Annual Christmas Baking Day

Today my mom, sister and I baked up a storm. It looked like a bakery in my mom's kitchen. Every year we each come up with a few different cookies to bake to give away and eat ourselves:). This year we tried a few new recipes and they were a hit! My mom made some white chocolate jumbaloos...I doubt that is how you spell it but that is what I am going with. Basically they are crushed peppermint candies, pretzels and animal cookies dipped in white chocolate goodness..mmmm. My mom also made one of my fav's..Reese's Peanut Butter Bars and my brother's favorite..finger frets.

 

My sister made her favorite cookies called Thumbprints. They are buttery shortbread-like round cookies that are pressed down with your thumb and jam is added.  Sorry I did not take any pics of her cookies..sad face! But believe me they are delish. She also made some cookies that were passed down from her husband's family called "little white ones"..hehehehe. If you are imagining little round white cookies than you would be correct. I did not try these yet but they were tossed in powdered sugar and have crushed almonds in the dough so how can you go wrong. 

I made two new recipes this year. The first were some pecan bars. Classic. The second were some that I saw on Pinterest and they were a Smore turned into a cookie...yes they are amazing! These were so fun to make. You basically start with a chocolate chip cookie dough base and add marshmallows and cinnamon. Then you press a rounded teaspoon on top of half a graham cracker. Bake for five minutes and add a piece of Hershey's chocolate on top and bake again until the cookie is golden brown. So clever..this one is a keeper. Best of all The Hubs told me it was the best cookie he ever had! Funny thing is he is not a sweet person. I should rephrase that..not a person who loves sweets. So he had no interest in any of the cookies. He just wanted plain old chocolate chip cookies. So, he tried these Smore cookies and loved them. SCORE!

Overall, it was a fun and tasty day! Always such a great girl day...except this year Shane and my brother joined in. Mainly they were our "taste testers"..although Shane wanted to wear his chef hat and help stir the ingredients for mama:).