Day Three

We have made it to Day 3, against all odds. The patriarch of the household gives us a mere 18 days until we give up, but we are pretty confident in our commitment.

Today's recipe is Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti, and it has been fairly metaphorical. First of all, have a sense of humor, as does our Reindog, Winston:

Secondly, surround yourself with loved ones; cookie baking draws a crowd in the kitchen, all desperately hoping for a little kindness. And maybe a nut or two to hit the floor:

Next, pay attention to the little things. This is a half cup measure, not a third cup, as called for in the recipe:

As in life, not paying attention to the little things can, at times, come back around to bite you in the...cookie. More on that later.

Remember to dive in to whatever you do, and don't be afraid to mix it up a little. We used walnuts instead of the raw pistachios we could not find, and lemon extract instead of zest (as previous lemon zest was used for Day 2):

In cookies, as in middle age, it is difficult to fight the spread when you have too much sugar:

But there is always a second chance:

In the end, these cookies were delicious - crispy, delicate flavor with a perfect level of sweetness. We will be dunking them in our coffee tomorrow morning. YUM

Next up: Brownie Thins.

Day Two

Today is the second day of our 25 Days of Christmas Cookies fun! Today we are doing Glittering Lemon Sandwiches.

Might I say before the photos begin and the mmmmmms can be heard around, there were some problems that occurred during our baking experience. First off, one of the bakers (who shall remain nameless, as this is a joint effort, and in the spirit of the season, there will be no throwing under the bus this month) put two tablespoons of corn syrup in the batter when it only calls for corn syrup in the frosting. That made our cookies spread in the oven (again!):

Also, we had no sanding sugar to make our cookies sparkly; if you have no sanding sugar either, you can use regular sugar. If you want to make it colorful, put 1-2 drops of food coloring in a bag with the sugar and shake until evenly coated. We just used plain sugar:

Our third and final problem was while we were zesting the lemon. Our zester was not providing a zest, so we did the best we could with the zester for the cookie batter (the recipe called for 2 tablespoons of zest, which is same as the zest of two lemons),  then when it called for the zest of a lemon in the frosting, we peeled the zest (not the pith though, the white part under the yellow of a lemon) and chopped it up:



And ended up with this:

These cookies took much time and effort but in the end the final product was stounding:

:
These cookies had the perfect amount of lemon in them, a faint whisper of citrus, while the frosting balanced it out with the blatant presence of lemon; they combined together to create an artistic production which we shall taste forever (obviously because they made about twenty and we make cookies every day!).

Unexpected delicious adult pairing: Yuengling beer, ice cold, or a lovely hefeweizen. YUM.

We have used almost a pound of butter, and it is only the second day. We will be providing daily updates on our use of butter, so prepare yourself!

Next up: Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Day One

Today is our first day of  25 Days of Christmas Cookies! We (my mother and I, who is typing this as I speak) have decided to bake our way into the Christmas spirit.  Christmas has turned into a time when people frantically rush around, doing too much and stressing out about all of the things they can't get around to. 25 Days of Christmas Cookies is our way to slow down, relax and get into a more traditional holiday spirit, not the mad anxiety of the rush.

The bakers: Sicily, 11, and Suzannah, old. The idea has been unabashedly stolen from Epicurious; we are planning on adapting a few of the suggested recipes and adding a few of our own.

We are an odd household - part Christmas tree, part menorrah, and all Buddhist. Our main Christmas tradition consists of lounging around in jammies for the better part of the day, noshing on overnight French toast, bacon and fruit salad, playing with our toys until around three, when we all put on shoes and go to a movie, then out for Chinese food. We are secular in most ways, and but we keep a tradition that focuses on being with family.

Although our baker's hearts are willing, our stomachs may be weak. We are a mere three-person household, and some of these recipes bake 80 cookies. We may substitute some cookies for Suzannah's burgeoning candymaking, but our intention is to make something sweet for the next 25 days.

Our first cookie is Almond-Oat Lace Cookies, dipped in chocolate. These might sound fancy, but they are very simple to make and take no time at all.

Our ingredients:

Tasting the batter:

Please note, however, that the recipe calls for dropping 2 teaspoons per cookie onto a cookie sheet. THIS IS A BAD IDEA, unless you want your cookie to look like this:

We broke them into pieces and brushed them with chocolate.

This recipe is absolutely a keeper, but cookie size was problematic. We wouldn't even drop a full teaspoon, as they spread out completely. Half a teaspoon, max, and be generous with your spacing. Definitely use a light-colored pan, and parchment paper is, indeed, your very best friend.

Tomorrow's cookie: Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies.  YUM!