Holiday Baking and Sharing & WDB

Every year since 2001, a group of girls and I have gotten together for some holiday baking. While the group has changed (RangerGrrl and I are the only ones who have been there year after year), the sharing of good sweets, conversation, and friendship remain constant. Here's the goods. I'll link to recipes if possible, though some that I used are from Bon Appetit and are not on the Epicurious website yet.


Top: Maple-Walnut Spice Cookies (me), Candy-I forget what these are called-cream cheese, powdered sugar, ADDICTIVE, Anise Cookies, and Chocolate Crinkles (all made by RangerGrrl ).
I think I had an ADD moment when making the Maple cookies and used 1/2 cup less flour than was called for, hence the flat appearance. However, the reviews were good--if you like maple. I was also said that they could do without the icing/nuts. The spices in these cookies are amazing-cloves, cinnamon, ginger. Yum!
The candies are delicious--I could eat all of them in a sitting. Anise cookies-if you like licorice, these are for you! They are RangerGrrl's favorites. Moist and cake-like, the anise flavor is evident but not overpowering.



Top: Peanut brittle (Chimene). What is a holiday without crunchy peanut brittle? This stuff is addictive! Fudge (Joann, our host)--fudge is another favorite of mine. Yum! Chocolate haystacks (?) (Chimene's daughter). Gingerbread truffles (me). This is a Bon Appetit recipe. I mentioned them below. I haven't had the finished product, but with spices, cream, and chocolate, how can it be bad?




Finally, Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies-the finished product on the top row, and the sandwich parts on the bottom right.
The biscotti is Pistachio-Cranberry made by Maria--some coated with chocolate. Cranberries and pistachios--that's an awesome flavor combination!
I love chocolate. I love mint. Thus, I think this ma be my new favorite special occasion cookie. The chocolate is rich--I used Penzey's Dutch Process Cocoa. I'll link to the recipe as soon as it's on Epicurious. Or check out the December Bon Appetit. This is a must-try recipe for mint lovers! It's not as labor intensive as I thought it would be. I made the cookies last night, and then the filling today at Joann's house. I iced them while sitting and talking. Piece of cake!

Now for weekend dog blog #15. My dogs have been really needy/clingy--mostly Harley, so here he is thinking he's a lap dog (all 140 #s of him)!




Peanut was feeling left out, so had to join in. Nothing like laying around with 180 #s of dog on/against you!

Check out Sweetnicks to see all the other cute dogs in this weeks' WDB!