As I mentioned in my last post, Christmas decorating is one holiday tradition that I’ve really missed.  But something else  – Christmas baking! I got so used to life without an oven while overseas, but I definitely missed baking.  Since we’ve been back, I’ve made the occasional brownies, muffins and cookies (and Mehmet makes bread). Howver, the last couple weeks saw us in the kitchen a lot more than usual, as I was preparing gift boxes of baked goods for my students.

It’s not too late to do some baking for Christmas! In case anyone wants to make any of these, I’m including the recipes.

Gingerbread cookies

The great thing about gingerbread is, it’s so easy to work with. The dough is wonderful – and tasty! I think it’s healthy, with all that molasses and ginger. Yes, we should all eat gingerbread cookies for our health.

We don’t have a decorating bag or tip, and Mehmet was better than me at decorating these guys, using only a small plastic bag with a tiny snip off one corner to put on the icing.

Also, it’s not often that you can work with cookies that have character! This was like playing with several trays of little boys… it was hard not to have “Run, run, run, as fast as you can… you can’t catch me – I’m the gingerbread man!” in my head as I was working on these.  Recipe here.

Icebox Cookies

These were great fun too. Those are chopped candied cherries in the dough. The dough is rolled into ‘logs’ and can be frozen. So easy to just slice up and bake when needed! I like that they’re squarish, too.  Recipe here.

Chocolate Truffles

Oh yes! This was my first time to make truffles. Easy? Not really. Fun? Definitely. For toppings we used a variety of candy sprinkles, crushed peanuts and flaked coconut.  Recipe here.

Lesson learned: don’t put them into the paper cups until they are fully dried and set. I just couldn’t wait… I had to see them in the cups, and some of the cups got drops of melted chocolate on them as a result. Not a big deal, but if your standards are high…!

Peanut brittle

I haven’t made this for soooo many years! It’s surprisingly easy, and not-so-surprisingly sticky in your teeth. So yummy! Corn syrup, butter, sugar, peanuts – oh my.  Recipe here

Sugar cookies!

Hey, why does that one in the top right look grey. It wasn’t grey! These are easy to make, and Mehmet likes helping with decorating. Shaped cookies are always a delight – why do we tend to only make them at Christmas time?

I’ve actually never worked with Royal icing before (it gets hard).  Enjoyed it! Recipe here.

We put everything into the freezer after baking, and then yesterday I prepared the boxes to hand out to my students after our class potluck lunch today.

It was fun! They loved the boxes of goodies, and I got one of my holiday fixes. Win-win!