Making The Cookie Dough

Cup of Yum
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking oil.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together until smooth and fluffy.
3. Add egg, molasses and milk to the butter and sugar. Mix all the wet ingredients on medium until combined.
4. In a second mixing bowl add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and salt. Stir all ingredients together until well blended.
5. Add the dry flour ingredients to the wet butter and sugar mixture. Mix on low then medium with a mixer (or with a rubber spatula) until the dry ingredients are fully mixed and a dough forms. Be careful not to overmix the dough or it can become tough.

Baking The Cookies

1. Scoop the cookie dough into two tablespoon balls of dough. Using clean hands, roll the cookie dough into smooth balls.
2. Place cookie dough balls on a pan lined with parchment paper with at least two inches in between cookies.
3. Use the bottom of a glass and press down gently on each ball of cookie dough to flatten the cookies.
4. Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes until cooked on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Cookies will chewy once finished.
5. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to sit for 2-3 minutes on the pan. Transfer cookies to a wire rack or clean kitchen towel to finish cooling.

Decorating The Cookies

1. Place white chocolate in a medium-sized heat-safe bowl. (Taller works better, but it needs to be wide enough to dip the cookies.) Melt the white chocolate in the microwave on half power, stirring about every 60 seconds until fully melted.
2. Once cookies are fully cool, dip each cookie halfway in white chocolate. Place on a sheet of parchment paper to harden.
3. Melt the candy melts each in a microwave safe bowl according to the directions. Fit the piping bag with a tip if you have it. Fill piping bags or strong zip-top bag with different colors of melted candy melts.
4. Snip the tip of the bag with scissors and make green squiggles for trees. Add brown tree trunks and red ornaments. Let chocolate and candy melts fully cool and harden, then enjoy!