Virtual Christmas Cookie Blog Hop - My Turn

 

It looks like I'm the caboose of the Christmas Cookie Exchange train this year!  It's been such fun to see all the wonderful projects and goodies you all have made.  I can't wait to try a bunch of the recipes you all have shared, and I've got some new ideas for projects thanks to all you talented quilters!

This is a LONG post, so grab a cup of coffee or take your Geritol before continuing.  You'll need it!

To start with, I made some cookies to share.  

The top cookies are favorites of my family, and I make them every year.  They are the good old Peanut Butter Blossoms.  So easy, yet SO YUMMY!  These are not gluten free, by the way.  I make some that are gluten free, but honestly, they're not as good as these.  This recipe is everyone's favorite!

The bottom cookies are Toffee Bars that my Aunt Lydia always made for Christmas, and they are still family favorites.  Here are the recipes I use for each one:

Peanut Butter Blossoms

1-1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening (I use butter-flavored Crisco sticks)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar
1 package Hershey's milk chocolate kisses

1.  In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening, peanut butter, 1/2 cup white sugar, and brown sugar.  Add the egg, milk, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add the dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly.  Chill the dough for 1 hour.

3.  Use a teaspoon to shape into balls.  Roll the balls in 1/2 cup white sugar.  Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.  

4.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from oven, and immediately press 1 Hershey's kiss on each cookie, pressing down until the cookie starts to crack around the edges.  

5.  Bake another 2-3 minutes.  Watch carefully so the kisses don't melt.

6.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Aunt Lydia's Toffee Bars

1 cup butter (2 sticks), at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 or 4 full-sized Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars, broken into squares

1/2 to 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

1.  Spray a 9 X 13 glass baking dish with baking spray.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Cream the first 5 ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

3.  On low speed, mix in the flour until well blended.

4.  Pat out the cookie dough evenly into the prepared baking dish, so that it covers the bottom of the dish.

5.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until it's light golden brown.

6.  Take the baking dish out of the oven, and immediately spread the Hershey's candy bar squares over the cookie base while it is still hot.  Wait a couple minutes for the chocolate to soften.  Then spread the softened chocolate evenly over the top with a knife.

7.  Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top.

8.  When it has cooled, cut it into small squares to serve.  

My husband's side of the family has already had their annual Christmas Party.  It was our turn to host it.  As hosts, our job is to decorate the tables and set up the food.  Oh, and clean up afterwards. 🤯  There were 87 people attending, so the family rented a banquet hall.  There were 20 round tables set up, with 6 chairs per table.  We bought Christmas themed tablecloths to cover the tables.  Then, in an apparent state of delirium, I decided to make little gift bags as the centerpiece for all the tables.  Since most families sit together, I thought it would be nice if every family could take home a gift bag.  I made 24 bags in all, just in case I needed extras.  Here's what a random sample of them wound up looking like:  (I still had a fall tablecloth on my kitchen table - sorry)

I made 24 of them, all different!  No 2 bags were alike.  We stuffed them with candy, candy canes, and packets of hot chocolate.  Needless to say, they were a big hit!   In fact, some people were trying to steal each other's bags.  They need help.  Seriously.  😂

I used a tutorial from Just Jude Designs, which you can access HERE.  I made a couple tweaks to the pattern, since I was mass producing them.  It just made it easier for me to work quickly.  

I will give you a rough idea of the tutorial below.  Please access the Just Jude Designs page for a complete, thorough, and free tutorial.  It is a great tutorial, and the bags turned out so cute!   I had a ball making them!

Here's what I did:

I started out by dragging out a bunch of my Christmas fabric.

Then, my granddaughter and I sifted through the piles looking for sets of coordinating fabrics.  That took awhile - in fact, after about 30 minutes, my granddaughter gave up and left me on my own.  I still cry when I think about that.  🤣  

After several hours of pairing fabrics, and lots of chocolate, I was ready to start cutting.  I cut out all the bags before I started sewing.  I stacked them up and just worked through the pile.

I cut my outer pieces and my lining pieces 8" X 11".  I cut the channel pieces 2" X 8".  And I made each drawstring piece at least 2" X 26".  For me, I like them long.  I used an assortment of ribbons and cording for the drawstrings.

I prepared the channels, and the outer bag as well as the lining.

I did the boxed corners a little different than the tutorial.  I like to cut out squares in the corners, so I cut 1" squares out of each corner on the outer bags and the lining.  Hindsight, I could have cut out 2" squares.

Then I turned the outer bag, poked out the corners, and got them ready for the final assembly.

All it needs now is to sew the channel on, and thread it with a drawstring.

And there you have it!  It probably takes less time to make one of these bags, than it did to look at this post! 😅

Here are all of my bags before they were filled with goodies:

If you made it this far, thanks for reading all of this!  Y'all deserve an extra present or two from Santa! 🎄🎅

And that's a wrap! (No pun intended)  Thanks to Carol for hosting this blog hop, and also to Joan for being such a great hostess.  I'm so grateful I signed up!  I was late to the party, but so glad I came!

 I hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!  I'm already thinking about January,  white rabbits, and what I'm going to make!  See you soon!

Fall Ginger Cookies

We have had some gorgeous fall weather here, and it just makes me want to bake and bake and bake!

At the end of October, I like to bake some treats for the neighbors and, of course, our favorite bus driver!  She is so good to my grandkids!  We just love her!

I wanted to bake something that just tasted and smelled like fall, and I decided on some fall ginger cookies.  They are easy to bake, they make your house smell SO GOOD, and they have those wonderful fall flavors everyone seems to crave this time of year.

Here they are, all baked up and ready to go into some treat boxes.  Last year, after Halloween, I bought these cute Wilton cookie boxes for $1.00 a package, and a couple Halloween doily packages (12 doilies per package) for 45 cents a package!! SCORE!!   I fit about 12-14 cookies in each box:

And here is a box all closed and ready to deliver:

So cute!  I also took a treat bag and filled it with fun size chocolates to go along with the cookies. I have to say the neighbors and our bus driver loved their goodie boxes and bags!  And there were a few cookies left for my husband, who loves them!  I made 2 batches of cookies, with each batch making about 3 dozen cookies.

Here is the recipe I used:

For a printable copy, please click HERE. 

Happy baking!