Christmas Notebook

Every year, about this time, I start on the cookie and candy production for our annual Christmas Open House. Currently, I have four items in the freezer and will be making many more over the next six weeks or so.

Of course, I have my favorite Christmas-themed measuring spoons handy. There’s no baking Christmas cookies without the right tools!

The first recipe I made was for Date Balls. Middle Daughter and I had several weeks worth of Project Runway to catch up on, so I decided to make the Date Balls and form them into balls while we watched TV. My sisters and I are working on a project of making 150 dozen cookies for my Dad and my brothers to hand out to their customers at Christmas. I made one batch of Date Balls for our Open House and one batch for their shop customers.

I date the boxes for storage. A couple of times over the years, we found an extra box, left from the year before in the freezer…no date, no eat. :-}

The link to the recipe is here: Date Balls

Last Sunday afternoon, I made Elfin Bites and Nutmeg Logs.

These tiny 3/4″ square bits of shortbread are one my favorite cookies.

This link will take you to the recipe for Elfin Bites.

Nutmeg Logs are good. Not a personal favorite, but they are the absolute favorite of my sister Margaret and my dear friend Laurie, so they are a must each year. I roll mine thin so they are crispy delicious.

I use a pastry crimping wheel to get the nice edge on both the Nutmeg Logs and on the Elfin Bites.

Here is the link for Nutmeg Logs.

Yesterday, I made Daniel’s Cookie Bar Bites. They are a double batch of Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies, made with two bags of mini chocolate chips. I underbake them by a few minutes and they make wonderfully fudgy little cookies.

I cut them into 1″ squares. They are frozen at this point.

Two days before the Open House, I will thaw them, dip them in chocolate and decorate the tops with cookie sprinkles.

And the edges, which I don’t use for making the Cookie Bites, are stored in a zippered storage bag to be enjoyed by family.

I have an antique baker’s table in my kitchen and I’m using it to store cookie supplies so they are at hand and easy to access as needed.

And I have a storage tub full of chocolate for my baking needs. Lots of future truffles contained here…

My sister is coming this weekend to help decorate for Christmas. Her first big project will be the chalkboard tree. I will be making recipes for five kinds of truffles so I can work on those while she is chalking. I will keep you posted on what we get done!

~~Rhonda