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So…remember on Friday how I shared our planning method for a big weekend of making Christmas goodies? Well, once again we survived the weekend. Barely! We’re now buried in an avalanche of cookies, candy, and snacks! It wasn’t my intention to end up with so much stuff but now I see exactly how things get a little out of control every year.
I couldn’t find last year’s list so I made a new, pared down, list for this year. So far, so good. Then I sent it to Alex who noticed something was missing that I had totally forgotten about. Luckily (maybe?) she still had the list from last year and emailed it to me. As I was looking it over, I did a lot of this – “Oh, I forgot about that! I don’t want to leave that off.” And started adding things back in.
Right here is where it started to go off the rails. Then I went to Pinterest to start gathering recipes. I have a Christmas goodies board where I pinned all of our usual recipes but I’ve also been adding new things to it for a while. As I was looking for the recipes for what was on my list, I saw all the new things I had to wanted to try this year. So more stuff got added to the list.
What I ended up with was not a pared down list, but a list that was even bigger than last year! Yikes! The family will be getting holiday care packages this year that offer a lot of choices, I’m just sayin.? It’s pretty impressive when it’s all laid out, eh? This isn’t even all of it!
The first day was dedicated to candy. Last year, we tried a new fudge – an orange, Dreamsicle type that turned out amazing! This year, we introduced another new kind into the mix – Peppermint Fudge! We also added some homemade peppermint patties that were awesome. The second day was for cookies and we added 2 new ones there too. Coconut macaroons and Thumbprint Cookies! I adore shortbread so I’ll always find time to make some.
All in all, everything turned out really well. We didn’t have any major catastrophes or meltdowns (that I’ll admit to). Some years we’ll have cookies that just don’t turn out well or maybe some fudge that doesn’t set up. But this year everything came out perfectly. I’ll admit there are still some items on the list that need to be done, like making the caramels and dipping the chocolate covered cherries but the majority got done over the weekend.
I did manage to remember to snap some pics. I’ll include links at the end of the post to all the pins for the recipes we made in case you’d like to try any out.
Here’s Alex’s Peppermint Fudge. Be-yoo-tiful!
Here are the coconut macaroons. These were so easy to make. Keeper!
I know lemon isn’t really a traditional Christmas cookie flavor but I love it! These are lemon crinkle cookies, made with lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon love.
Peanut butter cookies with a chocolate kiss have been one of Alex’s specialties since she was little. ?
I love Chex Mix so much that I have to limit myself to making it only at Christmas time. To change things up a little bit, we added cheese crackers this year and it was the bomb!
I started making these cherry coconut bars a few years ago and they have quickly became a tradition. These always make it on the list. Yum!
These peppermint patties are so good. They’re a little labor intensive since the “dough” needs to be rolled out, cut, chilled and then dipped in chocolate. But so worth it. Wed did a few in white chocolate just to see how it turned out and they were just as yummy.
I’ve seen these called Russian Tea Cakes and Mexican Wedding Cookies. Whatever the name, they’re delicious and we make them every year.
I have a confession. I have the world’s best sugar cookie recipe. But I HATE frosting sugar cookies. These are a staple every year but thankfully Aislynn is finally old enough to take over the decorating responsibilities.
Last year was the first year I tried cinnamon roasted nuts. They’re so easy and tasty though they made a repeat appearance this year. This is a combonation of almonds and pecans.
I used blackberry jam on these thumbprint cookies. I may have to make some more of these because they are tasty! Sitting behind them are the peanut butter balls.
Hungry yet? ? If you’re ready to put your apron on and start whipping up some of these delicacies, here are links to the pins for all the recipes we made!
Candy
Peppermint Fudge (Fantasy Fudge Recipe w/ 1/2 tsp Peppermint extract added)
Cookies
Raspberry Shortbread Thumbprints (I used Blackberry instead)
Peppermint Hot Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Drop us a comment and let us know how your baking adventures went this year!
Happy Baking!
