Roundup of Christmas Cookie Recipes

I have been a buys little baker lately. I have a few favorites recipes that I make every year around the holidays, but I try to add in a few news one here and there to see if they could become favorites. Every year I make shortbread cookies from an old family recipe, and oatmeal craisin cookies from a Southern Living at Home book that I have. Last year I added Candy Cane Kiss sugar cookies (pictured above) from Recipe Girl to my annual baking.

This year I decided to try these:

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Peppermint Frosting. I used the whoopie pie recipe posted on bakerella.com, but I bought Betty Crocker Peoppermint Frosting to pipe between the cookies. I used a Silpat liner instead of parchment paper and it worked like a dream!  I haven't tried these yet, but I rolled the edges in red and green sprinkles so they look very festive!

Butter Toffee Cookies from recipegirl.com. Instead of sprinkling bright white sugar on top, I dipped half the cookie in milk chocolate. They look fancy!

Peanut Brittle from recipegirl.com. This was my first attempt at peanut brittle. I bought a new candy thermometer, just for this recipe. It turned out awesome!

Peanut Butter Blossoms from allrecipes.com. These are fantastic! The recipe made about 7 dozen cookies too!

Holiday Baking Spread 2011

(ETA: I also made chewy coconut cookies and eggnog pound cake. Both were awesome!)

For breakfast I'm going to make these to go with our traditional cinnamon rolls:

 Blueberry Danish Puff from Chef in Training

The Puff I made at Thanksgiving

and Mini Maple Pancake Muffins from Bakerella.

These are so great when you have a crowd for breakfast!

I'm looking forward to eating all of these yummy treats, but I'm not looking forward to the diet I'm going to be on in January!

Merry Christmas!!! 

Getting Through the Holidays

Our last Vermont Thanksgiving

For me, the holidays have always been a joyful time of year. Time to be with family, be grateful for what we have, make some good memories. This year is the first year that we are celebrating without either of my parents, and it is hard. Really hard.

Growing up, we spent Thanksgiving with my mother’s side of the family. Everyone would get together at my grandparents’ house and we would share in all of the responsibilities that go along with feeding and entertaining 20-30 children and adults.  It was the day that Christmas card photos were taken and memories were made. We sang, we played games, we ate and we laughed. I have so many memories of that time spent with my family, and I am so grateful for each and every one of them. I want that for my kids. I hope that they will one day cherish their memories of the holidays as I do mine.

I managed to get through Thanksgiving pretty well, mostly because I was busy spending time with my husband’s family, and trying to make the holiday special for the kids. Now it’s December, and all eyes are on Christmas, but I’m having a hard time feeling the joy of Christmas that is usually radiating from me this time of year.

                                         

It’s December, the “Season of Giving,” and I have only bought a few small things at Five Below. I’ve only made half a batch of cookies, and my wish list is only 2 items long. I just can’t seem to get into it this year. Of course, because I have kids, I am faking it the best way I know how - by sticking with tradition.  I made shortbread cookies and we all decorated the tree together while listening to Christmas music. I hung our stockings and put up the rest of the decorations. The hard part came when the boys went to bed, and it was just my husband and I in the living room, looking at the tree and listening to the music. Sitting there in the dim light from the Christmas tree, all I could think about was what I was missing: my Mom and her exuberant laugh, and my Dad with his warm smile and generous spirit. Looking at their stockings hung above the fireplace made me realize that for the first time, neither of them would be filled Christmas morning. There would be no extra presents under the tree. I haven’t sat in the living room since.

My father died two weeks after Christmas, almost 5 years ago, and the pain has lessened, but it’s not gone. My mother died almost 4 months ago, and the pain from her passing has only been pushed aside by sheer willpower on my part to keep it out. My resolve is crumbling though, and it’s getting harder every day to keep my feelings at bay. I want to feel the spirit of Christmas. I want to sing Christmas songs with my kids, and get excited with them for Christmas morning. Instead I am dreading the whole thing. I wish I could put my head under my pillow until it all blows over…but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to find a way to make this holiday just as special as those in the past, for me and my family!  I may shed a few tears along the way, but I guess that is to be expected. I still have 3 beautiful, healthy children and a husband who adores me. I have a sister in France, and a brother in California who will be here to share the holidays with us, and we will make plenty of new memories together. I owe it to my kids. I owe it to my parents.

ETA: This post was written a few weeks ago and was scheduled to post, but didn't. Last week I made 4 batches of cookies and today I finally went Christmas shopping. I've also spent some time alone in the living room, and it's not as haunting as it was at first. I'm getting there! :)

Chocolate Chip Irish Creme Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

If you have Irish heritage, I'm sure you've been looking forward to this day for a while. It's a great day to eat stew or corn beef and cabbage, and drink lots of beer! Since we aren't as young as we once were and can't drink ourselves silly anymore  we don't have a lot of Irish heritage, we don't really make a big deal of St. Patrick's Day. I did want to do something though, so I decided to bake something...shocking, I know! I found this post from Recipe Girl (one of my favorite go-to blogs) for Irish Creme Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream frosting. How could I say no to that? We LOVE Bailey's around here, only we tend to only drink it around Christmas time for some reason.

So first I had to go the ABC store, because we didn't have any Bailey's on hand. I decided to buy some Creme de Menthe as well to maybe put on top of the frosting (which didn't turn out so well). The only other thing I needed was mini-chocolate chips, which was easily remedied with a quick trip to Walmart. Let the baking begin!

Fresh out of the the oven

The cupcakes baked up nice and moist. I think that this was the first time I've made cupcakes with cream cheese in the batter, and I loved it! :)   The frosting is basically a simple buttercream with 4 Tbsp. of Bailey's in it. Did I mention these aren't for children? The Bailey's flavor is definitely stronger in the frosting, but it is oh so yummy!  I sprinkled the frosting with green sugar and then made these cupcake toppers from TomKat Studios and voila! The perfect adult cupcake for St. Patrick's Day!

My Christmas Hangover

I have had the worst Christmas hangover this year! And it's not from drinking too much! The month of December brings so much happiness and cheer, and by Christmas I have my family surrounding me, participating in all of our Christmas traditions. We drink, we eat, we play games and watch movies. We laugh, we cry and we laugh some more. And then it's over. Christmas ends and they all go home. The tree comes down and the decorations get put away. The house feels empty (and bigger), and strangely quiet. All that is left is my Christmas Hangover and a big mess!

I'm not sure why this year is so much worse than recent years, but I just can't shake this feeling of sadness. I wrote an entire blog post yesterday about what I was feeling, and then I left it as a draft. It was good to get it out, but I don't need to whine where the whole world can read it! I don't really have anything to whine about, really, other than missing my family and feeling a little lost in my career (or lack thereof).

So today I made the decision to pull myself up by my bootstraps (who came up with that saying anyway?) and shake the doom and gloom cloud that I've been under. I need to get my house in order, spend some quality time with my kids, and start to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up! No one is going to do any of those things for me, so I better just jump in with both feet and get started.

So far, my plan is working. I've done 2 loads of laundry, washed the windows in my dining room, and took down the outside Christmas lights and decorations. The kids are playing nicely together (shockingly!) and I feel a little bit better about the New Year! I know there are a lot of good thing in store for me this year. Now I have to go out and find them! I really believe that our destinies are up to each of us, and I'm not letting mine pass me by!

New Christmas Cookies

My husband took our older boys to the elementary school tonight for the holiday fun night that they go to every year. So that meant I was home alone with the little one (who would not have enjoyed the crowd at the school), who happily played with his brothers' Beyblades and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I baked.

First I made the Toll House Recipe for chocolate cookies. Instead of the white chocolate chips that the recipe called for, I added Andes candy bits. I'd been having a wicked craving for mint and chocolate! The cookies came out fantastic and I was inspired. 

Next up: Candy Cane Kiss Cookies from Recipe Girl. I followed the recipe and her directions (almost) exactly. Instead of cutting up a bunch of Hershey Kisses to put in the batter, I used Andes peppermint crunch bits. I omitted the peppermint extract, and I was very happy that I did. The flavor from the Andes candies and the kisses were plenty! To be perfectly honest, the cookies are so good all by themselves, I'll be making them again just as sugar cookies!  

When it came time to put the kisses on the cookies, I made my first mistake. I had them all open ahead of time, but I took my time putting them on. Then I put them in the refrigerator instead of the highly recommended freezer. Huge mistake! My kisses ended up looking like this on the first dozen: 

So for the next tray, I put the Kisses on a little faster and put the entire cookie sheet directly in the freezer. What a huge difference it made! This time, they looked like this: 

Of course, because sometimes I just can't help myself, I had to try one more change. I didn't like how small the diameter of the cookies were in comparison to the Kisses. So after rolling them into balls and coating them in sugar, I flattened them with the bottom of a glass. This made much bigger cookies (with the same amount of dough), but they didn't look nearly as charming. I actually really like the cracks that are created when you squish the cookie with Kisses.

Festive cookies on a festive plate!

The recipe states that this recipe makes 2.5 dozen. I managed to make 39 cookies, and since I didn't chop up the Kisses for the dough, I had a few Kisses left over for my little munchkin to eat!

So all in all, these cookies were a huge success. They taste amazing, and they go quite nicely with my new Christmas platter! :) This recipe will be definitely be added to my repertoire!

Shopping for my Angel

Today I went shopping for the "Angel" that I'm sponsoring for Christmas. His name is Jeremiah and he is 8 years old. He asked for clothes. Pants in particular. He didn't ask for a Beyblade, which is all my kids can talk about. He didn't ask for Bakugan, video games or a skateboard. He asked for something he needed, which I think is both smart, and incredibly sad. The budget for our gifts is supposed to be $25-30, and I spent close to $40. I had to! I couldn't just get the boy a pair of pants. I had to get him a matching shirt. And who wants (just) clothes for Christmas?

So after I bought the pants and a Bakugan at Kohl's, I took my children to Target to help pick out a toy and a shirt for him. We had the discussion about why we are donating these gifts, and how sad it is that this boy might not get any other Christmas presents. I think they got it. They picked out a Beyblade with a launcher, and a shirt with a football on it. They're 7 and 9, so who better to ask about what an 8 year old would want?!

I hope Jeremiah likes his gifts. I hope he gets to open at least a few presents filled with what he wants on Christmas morning. If not, I know that we did something great for this little boy, and in the process, my boys learned a very important lesson about charity.