Stained-Glass Christmas Cookies

Hello! I can't believe Christmas is a couple of days away. I've been baking tons this month but just haven't had the time to blog about my creations!

This weekend I went to THREE parties all within 24 hours of each other. Tis the season...to be exhausted.

The first party was a surprise birthday party for my dear friend Doug. Doug likes lemony treats. In the past I've made the normal lemon bars etc, but I wanted to do something special this year.

I saw stained-glass cookies on the Chew last week when I was visiting family in AZ. I figured Lemon Heads would work well in the middle of these cookies. I was right. I also added lemon frosting on the edges and sprinkled edible glitter on the frosting. I was feeling so Martha Stewart-y...

Speaking of being a crafty home-maker, I made Christmas cards again this year.

I'm already receiving lovely feedback from the folks who received them so far. Yay!

 

These cookies were very yummy and pretty, but fair warning: the middle is VERY hard seeing it's made of melted hard candy. Don't chip a tooth!

Stained-Glass Christmas Cookies

recipe found here: recipes.com

Bake well and prosper!



Pistachio Snowball Cookies

Whew! I made it. I made it through Christmas. Within a span of 20 hours I sang 2 rehearsals, 1 concert, and 3 church services. My voice was pretty tired come Christmas day, but I made it through all the carols.

 

It helped to be singing in a "new to me", beautiful church. Check out this pretty church:

And the church's pretty crèche: 

 

After all the singing I did, I got to relax at my friends' place where they treated me to a scrumptious meal and I treated them to sangria and these pistachio snowball cookies.

I'm not a big fan of snowball cookies aka Swedish Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, and Russian Tea Cookies. However, I did enjoy the pistachio twist with this recipe since I like pistachios. The pistachio flavor was nicely prevalent.

 

So, did you survive through Christmas? Did your survival involve cookies?

Pistachio Snowball Cookies (found on Completely Delicious <~Created the recipe)

 

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup (180 grams) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup (180 grams) pistachios, very finely chopped

Pinch of salt

Powdered sugar

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat the butter and sugar together in a big bowl on medium high speed until creamy and pale in color. Add the vanilla extract. Add the flour, pistachios and salt, and mix until just combined. Shape a tablespoon of dough into a round shape and place on a baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. (Feel free to use parchment paper on the cookie sheet.) Bake until cookies just begin to turn golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool on pan enough to touch but still warm, then roll in powdered sugar. Let cool completely and then roll in powdered sugar again.

 

Erika's Extras: I found the dough a little hard to mold. I had to constantly squish it to form the mounds, but it eventually did and didn't fall apart once baked.

Bake well and prosper!

 

Cinnamon Chip Snickerdoodles

The last time I wanted to make a recipe with cinnamon chips I couldn't find any at the grocery store. This happened in the summer and I haven't thought about cinnamon chips since then.

 

Then came my birthday in December. I knew there was at least one guest who was attending my birthday party who didn't like chocolate. So I looked at my inventory of saved recipes and this one was the winner!

The cinnamon chips add such a flavor (and are quite nice to eat by themselves!) My only complaint is that the cookies looked deceptively soft and were not. But still tasted great! Next time I'll just pull them out of the oven earlier that it looks like I should.

 

I am glad my friend loved these cookies. She actually got to sample them the day before the party. She's pretty lucky like that. She's also going to be receiving one of my homemade Christmas cards which is EXTREMELY lucky since I'm only making a small batch. Check them out! 

I saw a post for these handmade cards on craftgawker. I'm really loving that site recently. (I guess this is what I do with my spare time since I'm done with opera gigs for the year...crafts!)

I got the Christmas tree idea from Aunt Peaches blog and added my own little pizazz to the top. The star design I made all by myself. *patting self on back*

 

Yes, these cards involved "killing" some books. But they were books that were falling apart or out of date information books. Technically, they are getting recycled. :) (Which is what will happen to the rest of the books.)

Cinnamon Chip Snickerdoodles (found at She Makes and Bakes)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cinnamon chips

1 cup cinnamon sugar

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and beat on low until combined. Add in the cream of tartar, baking soda, and vanilla and mix until combined. Mix in the flour until incorporated. Fold in the cinnamon chips.

Form the dough into one-inch balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the balls about two inches apart from each other. Bake for 12 minutes until the edges are set and let cool on the sheet for one minute. Remove to a flat surface to cool. 
(Erika's Extras: Take out of the oven around 10 minutes for a softer cookie. Or, don't press slightly down on the dough balls when putting them on the cookie sheet.)

Bake well and prosper!

A card for my readers. Merry Christmas! I hope you're ready for the 25th! 

Merry Christmas!

Once again, I decided to make some cake pops. I took the reindeer idea from bakerella's site and then made my snowmen with my own imagination. Awwwww!!!

But don't you worry. Even though it is Christmas, I still wasn't any less messy. In fact, here's a play by play of my messiness.

I didn't have any plastic gloves, so I had to shape the balls with my hands.

Oh my! Look at these messy hands. What shall I do?!

Well, lick it off of course! I don't want to be wasteful. ;)

Merry Christmas!

(See Who you calling turkey? post for recipe to cake pops.)

Bake well and prosper!