Christmas Cookie Prep – Done!
There was a time when I worked AND I was a mother, and I was a wife (still am) and I had other roles, all of which seemed to require at least a plate of cookies at every occasion, and often some kind of hors d’oeuvres as well. There was only one answer – be prepared! Like a good girl scout, I developed a strategy – do one or two cookies every day for about a week, then store them in storage containers and dig them out when you need them. The good thing is, you can buy these containers and pull them out once a year for a month for many, many years.
One of my earliest memories of Christmas cookies are of my mother and her best friend from university getting together once a year and making rosettes. I made my first rosettes when I graduated from college, sitting over pan on a stove burner, turning it up and then down, trying to get it to hold the perfect temperature, which it never did. Sometime around the 80’s there was a great fad for Fry Babies and Fry Daddies, and the Fry Daddy is just the perfect size for making rosettes, holding the perfect temperature.
This year, I did a hands-on seminar for a family group who wanted to learn how to make these. I am not sure it was a huge success. Everyone succeeded, but one said “I have learned how to appreciate YOU making them in the years to come.” A couple parodied my teaching technique (I am not such a great teacher) and I just figured it means they no longer have to be polite to me; I really am family, that’s what sisters do.
So I made them this week for my friend who hosts a big party every year for the ballet performers. I think of them as ballerina cookies, light as air, mostly made of air – wrapped in fat and sugar:
Rosettes – DONE.
Meringues, too, have that light-as-air feeling, and I am hoping the weather will stay crisp enough that they will not get chewy:
Still light, and melt-in-your-mouth, are the Russian Teacakes, snowy in powdered sugar:
Last, but necessary for color, are the stalwart sugar cookies, time-consuming and fiddly, but so good and so colorful:
Cookie prep – DONE!
so pretty! We call the meringues “angel kisses” – is that just an our-family thing, or an extended family thing?
Well prepared as always Intlxpatr. I have just done mine as well, meringues, kipferln and mince pies. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas with the family, we have everyone coming to us. 12 days has been hung today!! x
Aunt Buddy used to make chocolate kisses, and it is her recipe I originally used and cannot find now. I don’t remember ever calling them angel kisses; do your angel kisses have chocolate chips in them? This year I made them with chocolate mint chips – I love them!
Shirley! How wonderful for you to be making all those wonderful home-baked goods in your very own HOME! Will all the family be coming to you this year?
LOL; I told AdventureMan I can’t hang 12 Days until Christmas! I have another one up this year; I like to change things out now and then. Just a question . . . do you have as much time for quilting as you used to . . . ? xxx ooo xxx 🙂
oh yes, chocolate chips are a must 🙂 and chocolate mint ones are great. Our recipe was handwritten but definitely called angel kisses so maybe it wasn’t from Buddy 🙂