Christmas Baking Extravaganza 2016

Happy Holidays! It seems I’ve missed a couple years of Christmas Cookie Baking posts. Not that there haven’t been cookies for 2 years, I just never got around to posting the recipes. Something about small babies makes free time hard to come by. But it feels good to be back. Maybe someday I’ll have time to make handmade Christmas cards again… Ha!

I spent last Saturday and Sunday, the weekend before Christmas, baking from the time I got up til just before bed. Every year I say I’m going to start early and stretch the baking over several days, and every year I wait until the last minute and do it all in one giant go. And of course now with two little helpers in the kitchen everything takes twice as long. Someday I’ll learn. But as it was, Sunday it was -20 degrees here in Minnesota, so staying in and making cookies sure sounded better than venturing out. Eek. 

Each year I like to try a couple new recipes and a few old favorites as well. This year I tried out the winner of the Star Tribune Cookie Contest, Nut Goodie Thumbprints; Chewy Chai-Spiced Sugar Cookies, from Cook’s Illustrated, and a new recipe for cutouts, Foolproof Holiday Cookies, also from Cooks. The cut out recipe is a definite keeper.

I also made my all time favorites, Soft Gingersnaps, Homemade Peanut Butter Cups, and Pretzel Hugs. 

I think this year was a baking success. I only threw away one partial batch of unfinished dough because I messed it up (Chai Sugar Cookies), but nothing was burned, nothing was inedible. I don’t know that the new recipes will become favorites, but they are definitely worth eating. So follow the links, make some cookies, and have a very Merry Christmas!