I mentioned yesterday that we were up to our ears in Christmas cookies, and I want to apologize if I sounded at all Scrooge-like. Now that those bad boys are all shipped, I'm ready to encourage you to join us on the cookie train. Sending out cookies is a time honored tradition in our house, and we really love doing it. We don't send to as many people as we'd like to, and every year my plans to widen our net get subsumed by reality, but we expanded a bit this year, and we'll go further next year. I love coming up with our cookie for the year, and making them together whenever possible. This year, though Bret decamped to China ("working"), Lou really went to bat! She's so flipping old she practically made them herself.
When things go according to plan, we actually try to send out cookies, and season's greetings, at Thanksgiving. That's our favorite holiday, and since everyone we know celebrates Thanksgiving, it feels like a more inclusive time than just the Christmas (and to a lesser extent Chanukah) juggernaut. But, shockingly, things did not proceed according to plan this year. Between our Nashville travels and the move, we weren't prepared to do the cookie thing until this week. But we did it, trying our hand at a new cookie (to us) in the process: shortbread!
Classic Shortbread Cookies: Easy to customize and so delicious.
We have a couple non-chocolate eaters in the family. If you're reacting with horror, me too. When I was in second grade, my best friend had diabetes. Once, while crunching my way through a box of candy at a movie as he sat there not crunching anything, I pondered how not being able to eat candy must be the WORST THING EVER. My 32-year-old-self has not progressed much in terms of imagining the most terrible tragedies to befall someone - even the threat of gestational diabetes with Lou had me panicked beyond belief - and nor has it progressed much in terms of sensitivity. Just as I kept blithely eating my candy in front of poor Frankie, I also sent out chocolate-heavy cookies the past couple of years with nary a thought to chocolate, or even, I'm embarrassed to say, to nut allergies. This year, I resolved to do better.
On the flight back from Nashville, we ordered a box of snacks that came with a wee Walker's Shortbread Cookie. Lou was in love with it, and it sparked my own deep and abiding love for shortbread. So that's what we decided to make this year, figuring it would be simple, and that we could cover some in chocolate, frost some, and leave some plain for the various appetites among us. We didn't have to accommodate gluten-free or vegan appetites, so we went the pure, buttery classic route, using Ina Garten's recipe (which is egg free). But, here's an almond flour version and a vegan version if you're so inclined. For the frosting, I used the very simple recipe here, subbing in vanilla extract for the almond.
Here's a slide show of the cutest Santa's helper in the world going through each of the cookie phases. We mixed, we rolled, we cut, we baked, we dipped, we frosted, we bagged and we made little labels. Then we packaged them all up and braved the people behind us in line at the post office. They were remarkably cheerful about it.
If you're in the mood to send out treats, those little cellophane bags are the most cost effective way to present them, but the twist ties are no bueno. Instead, I folded strips of scrapbooking paper over the tops of the bags, stapled, and then added a kraft sticker to cover up the staple. Much cuter.
I know you think I staged the Santa hat baking bit, but I didn't. Lou is a Santa freak. Anyway, these cookies did end up having a lot of stages, which cancelled out their relative simplicity in terms of ingredients. And we realized after a few dozen broken snowflakes that a much simpler shape was in order. But, they were really easy for Lou to jump in and help with, and it's always fun to decorate cookies. And they are seriously delicious. Here's hoping they arrive in some non-stale non-crumb form for our recipients, so they can taste the magic.
In past years, we have made Martha Stewart's phenomenal Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread cookies, which are complicated but worth it, chocolate dipped Reese's stuffed Oreos, which are life changing and only a mild hassle, but no good because of the chocolate/nut thing, gingerbread biscotti (meh) and more Oreos. I can't remember what else we've done - anyone? So for next year, I think we'll prioritize fewer steps and lots of kid hands-on-ness. Maybe we'll stick to a sugar cookie base, but start off with a really simple shape, and skip the chocolate dipping (which is just a mess. Let's be honest. Even if it's a very delicious mess). I've always loved raspberry thumbprint cookies - maybe those? Okay, it's way too soon for this type of planning. I'm still sitting here eating all the "broken" ones from this batch. Actually. Right now.
Thank you for reading. I hope your weekend is great and I'll see you next week!