Christmas Cookies – Part I

I am carrying on my mom’s tradition of making large amounts of cookies and giving them out to people.  I did this a couple of years ago and completely skipped last year.  So  trying again this year and am pleased with the results thus far!!  I’m not posting step-by-steps of what I’m making, but I will try to share the links and am happy to answer questions.  I baked for about 8 or 9 hours today – a lot of that was waiting on the oven though, or waiting on stuff to chill/shape/mix/facebook/etc.  Tomorrow shouldn’t take nearly as long and I will post pictures of the final trays.  So, without further ado, here are my Christmas Cookies, Part I!!

What chef is complete without their chef’s pants!! (Or, in my case, my WVU jammies 🙂 )  I figured I should be comfortable while spending 8 hours in the kitchen.

The first thing I made were mints – they were a lot easier to make after I re-read the directions and figured out what 3 oz of cream cheese really was :-p  I ended up making them about 195 of them out of one turn; I made them bite-sized so had a few more than the recipe called for.  I found them on Pinterest, but I have had the recipe in my collection for a while.
http://kitchentrialanderror.blogspot.com/2011/05/creamy-mints.html

 

The next thing I made I *definitely* found on Pinterest – and it’s so simple and easy, and they turned out so cute!!
http://www.freefunchristmas.com/christmas-recipes/christmas-santa-hat-pretzels/

I used about half a bag of melting chocolates and made about 70 of these, and had chocolate left over.

 

 

This is another new recipe that I tried – and of all the things I made, I have yet to eat any of them (well, I had one bite of one cookie, because I wasn’t sure how it turned out – which wasn’t bad – but that’s probably all I’ll have).  This is another Martha Stewart recipe (love me some Martha!) and other than the melty chocolate being a mess, they were really easy to make.
http://marzipanmom.blogspot.com/2009/12/2-days-till-christmas-chocolate-crackle.html

Tony wanted some m&m cookies – I tried two different recipes, and he prefers one over the other, but I’m not super-thrilled with how they turned out.  One, it was hard to find the Christmas m&ms – so I used Cadbury chocolates which were much bigger and more awkward.  But since Tony ate them, and he doesn’t like sweets, then I guess they are a win 🙂

The last thing I made today is an old family recipe – cherry-filled bon-bons!  I am not a fan (cherries, and all), but they do give the plate a lot of color 🙂  I’m not too sure I’m going to give this recipe out 😉

 

 

 

Stay tuned tomorrow for the rest of the cookie goodness!!!

 

 

 

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