Category: Food

Mike & Jason made the snickerdoodles while I was out Christmas shopping, so today we decided to put our new cookie press to work and make some almond spritz cookies. Followed all of the instructions, set the oven to 400 degrees like the recipe called for, decorated them with some red and green sugar …

and then burnt the shit out of them while they baked.

I don’t think I’ve ever burnt cookies. I’m still in shock. I think the oven temp is off, and Williams-Sonoma is nuts if they think they need to cook for 10 minutes. I finally made a batch that didn’t burn by turning the oven down to 350 and only baking them for 6 minutes.

Next up? Fantasy Fudge, Peppermint Bark, and some vanilla spritz cookies. Mmmmmm…

Would anyone like some burnt Christmas trees? Anyone?

In my never ending quest to find my Christmas spirit, I’m going to bake Christmas cookies. First on my list? I want to make some Snickerdoodles. I found Emeril’s recipe for Snickerdoodles, along with this one and this one, but I’m looking for others. Anyone care to share?

I also found these yummy sounding Christmas Cut-Out Cookies.

What do you say? Anyone care to swap recipes? What are your favorite holiday treats? What goodies say Christmas to you? Post them here or share them on your site and do a trackback – I’ll do the same as soon as I can find the recipes in my cookie box – and we’ll all have a virtual cookie swap!

Jason is allergic to corn, so it caught my eye when I noticed that the GNC website offers special recipes, including a section dedicated to a corn-free diet. While reading the Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe, I noticed a note about the salt in the recipe:

Allergy notes: People following a corn-free diet should avoid iodized salt since it contains dextrose, which should be avoided by those allergic to corn.

There is even corn in salt. Goodness. There is no escape from the evil corn!

While today is full of housework and wrapping gifts before I head over to my parent’s house tonight, I am looking forward to trying out the yummy recipes in Fondue It! that the man in brown just brought to my door! Many thanks to Heather for sending such a savory treat!

My housework has been touched with the holiday spirit thanks to Christmas CDs I got in the mail earlier from Leia and Carla! Then there is the “special” one that EJ made and gave me last weekend – but I can’t listen to that one with Jason home!

Tonight I will go to my parent’s house (8 blocks from my apartment) for dinner and to open our family Christmas gifts. Tomorrow morning we will get up and open the gifts that Santa has left for all of us (Jason doesn’t really believe in Santa any more, but Santa has visited every year of my life and he isn’t stopping now!), and then we will go to church. A nice brunch, some time to play with our gifts, and then dinner to wrap up the day. That’s our family tradition – what is yours? Do you open your gifts on Christmas Eve by the light of the Christmas tree? Or do you get all of them on Christmas morning? Anything else that you must do that make the holidays truly special for you?

Since Kristine e-mailed me to check in on me, I guess I should write that I am a-ok today. I survived the migraine last night by going to sleep. Dark room, turned the air conditioning down (I must be cool, almost cold when I have a migraine), turned off the TV because I can’t have any noise, and slept on the couch. That way I make sure I stay flat on my back with the ice pack under my neck. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night and went to bed, and by the time I got up this morning I felt just fine. Not quite great, but pretty close. More Excedrin this morning and the rest of the day has been great!

Speaking of great, I got pink cookies in the mail from Donna! Yes, genuine home made pink cookies! And let me tell you … they are DELICIOUS! You can get the recipe here and make your own, because Donna’s are so good I’m not sharing!