Christmas baking

I love the holidays for many reasons, but I would say that my amount of holiday cheer can be directly correlated to the amount of baked goods accumulating in our kitchen. Each year I vow not to go overboard as I have done in years past, and think that perhaps I made one too many cookie recipes. Last year I finally gave up, because nothing makes me happier than being in the kitchen in December covered with flour and surrounded by cookies in all stages of baking. I make some of the same cookies year after year, but I always mix old with new. I firmly believe that a holiday cookie has to be both extraordinarily pretty and over-the-top delicious; fulfilling both of these is a challenge. Many cookies are mostly one or the other, and many of those I bake fall into this category. Thus, I am always working towards the goal of a repertoire that fulfulls both. I should also note that I prefer my cookies to be sturdy, since we drive quite a distance to family over Christmas. I source recipes from all over, and alter as I see fit (my favorite sources are rather obvious). This year I made the following:



Indian Brittle (Gourmet )

Five-spice gingersnaps (Gourmet )

Glittering lemon sandwich cookies (Gourmet, December 2008)

Fruit and nut chocolate chunks (made with blueberries, cherries, pistachios, cashews and almonds, Gourmet )

Pistachio currant shortbread (NYTimes)

candy canes (Martha Stewart Living, December 2008)

chocolate truffles (raspberry, orange, sambuca and coffee)

peppermint marshmallows (Martha Stewart Living, December )

panettone (this is really Jon's forte; variation on several recipes after many years of experimentation)

fruitcake (Martha Stewart Baking)



Did I REALLY make all of this??? I guess so.......... More importantly, I would like to remember the things I didn't get to try this year: Chocolate Babka, torrone and chocolate-covered pear slices.