The Holiday's Are Upon Us

jessica • December 10, 2009
That time of year has come around yet again. 
The time of family and friends getting together laughing, sharing, and of course eating!
 
Personally my favourite part of the season is being able to share gifts with the people I love.  These gifts may not come in the form of physical things but when they do one of the things I love to give is home baking.  A batch of home made cookies says a lot more than something you could have picked up on your lunch break.  But enough with my sappy holiday love and onto what I'm baking this year!
 
First up what has become a standby, and mandatory if I don't want to hear about it, Cream Cheese Brownie Bites.  They are bite size chocolate deliciousness that has a cheesecake like center.  They also freeze really well, if they last that long.
 
I have perfected the assembly method of these little treats over the years but somehow I always seem to end up with brownie batter on me.  I tried really hard to be tidy this time, I had my new Dajoji coat on, cleaned as I went, carefully put the batter in the piping bag, put the bowl in the sink....yet when I was done and I surveyed the damage my chef coat had a lovely smear on the elbow, and oddly the back.
 
Next this year was Sledding Teddies.  No they're not some crazy flavoured cookie, they're an excellent spiced cookie that is formed into varying sizes of balls and logs that go together to form a Papa bear and Baby bear on a sled.  Very cute, and tasty!  (...also only half done at the moment as they're very time consuming.  So currently the bears lay separate from their legs in containers in my fridge.)  These are a new addition this year so we'll see how they go over.
 
Next I went with another stand by in my family (which means me, as I'm the only one who bakes) Macadamia Lace Cookies.  The name is deceiving, there's really no cookie, just macadamia nuts butter and browned sugar. YUM!  Sadly this year I had some sort of issue and a few got a little too toasty for consumption.  Think my slip up may have been trying to follow the recipe exactly, which apparently I've never done before as they've always come out perfect.
 
Tonight was Ginger Bars.  Simple, delicious, buttery, spicy, just plain good....and hopefully cooked enough.  I haven’t decided yet and am known to be hard on myself so I've decided to get a second opinion before I make the call to trash and start again.  Luckily this is the easiest of all the recipes so I'm not too concerned.
 
Finally I plan to attempt another newbie, Orange Cream Star Cookies...No commentary yet but they sound good, and I think they'll round out my selection.
Only thing left after the Orange Stars is to pack things up and deliver. 
 
Delivery is the best part!  I get to see people smile at the unexpected gift of baking and time.  Time because I like to give things out a couple weeks before Christmas, so those who haven't had time to bake or really don't like to can share the goodies with their loved ones.
 
I'm off to attempt bear/sled assembly.  Happy Holidays!

 

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