Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Christmas Cookies 2008: All the Rest of the Days

Family always comes first. So since my mom and grandma arrived, my blog was abandoned. They returned to San Diego two days ago :( , so time for an update. Since I only got one day of cookies posted, I'll go ahead and post the rest of them now. I'll do a separate blog for Christmas, which was very nice, thank you for asking.
Candy Cane Sandwich Cookies
I made these last year, but this year I did a much better job. Practice makes perfect I guess.
Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Another repeat, but some classics just can't be left out.
Gingerbread Men
Another classic. These were better last year. I under baked these for some reason, and they were soft. Which is fine, but a couple lost their heads. Decapitated gingerbread men just don't look right in a Christmas Cookie tray.
Gingerbread Wreaths
The same dough as the men, but I followed the tutorial from here for the decoration. Not as pretty as hers, but the kids loved them.
Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake Cookies
I'm not a fruitcake lover (it's the nuts), but these were actually pretty good. Very appropriate for the season, and the bonus is that there isn't a whole fruitcake sitting around, not being eaten.
Chocolate Cherry Hazelnut Diamonds
These are made with the same dough as the cut out cookies, but with dried cherries mixed in the dough. The dough is spread into a thin layer in a cookie sheet then baked, topped with chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
Vince's favorite. And Annamaria was quite the little helper.

Snowballs
Another repeat. Also another favorite.

Rainbow Cookies
Now these have a story. I've been wanting to make these for years. I'm not exaggerating, years. But the recipe calls for three 9x13" cake pans. I only ever had one. By the time I got around to purchasing two more, they were packed up and we moved to Texas. Where, you guessed it, they were stolen. Since we will never replace everything that was stolen, I was back to just one 9x13" cake pan. So this year I decided to go on with the recipe anyway, and make due with my one lonely 9x13" pan. The cake layers are made with whipped egg whiles and marzipan. Apparently marzipan is not a hot seller out here in the boonies. I did find it, overpriced and hard as a rock, but I found it. So after breaking it down in the food processor so I could incorporate it into my egg whites and other ingredients, I thought all would be fine. I separate the batter into three bowls, one left as is, one colored green, and the last colored red. I decided to bake the uncolored batch first, popped it into the oven, and set the timer. My time was up, I pulled the layer out of the oven, let it set as told, then pulled it out of the cake pan so I could prep the pan for the next layer. But while transferring the white layer to the cooling rack I dropped it. Not the cooling rack, my finished white layer. Parchment paper side up, cookie layer side down. Of course. So I sat on the floor, but my head in my hands, and regrouped. These are now called The Cursed Rainbow Cookies from Hell in my house.

Nanimo Bars
It wouldn't be Christmas without them.

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas !

3 comments:

Over Coffee said...

Your cookies look amazing (as always)! Your Nanimo Bars have now become a tradition in our household. This was the 2nd year that hubby made them and, once again, they were a big hit. Everyone really loves these things! Thanks for the recipe. Can’t wait to hear about Christmas and your visit.

Jessica said...

So the candy cane sandwich cookies look amazing. I think you did a great job decorating the wreaths. And I might need to get the recipe for the Kentucky Bourbon fruitcake cookies—my dad would probably kill for some of those. ;) Oops, I think I just drooled on the keyboard again…

What exactly do you do with THAT many cookies?

Vincent Booth said...

Jess,
Considering the fact that her husband now weighs over 40 pounds more than when he meet her, I'd say he eats most of the cookies himself.
I took some into work to "Share", but still ate most of them.
Time to get the bowflex back out of the garage again.
Oh, the Kentucky bourbon fruitcake cookies were excellent! Dawn's pig of a husband and that chubby little girl (the youngest but not the littlest) ate almost all of them.