My Holiday Plea: No More Cookies!!...please?

Okay, okay. December 28, 2009 marks the day that the holiday hustle and bustle has finally ceased. I returned home 8 days ago, and after a day of much needed sleep-deprivation recuperation, I was glued to my kitchen. Baking is my therapy and the holidays provide a perfect canvas for me to be...well, therapeutic.

There are a million holiday cookies out this time of year which can be overwhelming. I like to experiment with cookies that I have never attempted before, but still want to make something pleasing and palatable for my family. Where to start...where to start? My action plan this year was to steal my mom's 2009 holiday cookie magazine, and pick three or four interesting and delectable recipes. Well...three or four ended up being seven and I made dog treats to make it an even eight. It was a three day process that left my hands destroyed from dish washing and my body tired, full and overly sugared...but it was worth it. My repertoire now includes peanut butter chocolate toffee bars, pumpkin pecan spice cookies, holiday biscotti, chocolate cherry ginger cookies, triple chocolate ganache cookies, peppermint meringues, apricot amaretto cookies and of course peanut butter dog biscuits.

Naturally I had to sample them all (minus the dog treats but the smell of peanut butter did force me to eat a few spoonfuls from the jar)and after much internal debate I think the biscotti were by far my favorite. They were flavored with both rum and vanilla extract with a faint taste of citrus from a piece of finely shredded orange peel incorporated into the batter. I added buttery pistachios, tart dried cranberries and cherries and sweet dried apricots. The flavor combination was sensational. The baking process for biscotti tends to be long and tedious but leaves you with a crunchy but not break-your-tooth hard cookie. A perfect light and satisfying breakfast or after dinner treat that will leave you with a smile on your face and a (festive)song in your heart.

Now that my cookie baking rampage/therapy has ended, time for bigger and better things. My New Year's resolution: be fearless. This year I want to venture out and make dishes I have never attempted. The only way to learn how to make a recipe perfect is to try, try and try again. I hope by the end of the year to bone a duck (I just watched the movie Julie and Julia...inspirational for a "servantless American cook.").

Happy Holidays and Bon Appetit,

Nora

When the Weather Outside Is Frightful...Eat Food that is Delightful

I can't believe that it has been over two months since my last post...THANKS COLLEGE FOR GETTING IN MY BLOGGING WAY! I just finished my last class of the semester so I thought it was an appropriate time to take a study break and rekindle my love for this blog. This is not enough space to write about my food experiences over the past few months, not to mention the most important holiday of the year, Thanksgiving, so I think I'm just going to start from scratch (after all the best tasting things are the ones made from scratch!!).

Upstate New York is finally seeing some traditional December weather, filled with high winds and snow, and I have to say it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The scenery along with the constant bombardment of holiday songs on every radio station/Starbucks/store that I enter is making me start to think of the most important part of the season...holiday cookies. Every culture and family has their traditional and favorite cookie. Of course gingerbread cookies are the face of the season but there are also butter cookies, linzer cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, fruit cookies, nut cookies, cut outs OH MY! The list goes on and on. Which got me thinking, what is my favorite cookie? It is a question that I had to ponder long and hard about. I have a sweet tooth so every cookie is amazing to me (good thing I get to sample a large variety this time of year!!!).

I'm not sure if it is my all time favorite cookie, but my memories of the holidays, cookie exchanges and cozying up on cold days with warm tea, surround my mom's raspberry thumb print cookies. The dough itself is made from scratch and has a nice crisp texture of a butter cookie, without being too hard. After the dough is formed she would make little balls and roll them in egg white and cover it with finely crushed walnut pieces. If that doesn't sound heavenly enough, she would leave a thumb print in the middle and when it was almost done baking fill the centers with a good quality raspberry preserves and put it back in the oven to finish crisping. They are perfect with any warm beverage and completely satisfying. My holiday season wouldn't be complete without them.

Get in the kitchen with your loved ones and cook up a batch of memories!

Happy Holidays,

Nora