Christmas Cookies

Gosh, I've been so bad at keeping up lately, it is already December and I haven't blogged until now. I guess we have been busy with holiday festivities around here, and the batteries needed to be charged up for the camera again. Oops!

Last week Emily and Marco came over for the afternoon and we got going on Christmas cookies while the kids were napping. We were baking at top speed, cause you never know how long those little buggers are going to stay asleep. Anyway, we made my Grammy's Sugar cookies (if you taste them and you say, "hmmmm, what is different?" it is the orange extract we put in instead of the normal vanilla)

Spritz (my brother Mike's favorite, although I think John likes them almost as much by the looks of the container)
and Russian Teacakes (or Butter balls if you are Emily, which makes since if you see the amount it calls for in the recipe).
Yesterday my kids and I headed over to Emily and Mike's to make some more. Marco and Gabi cooperated by taking nice long naps. I finally let Emilio just watch Shrek on the couch since he wasn't settling down for a nap and it was annoying running up and down the stairs trying to "shush" him. We made Black and White cookies (we rolled instead of stacked them)
Orange Chocolate Biscotti dipped in White chocolate
Hello Dolly bars (also known as 7 layer bars, one of my favs)
and Grandma's Raspberry White Chocolate Shortbread cookies (Hello!)
Now the trick is to pack them all away and freeze them so they are out of my sight.

I love baking and it was so much more fun to do with my friend and sis in law Emily this year. We look forward to sharing our cookies with many family and friends during this holiday season. If you want any recipes, let me know and I'd be happy to post or email them.

Here are a few pix of the kids helping bake cookies, eating them, and dancing to a silly Reindeer that plays "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer" (one of the most annoying songs of the season, especially when played 25 times in a row.