counting down

Whoa. Is it just me or did December just whoosh by at super sonic speed? I am so behind on all my Christmas list - just getting the tree decorated and the cards sent but my usual cookies

 have been baked and given and parties and concerts have happened. This year I spent the first part of the month getting ready for a craft show

 and then worked as an assistant elf on a school event that happens every December. 

It's called Santa's workshop and basically families donate stuff to be given as presents. Every year the request is the same, give donations that can be gifted and that you wouldn't mind getting back as a present. Or as a friend put it, you give stuff and get other stuff back.

But I did the math, we are a net giving family as we get back two presents with one child but as my friend has three children in the school, she gets back twelve gifts (each child buys for parents and siblings). It's a wonderful day after loads of hard work sorting, washing,

bag of stuffies for washing

 packaging and decorating when the children come into the gym/workshop to choose gifts for their parents and siblings starting with the kindergardeners. The little ones come with their big buddies (kids from the upper grades) to help them choose and wrap, and for the day, the kids wear their pajamas and it is all feel good, in a gooey, marshmallowy way. 

This year our boy is a big buddy to a kindergardener so I saw him twice - once when he was helping his buddy and then when he was shopping (I wasn't allowed to watch).

 As volunteer elves helping the kids, we do have to manage the gift tables so that the big kids who come last still have a selection to choose from, which gets tricky with teen boys and dads especially. All the gifts are $2 each with the money going to various charities - this year our sister school and refugees. At the end of the day anything left can be bought for a loonie ($1) in loonie madness. Fun. After the dust settles all books go to the school library for the book sale and all other gifts are donated.

Then came the class party and now school is done for the year and we are relaxing at home - well after the decorating, gift wrapping, baking and grocery shopping is done. The dog got his Christmas hair cut

 and we had a bit of snow. We spent a couple of days visiting family on Vancouver Island

 and now are home for the holidays.

 My husband's new job in retail means he is working most of this week and next.

Last week I made a holiday version of my scones, adding hazelnuts and chocolate to them.

Chocolate Hazelnut Scones (adapted from Recipes Only Cookbook Caroll Allen- June 1989,Mcgraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd edition. )

3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c brown sugar
1 c butter
1 c milk
1/2 c finely chopped hazelnuts
1/2 bag of chocolate chips

In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, baking powder and brown sugar. Pulse to blend well. Add the butter and pulse until well-mixed in. Add the milk and pulse until a dough just forms. Add in the hazelnuts and chocolate chips. Dump the dough onto a counter and pat into a 3/4" thick rectangle. Cut into triangles and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 deg F for 10-15 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown.


Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

snow, a tree and cookies

Saturday was a wierd day. I woke with a hurting heart, aching for those families in CT and those lost children. I hugged my 1st grader tight, grateful that my own was safe, wishing that everyone's little ones could be safe as well. We went on with our day - first up was soccer. In the cold and wet and wind, the numbers were down but the boys were as enthusiastic as ever. Luckily for them (and for us) this week's snack parents appeared with hot chocolate and donuts for everyone - a wonderful treat for frozen and damp boys and parents.

When we got home I got to work making Almond Cookies and the boy (with a bit of help from his dad) got down to the serious work of decorating our tree. A couple of hours later the house was filled with the aroma of baked cookies, butter and almonds and the twinkling lights of a decorated tree. It didn't cure my aching heart or stay my tears (as my cousin wrote - do they know we are crying with them?) it did feel a tiny bit better in our house.

Almond Cookies
1 c soft butter
1 c sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp almond extract
2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 c ground almonds (do this in your food processor)

Preheat the oven to 300 deg F.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks and almond extract and beat until incorporated.
Add the flour, salt and ground almonds and mix until all is blended in. Scoop dough in approximately 1 teaspoon scoops of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet, flattening the dough with the bottom of a drinking glass.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are very lightly browned. Lift the cookies off the sheets and let cool on a rack. The cookies will keep in an airtight tin for a couple of weeks. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Note: ground almonds with the skins on with give the cookies brown flecks as pictured above. Ground almonds without skins will give a more uniformly coloured cookie. Both ways taste delicious.

baking day

The Advent calendar is up and T's been adding ornaments in chunks instead of 1 per day and now I have carols to serenade me on my way to and from work. And with other blogs full of cookie recipes and delicious descriptions of christmas baking, yesterday I got out my baking sheets. I must admit I was partly motivated by a promise I had to fulfill - at a recent church fund raiser, a kind soul paid for 3 months of my baking (3 batches of something - muffins, a cake, a loaf of bread, etc) and she opted for two types of christmas cookies for 2 of the months. I made 2 batches each of pfeffernuse and almond butter cookies, so one batch to give as my promise and 1 batch for us.

The pfeffernuse remind me of my childhood years in Germany (my dad was stationed in Germany for a few years) but the recipe comes from my Canadian Living Cookbook (Random House/Madison Press) - which has a huge section on christmas baking (and also has the recipe I use as the basis for my fruitcake). These are easy (start to finish ~ 1 hour) and the batch can easily be doubled or tripled for a large number of cookies.

Pfeffernuse (from the Canadian Living Cookbook)
1/3 c molasses
1/3 c butter
1 egg, beaten
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp each cinnamon and ginger
1/4 tsp each cloves, black pepper and nutmeg

In a saucepan, heat the butter and molasses until the butter melts.

 Take off the heat and cool. Add in the beaten egg. Mix the flour, soda and spices together and add into the molasses mixture.

Blend well, first with a spoon and then with your hands. Form the dough into 1" balls and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 deg F. Dust with icing or granulated sugar while still warm.

After our boy played soccer and we ran some errands, including the purchase of a door wreath from a craft market, I made almond cookies. I can't share the recipe because it isn't mine but a blend of butter, sugar, almond extract, eggs, salt, flour and ground almonds morphs into a lovely buttery bite of nutty goodness. I'm glad I made 2 batches, T and D love them.