5 Days Left, I Recommend Eating More Cookies

We have reached the point where you can count the number of days until Christmas on one hand. This is when random people will start asking you "So are you ready for Christmas?"

Most people who ask me this are surprised when I say no. I always say no. I'm never ready for Christmas. There are always a couple more gifts I could have bought, a DIY decoration I was meaning to try to make, or a new cookie recipe to bake. 

My philosophy is to be one with the not doneness of the season. I'll do what I can, and we'll see how much I manage to pull off between now and 12/26.

Christmas: It is what it is. And just to clarify, I'm not one who has gone crazy burdening myself with expectations and complicated traditions for the holidays.  I've always thought Elf on the Shelf was creepy, I don't make handmade cards, and my decorations are a pittance of Clark Griswald's.  However, this time of year there is so much one can want to do,and I find I always have too many to-dos. Thankfully, today is the day this year that I give up on my self-imposed holiday expectations and go with the flow.

I recommend giving up as the best self-care from this point forward.  I also recommend homemade chocolate covered Oreo cookies.  Sugary satisfaction at its best!

All you need to do is melt almond bark--taking care not to  liquify the bark--if it is too hot the Oreo's will separate-- and coat the Oreo in bark, sprinkle some sprinkles and let the cookies cool. 

Merry do less Christmas!

xoxo

Mom, What's Different About These Cookies?

Adventures in Cookie Baking Day 11 reporting for duty.

BMO has been surprisingly enthused about my cookie baking.  In the past he has had a strong preference for only two types of cookies.  He only cared for the eating of chocolate chip cookies and those Keebler cookies--the shortbread ones with the stripes.  Outside of that he's been patently disinterested in cookie consumption.

However, this holiday season he has embraced all that cookies has to offer and has tried--and dare I say, enjoyed every type of cookie I have made.  He has expanded his cookie horizons and now appreciates how much better homemade cookies with plenty of butter are compared to their factory-made counterparts. I mean those factory cookies don't even have a smidgen of trans-fats anymore!

On this the 11th day of Cookie making, I made small monster cookies.  Technically monster cookies are supposed to be rather large. So it's probably an oxymoron to call these 1 1/2 inch diameter cookies- 'monster.'

There are lots and lots of variations on monster cookies, you can make them with or without flour, with butter or with margarine (why though?).

I found and like this recipe.  It has a nice cheat, you use a boxed cake mix as the base.  Obviously I used butter instead of margarine--and because I believe peanut butter is an essential part of the monster cookie experience--I used 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 a cup of creamy peanut butter.  I also used 1 cup of oats vrs 1/2 a cup.  Also, I substituted 1 cup of red and green chocolate candies instead of walnuts.  Basically, I really altered the recipe.  In any case.  The results were satisfactory for BMO and now the freezer is overflowing with cookies.

I still have a pound of butter, chocolate chips, mint chocolate candies, dried cranberries, and chopped hazelnuts, on hand- so more cookies to come!  I'm thinking I've got to make some more Spritz cookies since Youngest Child took all those to a bake sale and a shortbread cookie?  Decisions, Decisions.

xoxo

How many cookies is too many cookies? Let's find out!

More Adventures in Cookie Baking- Day 10! My freezer is getting very full. Youngest Daughter says what are you going to do with all these cookies?  I say for the 44th time, I'm going to give them away. This time she answers "Ok."  Apparently she wasn't listening the many other times I said I was making cookies to give away for Christmas.

Onward.

As my life has been quite busy with work, and picking up and dropping off kids and attending Holiday events; I decided if I wanted to continue baking, I needed to  chill some balls.  to that end, I rolled these lemon cookies and then let them chill in the fridge overnight before glazing and baking them.

Katie C. recommended this recipe from Martha Stewart.  She likes to make these cookies into Christmas Wreathes.  I took a cue from Katie and decided to put some festive sprinkles on mine.

Let's say you are sitting around wrapping presents and would like to indulge, I recommend these cookies with a nice prosecco. How delightful! You could even, take it to the next level by adding some fresh raspberries to your plate or to your glass.  Lemon- raspberry is such a lovely flavor combination.

And while I'm here just 4 days left to enroll in the ACA ! Get Covered!

Taking the Guesswork Out of Cookie Baking

Welcome to day four of my adventures in cookie baking!  Today I started with a mix and whipped up a batch of delicious thumbprint cookies.  This is a mix and a recipe I've used before so I was 99.5% certain these cookies would turn out *chefs kiss* perfect.

On to the cookies,

I used the my favorite cookie sheet, which was purchased by the Man, so I'll give him credit for finding a quality cookie sheet at a good price. I don't know what he paid for it, but he loves to shop for a good deal.

The mix I used was the Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix from Tastefully Simple I got my box from my good friend Becky McNeill.

All you need is the mix, 1 stick of butter, an egg, a wee bit of water and the jam of your choice. I had a jar of the Tastefully Simple's Rhubarb Strawberry Fruit Spread so I used that, but in the past I have used apricot jam and the best of all jams: Currant Jelly.

You mix the ingredients and then bake for 10 minutes after which you remove the cookies from the over, make the thumbprints, add your jelly of choice and cook for another 4-6 minutes.  What sets these cookies apart is the almond flavor in the mix. 

Here is my finished product.  I ate a couple and the kids had a couple and now the rest are in my garage freezer--safe from easy consumption and ready to be added to holiday cookie trays.

What cookies will I make next?  Stay tuned!
xoxo