Christmas Cookies

I love Christmas cookies.    Love them.

Every year I enjoy planning our holiday baking..making our traditional cookies and trying a couple new recipes as well.

Our "must have's" for the season:
Almond poppyseed loaf with an orange glaze (Mom's recipe)
Mocha Balls (my favorite)
Buckeyes
And of course, sugar cookies
I often make a triple chocolate toffee as well, but didn't do it this year.  It is so good but a lot of work.  When I was pregnant with Kaitlin I was certain I was going to cook her in utero as my tummy was so big and my arms wouldn't let me stand any further away from the stove. I had to stand and stir and stir and stir--my stomach was so hot!  Come to think of it, that might explain a few things....Kidding, of course. :)
Mom brings Spritz cookies--something I've loved since childhood.  I used to sneak the dough when Mom was baking them.  She also brings extra mocha balls.
Dan's mom always brings her cornflake wreaths, which are so cute and I always look forward to them.  (Hint, hint).   :)

This year our "new" recipes were white chocolate gingerbread blondies, chocolate crackles (which have always been a favorite of mine, but I've never made.  It was a pain--the dough was like trying to roll peanut butter!  But they are oh so good.  And cream cheese lemon bows, which look awfully cute don't you think?  I thought something light might mix in nicely with all of those rich cookies.

We technically don't eat them until Christmas Eve (though I've noticed the mocha ball supply is dwindling...someone must be sneaking them from the freezer) when they are all put out to enjoy.  I pretty much eat them all day long.

And here's our cookie box all ready to go!  We loaded the kids into the van on Monday night with cups of hot chocolate and made the rounds to drop off our cookie boxes. Six stops in an hour and a half. It was fun popping in on friends.

Dan said it would go a lot faster if he ran the cookies to the door. No doubt. But not nearly as fun.

We enjoyed the Christmas lights along the way and by the time we made it to our fourth house Andrew was asleep in the back.

It is a fun night out. It's nice to have the reminder of the blessing of friendship that we have here and to show our appreciation for the friendship that we share.

For Kristen

Kristen, I took these photos for you this morning as I was putting cookies in the freezer.

Like I said before though, the most important part is putting them in the refrigerator on the sheets to set the frosting, then you're good to go.

This is how I store our cookies that will go out on a tray:



There is a layer of parchment between the cookies and sometimes I'll wad some up in the corners to help support it a little more.

And these are for place settings for Christmas Eve brunch:



The celophane sort of poofs out and keeps the frosting from getting smooshed.

Then I just store them in the freezer.  The top container gets a lid of course, and the bagged ones just sit up like that in the container.

I hope that helps!  Happy baking!  :)