter below to review them.

a Rafflecopter giveaway