Lots of sweet holiday treats.

My girlfriend D came over last week and we spent the cold, winter evening filling up the kitchen with sweet smells and girl talk. Nothing like great company and baked goods to make a girl feel all warm and fuzzy inside! It was also a great way to warm me up for my firm's holiday bake-off that Friday.

I borrowed her red velvet cookie recipe for the competition, and added some white chocolate chips to the mix. I also made some festive cupcakes as well, and even though they didn't earn me first place, I received a lot of compliments -- someone even offered to commission me to make some fun cupcakes for their young daughter's next birthday! Sweet. Ingredients and recipes found below!

Red Velvet & White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 box of red velvet cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup of white chocolate chips (you can add more or less to your own liking)

Mix all of the ingredients together to make the cookie dough. Roll into small balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Flatten down slightly, depending on the thickness you desire. Bake at 375 degrees (you may want to set the oven before you start mixing!) for 8-10 minutes until the tops crackle (or until desire doneness).

Enjoy! (Hint: I'm sure Santa will also enjoy them as an ode to his red and white outfit, *wink, wink*.)

Next came the chocolate cupcakes! All you need to do is follow the instructions provided on the back of the cake mix box. Don't forget to let the cupcakes cool off before you start decorating them!

"Polar Paws" Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes

vanilla frosting

1/2 cup of coconut flakes

large dark chocolate disks

1 bag of M&Ms

Pour the coconut flakes onto a medium-sized plate. Set all the brown M&Ms from the bag aside. Apply the vanilla frosting on desired number of chocolate cupcakes. Take each cupcake and lightly (and evenly) press the frosted side onto the coconut flakes to create the "white fur". To make the chocolate disks and M&Ms "stick" better onto the coconut, simply pat very small amounts of frosting on the back to "glue" the paws onto each cupcake.

"Candy Cane" Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Vanilla frosting

Red and green food coloring

Candy canes

Mix red and green food coloring with the vanilla frosting until the desired color is achieved. Spread evenly over the top of each cupcake. Crush up a candy cane into smaller pieces. (You may want to cover the candy with a napkin to avoid having the candy bits fly everywhere!) Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle! (You can also stick whole candy canes directly into the cupcakes for an even more festive look.)