Fudge Shoppe...

So one day when I was being crazy...I decided that in between batches of cookies, I should use my time wisely by making a few batches of fudge for a fun post on how you can become your own little fudge shoppe! Now I sit here three weeks (really? wow!) later realizing that I am just now getting around to having time to post about it, and guess what, I am writing this post in between baking a few batches of sugar cookies because I just cannot stop! I have to finish my last idea that I had a month ago when all of this baking madness began and I must finish it before the New Year is upon us!

Christmas Cookies {Last But Not Least}

These may just be some of my favorites...

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Baking...Happier Eating!

Christmas Cookies {Sandwich Cookies, Ornaments, Gifts & Snowflakes}

 to die...

Christmas Cookies {Reindeer, Trees, Penguins, Candy Canes, Holly Leaves}

Christmas Cookies {Santa & Elves}

I was so fortunate this year to get a bunch of Christmas orders and even more lucky to get time off before Christmas so that I could actually accept all of my Christmas orders! I think in total I did 230 Christmas sugar cookies, 12 dozen snickerdoodles, 5 dozen malted chocolate sandwich cookies, and 5 lbs of fudge all in 5 days...needless to say, I was busy! But it was fun! So although I am not a huge fan of just posting pictures...I usually like to say something witty or intelligent (haha) in addition to posting pics, but I am not sure there is much else to say! I only wish I had pictures of my kitchen throughout this process...so awesome, let me tell you! As for my family and friends who were hoping that some of this baking madness would show up in their mailbox...sadly...I am starting a new tradition called New Years (Christmas) gifts. Sorry, there was not a minute to spare and I didn't want your treats sitting in some strange place over the holiday weekend, so it is the thought that matters and that thought is there, but you won't be seeing that thought until next week! Anyway...enjoy some pics!

Holiday Traditions

{sorry all photos were lost in this post}
I was so happy to receive my most favorite holiday treat from my parents last night, in addition to my Christmas tree, that Barry promptly set up. Now, I can officially say I am in the Christmas spirit! In my family, since we have gotten older and each of my siblings and I have lived all over this and other countries, our Holiday traditions are few. Fortunately, few as they may be, they always make me feel the warmth of family and love and despite any amount of bah-humbug-ness, I get into the holiday spirit. One of these dear traditions is the making of Krullers (crullers to some). Krullers are essentially fried dough +/- powdered sugar or glaze and were a popular treat to many European countries. Krullers in my family, I believe came from my paternal grandmother who was Danish, whom I think used to make them when she was younger (maybe?), but in my memory, they were always made by my mom, dad & us kids every Christmas.

Cookie Dilemma

Before I start...dilemma, that is a funny word don't you think. It is one of those words that when you say it, it just sounds odd. Anyway, back to my post, sorry, I am a little scatter brained at times and I figure I may as well share that part of my personality with you all so you can get some insight into me! So why am I here today on my second day of vacation? To discuss sugar cookie recipes of course! Before I start, can I just tell you how phenomenal vacation is, no matter what I do (or don't do), there is something unbelievable about vacation. No where to be, nobody asking me to make decisions and wondering if my decision is in fact the best choice for the situation, no stress, no pager, and best of all-I get to catch up on my many months of sleep deprivation which has been making me a little kookoo these past few days!

So on to the topic of the day...sugar cookie recipes! I was hugely inspired from Sweet Sugarbelle's post on the debate between RI vs glaze frostings. Now this post requires some reader participation from anyone who bakes sugar cookies, and I thank you in advance for your help! So I never put much thought into the recipe I used for sugar cookies, mostly because I believed that sugar cookies are more about looking than eating. But for about the last year and a half, I realize, taste really does matter! So up until the last month or two I always used adorable Marian's recipe from Sweetopia with a few adjustments (more flour), and I absolutely LOVE the taste! It is almost like a shortbread cookie, so buttery and delicious. There are many pros to this cookie in the taste department; however, there is one con...they tend to be a bit fragile and since I tend to ship most of my cookies, this was so heartbreaking to find out they would occasionally break on transit. So I started researching some other recipes and through a fellow blogger friend Amalia @ Cookie Construction she told me she used Pam's recipe at Cookie Crazie. So I gave this recipe a shot. What did I find???
Pros:
definitely more sturdy
less trips to the store for butter
probably more figure friendly, but since I don't eat my own cookies, I guess that is ok ;)
easy to work with
lighter in color and bakes more evenly
tastes pretty good and the consistency  is light and fluffy
Cons:
the taste is not quite as taste bud tantalizing

So what is a gal to do? I simply cannot figure out what is more important in a cookie...taste or texture! Let me know what you all think, I would love to hear anyone's opinion on the matter at hand! Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday and like always...Happy Baking...Happier Eating Stay tuned for my post of fudge making, which let me remind you is my FAVORITE holiday treat!!!

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 4}

Last but not least, on the 12th dozen day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a potpourri of Christmas cookies. I made these for my dear friend Carolyn to give as a hostess gift. For this set, I wanted all things Christmas and I think I just about got it. A little more time and I had a couple other ideas, but I think these will suffice!

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 3}

Dozen 9, 10, 11:
My next order was for teacher gifts from a friend that I work with. Here marks my Christmas baking obsession that will continue on until Christmas :) Lots of red and green and of course disco dust and nonpareils! Let me tell you, there is not a place in my kitchen that is not displaying a light layer of red disco dust...it is everywhere!

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 2}

{sorry all pics were lost in this post}
My next two dozen were some repeat players in my repertoire...I made these for a one year old's birthday party. His auntie wanted my monkey and doggie cookies that I made a few weeks ago. Now the doggie cookies I love and hate all at the same time. They seem so ugly to me the whole time I am making them, and then somehow when I finish them, they are oddly cute and then I love them. Well here they are!

Part 3 here we come!

12 Dozen Days of Christmas {Part 1}

The past few days, I have ventured on a little something I am going to call 12 dozen days of Christmas. I was so fortunate to have a handful of orders this week, but they happen to all be due around the same time and since we are headed to Ohio to visit my in-laws, I had to have them all done by today. All 12 dozen that is! So now that I have finished them, I figured I would share the pics to get you in the mood for some Holiday baking!