Christmas cookies.

Among my favorite things in the world to do is make Christmas cookies. I always have to make a few traditional kinds, but then I always (at least lately) will experiment with a few new ones, as well. But a few readers have requested the recipes for the "traditional" ones I've been making since I married my husband, so I will post the recipes below. If I'm feeling particularly productive later maybe I will post pictures as well.

Bon Bon Cookies

(I usually double this recipe since they go fast in our house)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/8 tsp salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

chocolate chips

*if the mixture is dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of milk.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix everything but the chocolate chips. Form by teaspoonful into a ball around 2-3 chocolate chips. Bake 12-15 minutes until set but not brown. Cool completely, then dip tops in glaze.

Glaze for bon bons:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons of milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

tint with a few drops of food coloring

I like to sprinkle the wet glaze with nonpareils or something tiny to make them fancier.

These are probably my husband's favorite thing ever.

Chocolate Crinkles

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix sugar, oil, chocolate and vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time (I have been breaking them in a separate bowl since a mishap involving fishing lots of eggshell out of the batter!). Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched, 10-12 minutes.

These are probably my all-time favorite, despite the dough being sticky as all get out when rolling them!

So there you have it. I was typing this up while the dough for these macadamia nut butter cookies was chilling, but now they are ready to bake so I'd better get going. Enjoy!

Hour shortage.

Lately it has been hard to find the time to fit everything in that I would like to do. I am in the process now of making my family's favorite Christmas cookies, and while I have the first ones made I have to wait until 11PM tonight to bake the second kind (they have to chill in the fridge for 3 hours and I forgot that until I started making them at 7:30...drat! At least I will have a trusty helper in my dear husband. That will be kind of fun, since I am usually doing the cookies alone.

My little boy is growing up so fast. We asked him earlier where his knee was and he said, "Knee!" and pointed to it. He also marveled at the tropical fish tank at my doctor's office the other day and said "Ishhhh," with a very smooshy face. It used to be that he would learn a new word every week or so, now it seems to be more like one or two a day. It really won't be long now before he is breaking out long sentences!

Haiku News

Med student seeks tips

from her alma mater's coach,

wins $100k.

Can you say cheater?

Senator admits he tapped

girlfriend for a job.

A Christmas miracle!

I managed to be amazed by the same phenomenon every year, it seems. I go to make one of my husband's favorite kinds of cookies, and when preparing the dough (which uses no eggs, just a lot of butter, sugar and flour) it always looks like it will never go together. Finally, I remember that the recipe has a note that says "if dry, add 1-2 tablespoons milk." I add one tablespoon of milk, fully expecting to have to add another, but five seconds later the entire bowl is filled with a completely cohesive dough. Amazing.

The other thing that I had nearly forgotten about Christmas was a child's wonder at seeing a Christmas tree. The boy and I were watching the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and I was watching his face when they pressed the button. His eyes got really wide, and then he said, "Woooooooow." Just priceless.

My dear friend and reader of this blog, Kristin, has published a poem in an online poetry journal. You can read her fine work here.

Haiku News

Graduation joy

cut short by a fatal bomb

in Mogadishu.

Amnesiac's brain

is dissected as I write;

you can watch it here.

Real-life "Terminal"

unfolds in Tokyo airport;

Chinese man squats there.

Distraction.

So, I discovered a website called Sporcle.com today. Be careful, folks. If you click on that link it will suck you in. 

Hence, I will do my poem-analysis for the week tomorrow. That means if you had something to say about the Stevens poem from last week, you have another day. 

Oh, and I made inexplicably giant chocolate chip cookies.

Haiku News

Remind me not to

fly with these guys next time I

jet into St. Paul.

Immigrant children

looking for their parents here

need more help, it seems.

On running out of tupperware...

So, I have officially become a baking maniac. I believe I now have five different kinds of cookies in the house, and I have completely run out of receptacles into which to put any more cookies. So either I need to get some more containers or I need to stop baking. At least I know I can bring a lot of these cookies to Christmas at my brother's house, but I really wanted to try 3 more recipes I read in my last issue of Cooking Light. I know, can a cookie listed in a "healthy" magazine really be good? In a word, YES. I have made anise tea crescents, Lebkuchen (a kind of German gingerbread), peppermint cheesecake brownies, and peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies from said magazine, and not only are they delicious, they are relatively low in fat and calories. So I don't feel quite as bad eating too many of them. :)

That said, I need to spend more time with my wonderful husband. So I'd better stop writing and pay him some attention. Adieu.