cookiemas 2010

as i mentioned in my last post, cookie baking is what i live for.  unlike most people, i don't get together with a bunch of girlfriends and bake cookies all day.  i like to do it in the quiet calm of my own kitchen with christmas carols playing at a reasonable decibel in the background.  something about measuring out the specific ingredients for each cookie, mixing them according to the instructions, and then pulling them out of the oven looking like the little picture at the top of the recipe is therapeutic for me.  at a time when i feel like i am doing a number of things the wrong way (ahem, what wedding??), i need to have these small things to remind me that i am capable of completing something successfully.

here is my day (actually, two days) in pictures:

first i wanted to do something easy to get my feet wet, if you will.  so i went with hershey peanut butter blossoms.  they are so simple and the recipe always produces massive amounts.  they're a good filler cookie.

then, to honor my nephew, i made o'henry bars.  not only do these bars share a name with owen, they are delicious as well.  if you have never had these, make them.  you will not regret it.

next up on my list were these bad boys.  three years ago, andy's mom gave me a great cookie recipe book.  i told andy to browse through the pages and pick one he's like me to make.  he picked these, and they have been a huge hit in the family.

to add a little something new to the mix and also to use some sprinkles, i decided to whip up some whoopie pies (hint hint if you need to get me a christmas present - i would LOVE this cook book).

i think they are adorable.



amidst all this cookie making, i called my parents and asked my dad what he wanted me to make him (of the cookie variety).  classic dad, he said he wanted chocolate chip cookies (sad horn).  so i made some of those.  is it me, or are these the hardest cookies to make?  i can never make these right.  for that reason, no one except immediate family members will be munching on these this holiday season.



these ones were new last year, and i decided to bring them back for an encore.  they seem to be lighter and healthier than all the other cookies (i can believe what i want to believe) and sometimes it's nice to have a break from all the chocolate.  the only downside is that you have to make the dough ahead of time and then let it chill in the fridge for two hours.  i tend to forget about that part.
 

i have been making buckeye balls for a number of years.  they're always well-received.  they are incredibly easy to make, they just take some patience.

every year there is a last-minute cookie idea.  it's usually because i forget how much i've made and i panic that i haven't made enough to share with everyone.  this year's panic cookie was the snickerdoodle.  they are pretty easy to make in a hurry and the recipe calls for standard ingredients.

i could have kept going.  i seemed to have endless energy when it came to making these cookies.  i didn't care that i was washing the same bowls after every batch and i didn't care that my hands were so dry from washing dishes that they were starting to crack.

thankfully, i ran out of eggs and had to stop. 


 

christmas preparations

i love christmas.  always have.  i love decorating the house and i love baking cookies.  it's the one time of year when i feel like i can fly my martha stewart flag high and show my face in the craft store without feeling like i'm forty years too young to be thrilled about yarn.

i was sick last week.  so sick, in fact, that my christmas preparations were in real danger of never even happening.  there is so little time between thanksgiving and christmas.  those few weeks are critical if you want to pull off the perfect christmas.  and for some reason, this year i was determined that it would be close to, if not perfect.  probably a continuation of the whole buying the house and wanting it to be absolutely perfect the moment i moved in thing.

anyway, last saturday when i finally started feeling at least a little bit better, i felt so behind on everything that it was overwhelming and i almost just said screw it, i'll wait 'til next year to have a perfect christmas.  i even thought that i would forgo the cookie baking thing (if you know me, you would know that i live for christmas cookie baking.  this was a big deal).  i have no idea what it was that lit the spark in me, but one minute i was relaxing on the nap couch and the next minute i was yanking the christmas tree box out of the storage closet.  i even had andy help me bring it upstairs.

andy is somewhat of a reluctant christmas celebrator.  it's not that he doesn't like christmas, it's that he doesn't like the setting up of christmas trees and the sending of christmas cards and all the work that goes into christmas.  he basically complained the entire time we were setting up the tree...."why are we even bothering to do this when we're leaving [for my parents] in ten days?"..."why are you bothering to set up a tree when we have a kitten who messes with everything?"  i tried telling myself that it was just him being a boy and that all the christmas preparation is part of what makes it special, dammit.



after we set up our christmas tree with colored lights, i went to town on the mantel.  i was inspired by this mantel i saw at crate & barrel:

now that i've linked it i'm embarrassed to show a picture of my mantel because mine looks pretty pathetic compared to this.  but what the heck.  you only live once.





note: i did not leave the stockings up for long because god forbid i have anything dangling in the way of curious kittens in my house.

once i had finished my tree and my mantel, i added a wreath to our front door and voila! it was christmas.

later that evening, i was sitting downstairs on the nap couch with andy watching real housewives of BH and working on another craft project when we heard a loud crash and the scamper of little feet.  we ran up the stairs and i stuck my head around the corner, then immediately tried to draw back so that andy wouldn't be able to see into the living room.  despite my efforts at pushing him down the stairs, andy came up beside me and said "well, that was worth it".  someone had knocked over the tree onto the hardwood floors, which shattered the ornaments i had put on that side and also broke the stand of the tree.  so that was it for the short life of our 2010 christmas tree.  it was fun while it lasted.



decorating the house got me in the mood for baking cookies.  a post dedicated to cookie baking is coming soon.