I’ve claimed the seat next to the fireplace at my in-law’s house. There’s comfort with each crackle; that soothing hiss and rumble of the flames is something I look forward to all year long. With this seat comes the responsibility of keeping the flame roaring and I take that role very seriously. In fact, it’s time for another log.

I’m warm, full of pie, feeling incredibly thankful, and getting very excited about December. How is it already December?

Not only is this the month that I finally get to share my book to all of you and but it’s also time for me to tell you all about our new holiday cookie mix flavor;  White Chocolate Peppermint with Vanilla Salt! So yeah, it’s a great month.

I’m generally not much of a white chocolate fan, in fact I’ve often mocked it for calling itself chocolate when really it’s only cocoa butter (if it’s high quality white chocolate) and sugar but I take it back with these cookies. Yes, they are quite sweet (which is also why I’ve chastised white chocolate in the past) but with cooling peppermint and fragrant vanilla salt there’s balance and a whole lot of holiday festiveness. Enough to make me apologize for all the bad things I’ve said about white chocolate.

I’ve gone ahead and shared the recipe with you all below so you can bake batch after batch during the month, as I plan to do. But if you’d like to give the cookies as a gift or save yourself a step you can order the mix (both Salted Chocolate Chip and White Chocolate Peppermint) here.

While you’re there you may notice a few changes. For one we have a pretty great gift pack; cookie mix and Mae James coffee beans! These beans are roasted for these cookies. My sweet friend, Jessie has paired her delicately roasted beans with my cookies and they really do make a perfect set.

Also, our packaging has increased in size a bit to accommodate our new packages on the inside. They are super airtight keeping all the amazing ingredients very fresh. After packaging all the ingredients ourselves we are finally letting someone else have some fun. We are still using all the same great ingredients (Shepherd’s Grain flour, three types of sugar including raw turbinado sugar, ground whole Heilala vanilla bean, Guittard chocolate, Maldon flaky sea salt, and Jacobsen Vanilla Salt) but now I’ll have more time to think about new flavors and/ or maybe start thinking about another book (!!).

Because of this change we did have to increase our price just a touch. This whole process has been humbling and very exciting. We’ve had to adjust many things here and there but all in all we’re just so excited to see and hear about our little cookies being enjoyed in kitchens all over the world. I love checking in on our hashtag (#nwscookiemix) and seeing trays and trays of cookies. I love seeing parents hand their kids the tube and then they take it from there. It is so incredibly satisfying. Thank you all for the support and for loving the cookies!

Also, for those of you who are local (Seattle) we’re opening up our office on Sunday, December 7 from 12-4 to sell cookie mix, coffee, and homemade baked goods. Save the shipping and come say hello!

And finally, for everyone, if you are buying in bulk (6 or more) we’ll take 10% off of your order! Use the discount code CHOCOLATERAIN when you are checking out.

In the meantime, preheat your oven and go and bake some cookies because it’s December and it’s going to be a great month!

(PS Check out the cookies on Food52)

White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies with Vanilla Salt

MAKES 18 TO 24 COOKIES

1⁄2 cup / 115 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

3⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons / 170 g packed dark brown sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

13⁄4 cups / 250 g all-purpose flour

3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup / 140 g white chocolate chips

2 tablespoons /30 g crushed peppermint candies (or candy canes)

Vanilla salt (such as Jacobsen), for finishing

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed, until light in color and texture, 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well to combine. Again, stop the machine and scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt to combine.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until streaks of flour still run throughout. Add the chocolate and peppermint candies then mix until everything just comes together. Finish the dough by hand, taking care to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is evenly distributed.

At this point, it is best to refrigerate the dough for 24 hours. Resting the dough intensifies the deep toffee flavors, and the texture of the baked cookie improves.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 360°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough onto the baking sheets. Top the cookies with a pinch of vanilla salt just before baking.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Rotate the sheets halfway through if they appear to be baking unevenly. The cookies should be lightly golden on the outside but still look quite gooey on the inside. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

These are best eaten the day of baking but will keep, if well sealed, for up to 2 days.

Whew. It took me awhile to write out that title. It’s a doozy and I think it accurately shows the doozy of a day we are having around here.

First of all my baby turns 4 today. Seriously, my baby is 4. Remember when she was just a sweet little pudgy puff of sleek black hair?! Now she’s a full on big girl. She prances around in my high heels, wrestles with the boys, spends most of her life pretending she’s a cat and still sneaks into bed with us almost nightly.

We’re celebrating our Ivy Jane with a towering Hello Kitty cake and a new business venture. Because we’re crazy in the best possible way and Ivy and I both agree that the world needs more salted chocolate chip cookies. She’s wise, that one.

Starting today you can order the NWS Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie in mix form! Wait, that needs a few more of these: !!!

Everything is hand packed and ready for 1 stick of soft butter and 1 egg. We’re using Shepherd’s Grain organic flour, three types of sugar (white, dark brown, and raw Turbinado), ground whole dried vanilla beans, Guittard 72% bittersweet chocolate, and Maldon flaky sea salt. If you haven’t had these cookies before, they are quite special and easily THE most made recipe in our house.

Here’s the deal, I LOVE this blog and all of you who visit this space. It’s been one of those orange round life saver things that dangle at the back of a boat (we were just on a ferry today so the reference is fresh) in a season where I often felt as if I was drowning. This blog has led me to a career that I never knew I wanted and yet now I see that all the pieces of my life up to this point have led me here. The comments, the inspiration, and the community has been a gift that often leaves me overwhelmed by its sweetness. But what I don’t get to do with the blog is actually feed you. I mean like have you sit at my table while I stand in the kitchen mixing up a batch of whatever is inspiring me in that moment. Because as much as I love this space and am so incredibly grateful for it, it’s no replacement for the satisfaction I get from feeding people. I know, I know cookie mix doesn’t put us at the same table but it is something made from my hands and then put in yours. It’s tangible, it’s real and it’s freaking delicious.

As my dear friend, Julie and I packed each tube I thought so often of the trays of warm cookies that will fill the homes of those who purchase and my goodness it got me excited (please send pictures, I’m totally serious).

But wait, there’s more (as if I didn’t sound like a commercial already)! I haven’t even told you about what I think is the very best part.

We’ve teamed up with our good friends at First Aid Arts (site launching very soon) to help cookies bring even more sweetness into this world. A little bit about them:

First Aid Arts trains counselors and trauma care providers how to use the arts in a healing capacity with survivors of trauma. We serve victims of human trafficking, natural disasters, war, abuse and violence, as well as the brave and beautiful who care for them.

How amazing is that? So we’re eating warm chocolate chip cookies AND knowing that part of every purchase goes directly to that cause. I’ll be talking more about them as we continue in this new venture. I’m really hoping to be able bake these cookies with some of the victims because we all could benefit from a cookie every now and again.

There’s still a couple more things to mention in this jam-packed post. First, bookmark this page because when your cookie mix arrives you can jump back here and watch the handy video below to know how to easily mix your mix. I think my brother did a damn fine job with it.

Also, ICE CREAM. I went and made ice cream with some of these here cookies. Gabe’s favorite flavor is Cookies and Cream so I combined my favorite cookie with his favorite ice cream and we created magic. I’ve sandwiched these cookies in between ice cream before but this, this is a new favorite.

This new business idea is a whole new world for us and as such there will most likely be a few kinks in the process. Please let us know if you come across any of those kinks and bare with us as we’ll probably be making some changes along the way. Also, get excited about HOLIDAY FLAVORS!!!

ADDED: Speaking of kinks, we’ve changed our online marketplace. It’s a good change. Click here to order! Thanks.

As always, thanks for being here, for supporting me in this crazy journey, for cheering me on and for being big fans of salted chocolate chip cookies. I wish I could bake you all cookies but that’d be a little crazy. What I can do is give three of you one of the very first tubes of the NWS Cookie Mix. Leave a comment below and I’ll choose the winners at random next Monday (9/15)

Now let’s go make some cookies.

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

base recipe from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home

2 cups milk

4 tsp. cornstarch

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp. light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

3 tbsp. cream cheese, softened

8 Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies (order the mix here!), chopped

Grab two large bowls and fill one with ice water. Set aside.

In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup milk and the cornstarch; set slurry aside.

In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together remaining milk and the cream, sugar, syrup, and salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes; stir in slurry.

Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes.

Place cream cheese in a bowl and pour in 1/4 cup hot milk mixture; whisk until smooth.

Then whisk in remaining milk mixture.

Pour mixture into the empty bowl and nestle in the bowl of ice water until chilled, about 20 minutes.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker; process according to manufacturer's instructions.

When the ice cream base is the consistency of soft serve add the chopped cookie bits. Let the machine continue to churn until all the pieces have been added the combined well.

Transfer ice cream to a storage container and freeze until set.