Baking for Christmas

Starting in September, we have made some cookies to give as gifts for Christmas.

First, we made Gingersnaps from Faith & Family magazine's November/December 2007 issue. We did not burn them this time.

We made Gingerbread Men (and Women, and Snowmen and Stars) from a recipe I found years ago in one of those "Holiday Baking" mini-magazines you find at the grocery store checkout.

We also made Springerle, lemon-anise flavored HARD cookies for dunking in coffee, tea or cocoa. I think I used the recipe in Joy of Cooking. My mom especially likes these, so I make them primarily for her, and also giv ehtem to other coffee-drinkers in the family.

Next, we will be making Pine Bark, also from the F & F Nov./Dec. '07 issue, and bourbon balls (or rum balls, depending on what I find in the seldom-visited liquor cabinet), from a family recipe.

On Christmas Eve we'll make Christmas Eve Mice, from the F & F issue cited above. The recipe pages in this particular issue are destined to be well-worn soon. I was hoping this year's November/December issue would have more good cookie recipes, but it just has ideas for dressing up store-bought refrigerator cookie dough, which is fine if you are in a hurry and don't mind the too-sweet taste or hazardous ingredients. But since we usually make our cookies in September & October and freeze them, we want them to be worth the wait until Christmas! We'll stick with from-scratch for now.

Maybe we WON'T plant trees today...

Yesterday was sunny and about 80 degrees outside. But NOT TODAY!!


So... How about a game of Cooties...bread making...
and hanging shelves?

We might light a fire in the fireplace later. Have a hot cup of tea with fresh-from-the-oven bread... I like snow days.