Your cookies look wonderful Nancy! I think my New Years resolution will be to find the camera & download cable and re-teach myself to post pictures! I've been busy baking, but...no pictures.

Nancy, that looks like a party on a platter!
I remember making the Candy Cane Cookies when my daughter Sam was a little ankle-biter.

I've been up to my elbows in projects lately, some cooking related. Some, not.
But, I will soon post pictures of the Christmas baking I have accomplished so far. Thanks for sharing yours.

Sol

NIce!!!

Your cookies look great, you've been busy. Here are my Christmas cookies!

{{gwi:2091283}}

You're ahead of me momj47!!
I'm stopping at the store tonight.

On tap for the weekend:
Banana Nut Bread (to be Bandana Nut Bread wrapped in red bandanas for my brother)
Santas Helpers
Toffee Squares (cookie)
Toffee Crunch (candy)
And giant monster cookies w/ M& M's (kids, neices gift with a gift card on top).

Maybe more.......

Deanna

Your all ahead of me, I won't be able to get to the store for flour until Friday! I'll be make toffee cookies, dark chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip, pecan cookies, and probably some mess of a cookie with half a dozen things in it that my son dreams up! I'll probably make sugar cut outs, rice crispy treats and truffles too.

Beautiful job Nancy. I also spent the weekend in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture before I divided everything up and put it in baskets. I did take a couple of pictures of the filled baskets though.

Here is the smaller basket before I wrapped it.

After it was wrapped.

Large Basket (every thing wouldn't fit in it.)

The list of what was in the baskets.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Chocolate Pecan Fudge
Caramel Corn
Chex Mix with nuts
Chex Mix without nuts
Amish Friendship Bread
Seven Layer Bars
Peanut Blossoms
Lemon-Ricotta Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Special K Bars
Peanut Butter Balls
Cream Cheese Balls
Spiced Wafersthree different kinds
Cheese Dog Bones
Fannie May Pixies (I still can't make them as good as they do).

I have 7 more of the small baskets to do sometime this next next week.

Linda

Nancy...gorgeous plate of cookies and my you have been busy!

Some of your cookies are on my list too. I can't wait to make the Candy Cane cookies this year!

Could you post the Date Nut Pinwheel recipe?

Thanks.

Michelle

Your baskets are beautiful! And the list of goodies is inspiring. But my dogs Cooper and Bailey are making me ask LOL - those cheese dog bones- for dogs right? and can you post the recipe? woof, I mean thanks. and whoever is receiving those baskets is lucky indeed. Sue

I can't take credit for the dog bone recipe. LindaC posted it over on the RE. Every dog that has had them loves them.

Linda

CHEESE BONES
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups shredded cheese (your choice)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water (more or less)
Preheat the oven to 400°. Combine the flour, cheese, garlic & oil. Add water if necessary to form a stiff dough & knead well. Roll it out on a floured surface to 1/2" thick & cut into shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browwwned. Makes about 36.

Linda!
Your baskets are beautiful!!

Please
Add
Me
To
Your
Christmas
List
:+)

Deanna

Thanks for the nice words, Booberry, Sol, Eileen, Momj47, Linda and Michelle! Michelle, I've asked my mom for that recipe and will send it to you. Deanna and jcrowley, your treats sound like they will be wonderful. Momj47, that's precisely what my kitchen looked while planning the party, but since I supplied all the baking ingredients, I had about 4 times that! And Linda, your baskets are absolutely stunning! I love the idea of the little gift tags. Do they identify each goodie? Truly a work of art, and I 2nd the request to be added to your recipient list :-)

Nancy

Nancy, those are beautiful cookies. I can only hope mine turn out even close to as nice. Which cookies are those with the bunny shapes on them? They're cute.

Linda, those baskets are amazing. You have some very lucky friends.

Sally

Sally, you will be amazed what the people on this forum produce for holiday cookies. Last year, I was so proud of myself until I saw theirs! But thank you. The bunny shape cookies are springerle, and they're delicious. My mom made them.

What is the RE? thanks

duh, never mind got it recipe exchange. Thanks for the cheese dog bone recipe, Sue

So far, I have made Vanilla Kipferl and Coconut Macaroons. I am hoping to get a few more types made over the next few days.
Lisa

One question, how do you not eat them all before Christmas? Maybe I just don't bake enough so homemade cookies are such a treat if I baked more than 3 days before there would be none left!

Lovely plate of cookies..and wonderful baskets.

I already gave out the teachers/staff/fellow mom gifts Tuesday and Wednesday.
But didn't take pictures.

I made:
Almond Toffee
Marlen's Raspberry Love Muffins
Aunt Doe's Shortbread dipped or drizzled with dark chocolate and pecans or large colored sugar
Then everyone got to choose a jam, jelly or butter of their choice.
Tayberry was the #1 choice..all 4 gone! LOL
2 chose Habanero Gold and only 1 Brown Sugar Peach Rum Jam and Peach Vanilla Butter left the bag...

Wednesday a friend and her son will be over. We'll be making homemade marshmallows(first for both of us!) and gingerbread houses..

I think I'll put on a pot of soup too...

I have some "fruit and nut" bark ~a la Ina~ setting up right now..but that's gonna be my treat. LOL

Here you go!

Date Pinwheels

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baker's Catalogue editor P.J. Hamel reports that this is her all-time favorite Christmas cookie. She writes:

"My own memories include the soft brown dough, the dates bubbling on the stove, the tricky process of rolling the filling inside the dough, and the magical way the refrigerator would make the sticky mass solid and sliceable. And the taste! Waiting till just the right moment, the cookies hot out of the oven but the filling cool enough not to burn, my sister and I would greedily eat date pinwheels till Mom made us stop. No, date pinwheels aren't beautiful; in fact, they're usually kind of plain-looking, the spiral of dates often a bit out of whack. But these homely little gems strike just the right note on my Christmas cookie spread.

"Remember to share this recipe with a younger friend; it's up to all of us to pass along this type of old and trusted recipe to the next generation of bakers."

Dough
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
2 cups (15 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
4 cups (17 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Filling*
1 3/4 cups (9 1/4 ounces) chopped dates
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (6 ounces) water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) finely diced pecans or walnuts

*Though this filling is easy enough to make, if you want to use purchased date (or fig) filling, go ahead. You'll need about 2 cups (24 ounces) of filling.

Dough: In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the flour, salt, and baking soda. Chill the dough till it's firm enough to roll out, at least 1 hour.

Filling: While the dough is chilling, make the filling. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, combine the dates, sugar, water, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and boil the dates gently for 10 to 15 minutes, or until thickened to about the consistency of very soft jam. Stir in the finely diced nuts, and set aside.

Assembly: Divide the dough in half; each half will weigh about 21 ounces. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough into a 9" x 12", 1/4"-thick rectangle. Spread half the filling (about 11 ounces) over the entire surface of the dough; the filling is sticky and stiff, but if you keep wetting your fingers, you can push and spread it around without too much trouble. Roll the dough up, lengthwise, to make a log. It's somewhat delicate, but a baker's bench knife or spatula helps the job along. Wrap each log in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for several hours, or overnight. If you have a double baguette pan, slip the wrapped dough into the wells to help preserve their round shape.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and if it's flattened out at all roll it till it's round again; the log may lengthen a bit, and that's OK. Cut the log into 1/3" slices, and place the slices 1 1/2" apart on lightly greased baking sheets.

Baking: Bake the cookies for 10 to 11 minutes, or until they're a very light brown, reversing the baking sheets (top to bottom, and front to back) midway through the baking time. Remove the cookies from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool. Yield: about 8 dozen pinwheels.

©2007 The King Arthur Flour Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.