Christmas Cookie Line-up

  Sugar cookies

 

Thumbprints

 

Chocolate Mint Snowballs

 

Bourbon Balls

  Peppermint Cookie Bark

Gingerbread Line-up

The girls and I went Christmas cookie crazy this year.  So much so that I'm going to break my usual Christmas cookie line-up post into two.  Today is the gingerbread portion.  I did the cutting out and baking and my little helpers did (most of ) the decorating.  I cut out gingerbread men for the girls to decorate and went with a woodland theme for myself.  The woodland theme consisted of owls, trees, 2 sizes of mushrooms and some acorns.  I love decorating gingerbread.  I went crazy with the shimmering sugar this year. 

See for yourself:

 

Happy Halloween

 Wishing you the spookiest of Halloween evenings!  We are looking forward to our annual Halloween tradition of pizza, friends and trick or treating!

 My oldest found this cookie "recipe" in her kid cookbook and we couldn't resist.  All you need are Famous Chocolate Wafer cookies, store bought icing (white but we only had colored) and plastic spiders.  Wouldn't the red and blue cookies be darling for a Spiderman party?

*

to say thank you

Eva just recently completed her first ever season of soccer.  We got wind that one of the coaches loved shortbread.  We used that as an inspiration for a thank you gift.
Now, I realize that a batch of cookies doesn't usually warrant a blog post, BUT, these are worthy, trust me.  Espresso chocolate chip shortbread!  Not only are they delicious but they are a perfect canvas for whatever shortbread concoction you can imagine - almond, chocolate, currant, lemon, pistachio . . .
Pin it. Make it.  Love it. 
I bought a can of the espresso powder called for in the recipe. There is a lot left.  What to do, what to do . . . pinned this to help me figure it out.

A variation

This year I attempted to make my nest cookies look more nest-y.  Mission accomplished, I do believe.  I used crunchy chow mein noodles for some and toasted coconut for the rest.  The chow mein noodles were a pain to "glue" on (I mixed powdered sugar and milk to make a glue.) They were pretty much assembled one noodle at a time.  I did it in front of the TV.  Bryce and I are back to Breaking Bad again.  That Walt, can't seem to stay out of trouble. The girls glued the eggs in the next day. 

Anyhoo, the toasted coconut was much faster, better tasting and easier to eat.  The girls prefer the chow mein noodles.  For the eggs I used M&M chocolate candy eggs.  I wish they were smaller.


We're taking these to a flashlight egg hunt tonight.  Doesn't that sound fun?  This is the first time I've heard of such a thing.  I think the girls will love it!

Here are the directions to make these more nest-y cookies -

1) Bake a batch of Thumbprint Cookies.  These are the same ones I make every Christmas; minus the chocolate filling, of course. 
2) Stir together about 1/2 cup powdered sugar with a teaspoon milk.  Add 1 drop at a time until a glue like consistency is reached.
3) Frost the out side of the cookies with your "glue." 
4) Quickly place chow mein noodles or toasted coconut on the "glue."
5) Spoon a little "glue" in the nest and place mini eggs, jelly beans or the like.
6) Let harden in the air then place in a container.

Hope you have a Happy Easter!

This Year's Christmas Cookies

2011 Christmas Cookies

Peppermint Bark by Orangette

Peppermint Cookie Bark

Gingerbread Trees (there is still dough in the fridge waiting for the girls)

Thumbprints (Audrey has stopped calling them Fingerprints. That was so cute.)

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (first year making these. They are like little brownies. A friend told me about adding peppermint or espresso powder to these. yes, please.)

What did you bake this year? Leave a comment!

Edible Gifts

This year I'd like to give little packages of sweet edibles to friends and neighbors. It was Dana's productivity in the kitchen that finally got me going on my own gifts. She made vanilla extract and salted caramels! Yes, I know, don't you wish you were her friend? I'm making peppermint bark; two different kinds. This one has crushed chocolate wafers in it and this recipe (pictured) stands out due to it's layer of peppermint ganache. Mmm, mmm good.

Have you made candy bark before? I hadn't either. I made a batch to take to the ornament party I attended last weekend and experienced how ridiculously easy it is to make. It also looks and tastes great. A winning combination in my book.

What's coming out of your kitchen this year? Do tell!

School Boy Smores

Yum. Tonight I was treated to something incredible at my cousin's house; smores made from Little School Boy cookies. Forget the graham crackers. Forget the Hersey's chocolate bar. All you need are marshmallows roasted to a golden brown and a box of LU's Little School Boy cookies. Try it. You won't ever go back!

Are you enjoying any special treats this summer?

Nesting

The girls and I took advantage of the bit of down time we had today to make some cookies for Easter. I whipped up some thumbprint dough (Audrey still calls them fingerprints. I love that.)and we made little bird nest cookies. The girls were really into it. I'm quite certain it had something, everything, to do with the jelly beans. Both girls declared jelly beans their favorite Easter candy. Thank you mom for sending us some!

To make the cookies you need to make Thumbprint cookie dough. Here's a recipe for ya. Bake the cookies as directed. When they've cooled spoon a bit of icing (powdered sugar and milk) in the indentation and place 3 jelly beans on the icing. Let the icing harden before storing.

If I would have had some shredded wheat cereal, I would have iced the whole top of the cookie, sprinkled some broken up shredded wheat around the indentation before adding the 3 jelly beans. You could also do this with slivered or sliced almonds. This would make the cookies even more nest-like.

See that cookie with 3 black jelly beans on it? The girls made me 2 of these because I like black licorice. Such a sweet thought . . . not so sure it will be such a sweet cookie.

Christmas Cookie Round-up

Gingerbread stars with pearl sugar

Finished them today. Chocolate thumbprints & gingerbread cookies; the only two Christmas cookie varieties that I'm loyal to. I got a recipe for Eggnog Cookies from a friend and decided to try it out. I do love eggnog (mostly just a splash in my coffee.) These cookies are delicious and will definitely be made again. I'm not adding them to my loyalty list. I'm just saying these are some pretty damn good cookies. I used treacle instead of molasses in the gingerbread. The cookies are much richer and darker with a much more intense flavor. I think they are quite delicious.

Gingerbread trees

Eggnog Cookies

Chocolate Thumbprints (Audrey calls them fingerprints!)

Here are the gingerbread men the girls made. I just love them! Audrey's are the ones LOADED with candy. Eva's are with the pink and white pearl candies. What are we going to do with these darling monstrosities? I managed to decorate one. Can you find it?

What are your favorite Christmas cookies?