Sweets of Christmas - Cream Cheese Mints

The first time I had these my Aunt Debbie had made a variation when I was a kid and we used to travel to Spokane A LOT to visit. (Some of my best memories of childhood, by the way!) She pushed them into those cute little candy molds but since I do so many cookies I go the quick route!

Cream Cheese Mints

3 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
3-4 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. granulated sugar
food coloring

Chocolate topping:
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
household wax
1. Line large cookie sheet with waxed paper.
2. Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, peppermint extract, & food coloring until smooth.
3. Gradually beat in powdered sugar on low speed until well combined. (I end up kneading it by hand at the end)
4. Roll cream cheese mixture into balls. Roll balls in sugar. Flatten ball with bottom of a glass to make a patty.
5. Refrigerate until firm.
6. Melt chocolate and wax in a heavy duty Ziploc bag in the microwave on 50% until melted. When melted snip tiny corner of bag off. Use the bag as a pastry bag to drizzle chocolate over mints. (Hint - if you want a decorative chocolate swirl put a plastic decorator's tip in the bag before you microwave OR snip the corner two ways to give a fluted look.)

I store these in the fridge after they have set. As long as you put waxed paper in between layers your chocolate designs shouldn't get messed up in a tupperware container.

Sweets for Christmas - Biscotti

Biscotti is my absolute FAVORITE cookie. In fact, I rarely share it. You won't normally find it on my cookie trays at Christmas or set out at the house if you come by for a visit. If you do, know that you are extremely special!

Biscotti

1/3 c. butter
3/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp zest of orange
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. toasted almond slivers
Optional: chocolate for drizzling or dipping biscotti in

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, almond and zest.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in almonds.
3. Divide dough into 2. Form into long flat loaves approx. 1/2 inch tall and 12 inches long.
4. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 25-27 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
5. Cut diagonal slices 1/2 inch thick. Lay flat on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, turning over once. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
Optional: when done baking can dip biscotti into chocolate or drizzle chocolate over top.

The Most Sentimental Part of Christmas....For Me

There is no sweeter memory of Christmas for me than making cookies with my Momma when I was a little girl. We would get out the Betty Crocker Cookie Book (a book I still have not gotten a copy of despite it's re-release MOM!), sift through the pages and find our favorite recipes. Now my Momma's book was so loved that almost none of the pages were actually still bound, it was more like a folder that we would have to divide up and sort through, searching for our favorites. Every year I would beg to make candy cane cookies, and every year Mom would say, "Oh, those are so much work, do we HAVE to make them?" But they were my favorite and so she would always relent and we would painstakingly make the dough, divide it and dye it, roll the dough into little "worms" and twist them together. I LOVED cookie day! I haven't made those cookies since I was a kid, maybe they should be on the cookie menu for 2011?

Anyway, this year I shared with you some pictures of my cookie making adventures. I promised to post recipes and so here they'll start! I will post a new recipe in each post so one post isn't a million miles long! I hope you like them Jennifer!

Holly Joys

2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg plus 1 yolk
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
green food coloring
Red Hots

1. Whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl
2. Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, then add vanilla.
3. Stir in the flour mixture. Tint dough with green food coloring. Put dough in Ziploc bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough into logs approximately 2 inches long. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. (You can place these fairly close together as they don't spread much)
5. With food scissors snip 3 times, approx 1/2 in. apart, at an angle. Do not cut completely through dough. Twist cut pieces in opposite directions. this should make your dough look like four holly leaves. Repeat with all "logs". Add a Red Hot to each joint so that there are 3 Red Hots on each cookies.
6. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Transfer immediately to cooling rack.

Holiday Baking...DONE!

I woke up this morning with a list. Ok, this is not abnormal for me. I'm a lister - I make lists for everything! I rarely remember to look at them but I think it helps me remember when I write it down. And so this morning I woke up with my daily to-do wish list. Of course, like usual, it had far too much on it and there was no possible way for me to do it all. Maybe I should start putting just one thing on my list at a time; one achievable goal that I will actually get to and finish and thus give myself a feeling of accomplishment. Yeah, I don't see that happening.

Today, along with finalizing my Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, playing games with my kids, doing the chicken chores, making dinner, and doing laundry, I finished my holiday baking. Yes it is done. And tonight the ending was much happier - Diesel is currently sleeping peacefully on his bed in front of the heater.

Here's what I made today....

Cream Cheese Mints

The stars are now decorated

As well as: Pretzel Turtles (thank you very much Andrea Duffy), Rocky Road fudge, and dozens and dozens and dozens of those yummy little peanut butter balls that everyone loves so much!

It's 11:15pm. I just got finished folding 5 loads of laundry. I sat and had a cup of tea and a piece of my homemade biscotti. I'm writing my daily confessional. I'm tired. But I'm going to my Aunt Peggy's tomorrow for a Christmas gathering and so I must continue folding, getting the kids stuff packed and vacuuming. Yes, I vacuum at midnight. I know, I'm nuts.

Nik

Be Happy God Damn It

Do you ever have days where you just can't snap out of a funk? Everything is irritating, your family is annoying you and no matter how much you try there's nothing you'd like better than to rip some asshole stranger up one side and down the other for not moving their f-ing ass when you've said excuse me 3 TIMES!?

Today was one of those days.

Things I like: Christmas, vacation, leisurely breakfasts, snow falling all day long, shopping, coffee, games, swimming, my family (most of the time), Leavenworth, Christmas lights, merriment and cheer, roasted chestnuts, Zots, fires burning in the road, Christmas carols, Italian food, Christmas ornaments, Santa, the joy on my kids faces when they do the chicken dance in the snow with strangers, Coke, getting my meal comp-ed when food & service are both bad, Father Christmas eating in the same restuarant as us.

Things I don't like: not sleeping well, feeling rushed to get out and do something, not finding a place to park, yelling at children to act happy, being rushed through stores, feeling responsible for someone else's experience, my kids bickering with each other, my son crying over losing a game, the way festivals are organized, constantly having to repeat my expectations to my children, rude strangers, overpriced & gross Italian food, children whining, bad driving (especially in the snow), bad service in restaurants, going to bed early.

Some of the "joy" part of the day

Being one who loves movie quotes, this is what today reminded me of:

"Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse."

In case you don't know it, that's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I LOVE that movie.

Nik

To Christmas card, or not to Christmas card?

Worth it or not?

As I ponder whether or not I want to send an actual Christmas card in this day of blogging, and Facebook, and email, I wonder what you think about sending and receiving Christmas cards. Are they worth the time and effort? Do the people receiving them really appreciate getting a picture of your kids?

Every year I go back and forth about whether I'm going to do Christmas cards. And further, if I'm going to write the cliche Christmas letter. This year I've nixed the Christmas letter. I spend enough time letting people know what we are doing on Facebook, and now on my blog, that I don't think it's necessary. As for the card, I think I'm going to order them. One of my favorite parts of the holiday is receiving cards in the mail, seeing my friends and family in their Christmas-y best and posting them on my fridge for the rest of the year. I teach my kids to do to others as they would like to have done to them. I guess that means I'm sending the cards!

Last year I got my cards from Shutterfly (http://www.shutterfly.com/) and they were SO cute. This year I'm even more impressed by their selection, especially with the cardstock photo cards. Which one do you like?

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Do you like the one big picture? Or the multiples?

Nik