As we all know, a fun thing about Christmastime is the Christmastime-specific treats. Cookies, special coffee drinks, etc. So I dedicate this post to all the little sugary nibbles out there that give this season a little sumpin’ sumpin’ extra, and in more ways than one—they add equally to our tastebuds’ pleasure and our waistlines.
First on the list is the Christmas cookie. My mom and female relatives (i.e. aunts, grandma, etc.) are whizzes at making Christmas cookies. Every year for the last 5 or so years my mom has said, “I’m not making all of those cookies this year!” and every year she does. Like clockwork. Peanut butter blossoms. 7-layer cookies. Sugar cookies. Fruitcake cookies. Sand tarts. You name it, it’s there. Then at some point we all get together as an extended family and each mom, aunt, and grandma pulls out her platter of assorted cookies, and the counter nearly gives way under the mass of sugar and butter.
Hubs and I will be spending our first Christmas away from family this year and so I suppose the ball's in my court in terms of what to do with some of these holiday traditions. And I can tell you that there’s no Christmas cookie baking going on here. Not that I don’t enjoy the baking, but it has more to do with the fact that I don’t think it’s a good idea for the two of us to be left alone and unsupervised with a platter of cookies. One can only imagine that the consequences would be dire. But we do, in fact, have a small stash…
My mom brought some cookies out at Thanksgiving. I think she felt sorry for Travis, as she probably predicted that I would not be baking any cookies this year. On this plate are also cookies from my neighbor. She did a big cookie baking party and kindly donated some to us.
Travis brought the below box of cookies home from Trader Joe’s the other day. Candy Cane Joe Joe’s, baby. Now that’s my kind of Christmas cookie. Anything that tastes like an Oreo, and a candy cane-flavored Oreo at that, is top notch in my book. No baking required!
Last weekend while babysitting some kids from church we decorated sugar cookies. Here are the little masterpieces that came from a delightful evening that we decided to affectionately call “Sugar Fest 2010.”
Vampire cookie.
Travis made this one. And it took 8 hours. Not really. But it's beautiful, no?
An experiment in color-mixing. Very postmodern.
Now before you pass judgment on me and presume that I am a total slacker, I did do some holiday baking for our neighbors this week. I put together gift bags with cranberry-orange pound cake, coffee, and clementines. So there.
"Julie and Julia" on in the background. Through this and a previous post I have unveiled the fact that I have a thing for Nora Ephron movies. Especially while doing housework.
This brings me to the second thing on my list of “sugary nibbles.” Clementines. These are sugary in probably the best way possible, since the sugar is in it’s natural form and has not been subjected to the addition of butter, food coloring, etc. These little guys always bring a smile to my face. They’re just so…so…cute! When they’re in my fridge it’s a sure sign that Christmas is on its way.
Finally, we come to the coffee. We are suckers for holiday-flavored creamers in this household. Yesterday afternoon I made us peppermint mochas, and added homemade marshmallows. Delicious!
A quick note about the marshmallows. I made these to go with cocoa for a holiday luncheon that Travis had at work. I had never made marshmallows before and while they turned out pretty tasty, I don’t know that I will make them again without a standing mixer. I give props to my little hand-held mixer for putting forth its best effort, but it had a difficult time managing all of that sticky goo. In fact, I have never worked with anything so sticky as this before. Definitely a job for something along the lines of a Kitchen Aid mixer.
And one more kitchen tip while I’m at it. Pay close attention. This is important. When you’re making coffee…are you listening? ...when you’re making coffee it is essential to put the grounds in the coffee maker. If you just add water and no coffee grounds, it doesn’t come out quite the same...
This adventure in making coffee, or should I say “adventure in making hot water” is the direct result of staying up entirely too late during prior evenings. Lack of sleep has consequences, folks. I’m convinced that the coffee maker was laughing at me during this incident. And I may have even heard a snicker from the corner this morning when I poured myself a fresh cup. Punk.
That’s all I’ve got! Enjoy your Christmas treats this week!
3 comments:
I sure wish I was your neighbor....your giftbags are delightful! And I must say, I am highly impressed with the Superman cookie (though the postmodern one was a close second). I had a cookie decorating party last year and understand and appreciate the fine art and need of finesse it takes for making beautiful cookies. I'm sure you and Travis will enjoy your Christmas together. Justin and I had our first Christmas alone a few years ago, and we loved it (though, of course, we missed our family). Merry Christmas!
Mmm, you may have to post that marshmallow recipe! We will miss you this Christmas, but maybe we will get to see you anyhow?
Emily~ We wish you were our neighbor too! And we're really excited about spending Christmas in DC. We're going to keep it super low-key...eat, watch movies, etc. Hope you all have a lovely holiday!
Erin~ We will be in Colorado around New Year's. It's going to be a pretty quick visit, so if nothing else then we'll have to arrange a time to see you all out here on the east coast. As far as the marshmallows go, we just used Alton Brown's recipe ("Homemade Marshmallows") on foodnetwork.com, but I think that most marshmallow recipes are pretty similar.
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