The one thing I love to do is bake. My preference will always be to bake over cooking.
For this reason among a few, I LOVE Christmas. I revel in the fact that I can bake, then consume, then bake and consume some more with no trace of lingering Weight Watchers guilt.
Points are thrown out the door with the plethora of holiday catalogues. I lug out my KitchenAid
Professional 600 6Qt Stand Mixer
and bake breads, cakes, and scones - all with the intent of not only adding the Christmas 5 to my already ample hips, but to fill my home with the scent of the Holiday Season.
It’s been freezing this December and to come home to a house that smells of cinnamon, nutmeg and rising bread thaws me out every time.
I also love to see my family’s faces light up as they come into the house wondering what carb-filled delight I have in store for them.
The one thing I don’t do at Christmas is bake sprinkle topped, food-colored cookies. Blasphemy, I know. But here’s the thing: Why do Christmas cookies have to be about artificial coloring and royal icing.
Unless you plan to make cookies weeks ahead (in which case they always taste stale), when do you have time to cut out and then decorate the cookies to look like the cover of the latest Martha Stewart article.
I know there are those of you out there that, indeed, make the time to do just that and good for you and your artistic endeavors. But here’s the other thing: Do people enjoy them? I mean really?
I have to admit, they are beautiful, but when was the last time you saw a #333333 and silver-iced cookie in the shape of a snowflake and thought, “I need to devour that cookie, now!”?
For me? Never. Now, if it were a
Ghirardelli Chocolate
Chip cookie with the melted chips glistening in all their glory, you would have me leaving the grocery checkout line in search for the ingredients.
To make a stronger case: I can even measure the difference in want based on which cookies get consumed by my coworkers. The traditional stuff like
Peanut Butter and
Snickerdoodles are the first to go, leaving the sprinkles to the poor saps that came into the office late.
So, I offer you my best “Holiday” cookies – your traditional basics, just jazzed up a bit to add a little Holiday cheer.
And for those of you who honor food-colored, sprinkled holiday traditions and have the time and lack the capabilities, I offer you some
videos under the heading "Christmas Sweets" on how to make those Christmas cookies that we love to look at . . . but don’t be afraid to fall back on the traditional basics when your hand cramps from squeezing the tube of Christmas-green decorating gel.
dGizmo