With only 20 days left until the arrival of Christmas it is time to kick this party into high gear. With that in mind my Mom and I decided to get cracking our
annual Christmas baking. To be fair, she already got a head start on me a few days back and fired out some fudge, caramel corn and fruitcake, but yesterday we took a run at some new cookies and an old favourite.
The key to good Christmas baking is to make sure you are having fun. It is my theory that if you end up getting all stressed out and worried about the outcome then your cookies won't taste as fun. We usually get so goof that Dad just hides in the basement and the dog just tools around our feet and waits for scraps to fall. As you can see by our snowmen, we make sure that the seriousness of the situation never takes over. Here are the results an evening's work.
Cream Cheese Snowmen - a yummy creation that is almost more fun to decorate than they are to eat. Who am I kidding, we have way more fun making these guys than any other cookie. Such past greats have included the "family member representation" cookies (also known as therapy cookies), the disfiguration cookies series, the "anatomically correct" series and the "how much candy can we cram onto the faces" series.
Cherry Bars, or as I was forcibly corrected by Mom......FESTIVE Cherry Bars. These bad boys are the love child of butter tarts and maraschino cherries. The best part is that while you are chewing away the cherry taste builds to a crescendo of diabetic glee!
How can you improve on shortbread right? Well you stuff it full of high quality chocolate chips and then dip them in some more chocolate. I'm contemplating keeping a steady supply of these on hand to use to pacify women that I set off, especially during certain times, if you know what I mean. These things just might save my life one day!
In sticking with our theme of ramping up the oldies we took the rum balls that we have made in the past into a glorious new direction. It is important to note before the description of these that these are brought to you by the same baking force that made 151 proof rum balls in past years. This year we decided that a Kahlua and Rum ball would be perfect and by god we were right. Dusted in cocoa, these suckers are just the most tongue blasting experience I've had in a while. Though they may lead to some interesting conversations at the
R.I.D.E. stops this Christmas.
"Good evening sir have you been drinking tonight?"
"No sir! I've only been eating these cookies!" **hiccup**
"I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car sir"
"Cookie officer?"
"Please sir....place the cookies on the ground and back away slowly.....they're burning my eyes!"
Just remember to eat responsibly.
17 Comments:
UGH! You people have no mercy! This is the second blog I've been to with pics of yummy delishious cookies. I'm tryin to drop a couple pounds but now I'm droolin worse than the dog.
I'm never gonna make it to a two pound loss.
Those look fantastic! You are a head of me in the baking dept. I haven't started yet.
That first snowman cookie I believe has gone bad! You shouldn't eat the previously dead ones. They're full of germs.
God help your father! Sounds like he's got a couple of real characters in his family!
oh, and ....ummm....is there any chance that you'd post the cream cheese snowman cookie recipie? It looks like a lot of fun. I want to try to make some too!
I am not sure the close up macro-like photographing is adding to the yummy factor here...
oh and you bake and spent time with your mom too!
you are just a darling!
those pics are making me want to drive to the nearest bakery. even though i know they wouldn't taste one third as yummy as yours.
Umm.. Come live with me? Please? We won't tell Frank. [Or your wife. She's a bit of a cookie hoarder, that one. I think that's a sin.]
Need. Recipes. Now.
My Mom did a bunch of baking. I plan on just doing the eating part..
i can't follow a recipe.
Pete its so awesome that you do the Christmas baking. I too am the baker of my family.
I hate cooking and I generally suck at it, that is my mom's job. But ask me to bake...I am all over it.
MMmmmmmmm Shortbread!!
Like H&B, I'm only planning on doing the eating part. How on earth are you all not the size of mountains with all that stuff in the house?? My kids would inhale anything I baked almost before it came out of the oven, and so would I...which is precisely why I don't bake lol
I'm glad you make it all fun though, me? I'd be sweaty and stressed and pouring the rum and kahlua down my throat more than in the mixing bowl!
I just came from a site that showcased their recently made gingerbread houses and now this!
1. I'm now hungry.
and
2. who is all this food for??
Wow - deeeeelicious. Ditto what Heather says, but add a 'please'! lol :)
Yum those look good! Maybe I'd like baking if I made "family member representation" cookies, the disfiguration cookies series, and the "anatomically correct" series!
I'm so jealous. The new apartment has a kitchen the size of a small closet and counter space big enough to keep one (closed) cookbook. I'd like to make cookies too. My favourite are icebox cookies with nuts and red and green candied cherries. Glad you had fun making cookies. My Mom and I used to do that evey year too. Everyone else just ate them. :)
All of that looks amazing! I'm doing cookies with my mom this weekend. Over the years she has developed a HUGE cookie cutter collection. It's one of my favorite part of the holidays.
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