Cookies Galore

I did it!

I baked 7 different kinds of cookies out of the 10 I set out to bake to give away to my loved ones and friends. Although I didn't bake all of the cookies on my list, I am happy that I took the time to decorate the sugar cookies and the gingerbread people. Usually I am so tired from baking the cookies that I don't have the energy to decorate them. This time I was more organized and I started making my cookie dough ahead of time. I think that made all of the difference because at least I was going to bed by 1 a.m. instead of 2 or 3 like I have most years. I really enjoyed decorating them and I can't wait to do it again!

Here they are, ready to be packaged, sealed and delivered. We have Cardamom Spice, Sweet Cardamom Pistachio Crackers, Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread, Sugar, Almond, Chocolate Chip, and Gingerbread (not pictured). The three variations that I did not get to bake were Crisp Anise, Green Tea Shortbread & Espresso Doilies. I made the Espresso Doilies last year and they are very intricate and time consuming, but they are beautiful. Maybe I'll make them for Valentines Day. I'll have to dig up last year's pictures to show you. I have also made the Crisp Anise cookies before and they are actually my mom's favorite since she loves anise. It was difficult for me to scratch them this year because I know how much she likes them. Maybe I'll make her some for Mother's Day. The ones that I have never made and I always put on my list are the Green Tea Shortbread. These call for Chinese Green Tea powder which is not carried in local supermarkets and either I don't have time to go to a Chinese market or I'm too cheap to pay $10 for the tin of tea.

These are cardamom spice piggies.


As you may know, when you make cut cookies, you really shouldn't re-roll and cut your dough more than twice, thrice tops. So rather than throw out my dough, I make little Teddy Grahams for the kids. They come out so cute and they are a good way to use up your scraps. Also, this year, I baked my cookie scraps to snack on while we bake.

These are some of the Sugar Cookies that I decorated.
I really like the way Rudolph came out.

One evening while I decorated, I was trying to mix my colors to make a tan color for the lions but what I got was this ugly neon green color that I was going to throw out but Mateo said he wanted to use it. So I let him decorate the imperfect cookies that I was not going to give away.

See the green in the little white cup in front of him? Yuk!

Here is what he did.

Almond, Chewy Chocolate Ginger & Sweet Cardamom Pistachio

Chocolate Chip

Cardamom Spice Bears and Piggies

More Cardamom Spice

The mess! Can you see my inspiration peeking out of the bottom-right corner?

Some of the cookies had a photo shoot with Santa.

I really had fun with the Gingerbread People. I decided to personalize them. Here is my family. Later I will post pictures of the other families that I made.

One package ready to go. This one is for Hector and Iliana's family. We always tease Hector about being grumpy (although half the time it is just an act but we can never tell when), so his Gingerbread is scowling.

The package decorating kit (yarn, muffin paper cups, tin muffin molds, stickers to label the cookies, and cookies).

This package was for Cari and her family.

I hope everyone enjoyed their cookies. I am not going to post the recipes because that is just too much but if anyone is interested (assuming anyone is reading), post a comment and I will give you the recipes. Most of them are from old Martha Stewart Magazines.

Love,
SC
xoxo