Here's the Wrap

The Christmas Cookie Challenge has come to an end. Whatever will I do now? One thing I won't be doing for quite some time...making cookies. Who am I kidding, I give it two months before I am furiously creaming butter and sugar in my KitchenAide.
All in all this was fun and I am glad I did it. No, I did not make a cookie every single day. But to be fair, I started very early in the season. Next year I may wait at least until after Thanksgiving to start. Yes, I will do it again...at least I think I will.
Now for the winners!! These were the best and the favorites, in no particular order.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Norma Freer's Chocolate Chip
Snickerdoodle's
S____'s Bakery Sugar Cookies
Russian Teacakes
Buttery Gingerbread
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
Martha Stewart's Peppermint Meringue Cups with Chocolate Ganache
Rachael Ray's Hot Cocoa Cookies, Coconut Lemon Snowflakes and Peppermint Surprise Cookies
Cherry Bombs
Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies and Lemon Sage Variation
Jingle Bell Blossom
Frosted Maple Cookies
Cream Cheese Pretzels
Peanut Butter Blossoms

Did you try any of these? Do you have a favorite I did not make? Do you have any questions about anything you have read on this blog over the last few months? Email me @ fdmelissa@gmail.com. Also I would like to keep this blog going but I would not like to bake everyday...any suggestions for topics? I usually bake and decorate at least 3 cakes throughout the year, but I think I will miss the blog in between those cakes. What would you like to hear me ramble on about?
Thank you so much for reading and most importantly for clicking on the adverstisements. No final total yet on how much I have earned but will keep you all posted.

Day 6: Russian Teacakes

   I have always loved to make cookies. When I was little I used every ingredient in the house to make some of the worst cookies (I'm not sure you could even call them that) ever tasted. As I got a little older I started to understand why you needed to follow recipes when baking. We never had a lot of food in the house so I would search my moms cookbooks for anything I could make with what we had. That's when the Russian Teacake came into my life. I found it in one of my Great Grandma's old cookbooks and make them over and over until the page fell out of the book. As an adult I searched to find the recipe again and finally found it a few years ago, only now I bake them about once a year instead of once a week. So simple, so good. They are often mistaken for Mexican Wedding Cakes but they taste and are made differently.

I like to coat them in powdered sugar while they are still warm, it makes almost a frosting around the cookie.

Day 5: Chocolate Chip

  When it comes to Chocolate Chip cookies I am the first to admit I am a total snob. I have never made or eaten a chocolate chip that I think is perfect. They have to be slightly crisp, but not crunchy. Soft, but not cakey. The chips should hold their shape but melt to the touch...or bite. I have tried so many recipes and even read about the science behind baking in every attempt to make a perfect chocolate chip cookie.
Then along came my neice and her husband...for my birthday last year they gave me a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies he had made. NO LIE, THE BEST I HAVE EVER HAD!! It turns out it was her grandmother's  recipe and she was nice enough to share. Up until now I had completley given up on chocolate chip cookies, I will cherish this recipe for ever.

   On another note: if anyone is reading this, I realize the cookies have been pretty boring so far. I promise more exciting cookies are to come, just had to get the staples out of the way first.

Day One: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

   This is my "go to" cookie. I try not to bake them very often. Which reminds me of an episode of Friends...Phoebe doesn't make her cookies very often because they are so good she doesn't think its fair to the other cookies. These cookies are that good, but the real reason I do not make them very often is that I usually end up eating more than half of the batch myself. That is of course if I do not eat all of the dough first.

Christmas Cookie Challenge

  Very simply, for no real reason, I have challenged myself to make a batch of homemade cookies every day from now, make that 4 days ago, until Christmas. A different type of cookie each day and the dough is being frozen to bake later, less a few to sample, of course.
   I started posting these on Facebook orginally but have decided a blog may be a better choice. This satisfies my need to post these cookies without forcing my friends and family to see it every single day for the next 45+ days. This is the first blog I have ever done, so bear with me here...