Sugary Delivery

Do you hear it? Yep, it’s Darlene Love blasting every time you go into a store for the next 27 days. Nothing like it.

It’s Christmas season, and we hope none of you are Scrooges because many of our posts the next few weeks will be related to this gingerbread-filled season. The greatest time of year is synonymous for the greatest amount of calories of the year. Let’s celebrate Jesus, watch Home Alone, and eat some baked goods. Then maybe go on a walk so you don’t feel like garbage. Then repeat.

Last year I made a few different kinds of cookies and delivered to some neighbors and friends. What’s better than someone knocking at your door with a cookie box? Not much.

I’ll be doing it again this year, and I thought I’d share the recipes of what I baked last year. I only took one picture because for some reason I wasn’t in blog mode, so it’s a horrible picture, but what can you do?

If you could smell this picture, it would smell like butter, and that is a beautiful thing.

-Starting from the top left are orange chocolate chip cookies. The combination of orange and chocolate is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Truly. I used her cookie recipe, and I’ve sung her praises before, but she has the best recipes for cookies. I’ve never made a bad one, and I think she has about 28,000 different ways to make cookies. Her peanut butter chocolate chip will make you want to write her a thank you note.

-Next up are the thumbprints. These are the BEST. Whip these up today. I make these two ways: one with chocolate in the middle, and then a jam-filled one. This time I went jam, and I believe I used raspberry. I’ve also used a cranberry orange jam before, and that was dynamite. If I go the jam route, I put that in before baking. The chocolate is a little more fussy(but so so good), and you do kind of have to work with it and be patient to get the consistency just right. So, if you’re not feeling confident, go fruity.

-Front and center are cheese wafers because you need a little savory to balance all the sweet. I like making them into wafers instead of straws because I just don’t want to use a piping bag. They taste just the same, so you do you. If you don’t want them very spicy, you can also reduce the cayenne amount because it does kick it up a bit.

Are these just a southerner thing kind of like grits? Northerners, please chime in. If so, then just add it to the list for reasons to move to the south.

-Bottom left are white chocolate clusters, and they are as simple as they are delicious. These are some of my favorite Christmas treats, and a 3 year old could make them, which makes them even better. Also, I have used honey roasted peanuts instead of the dry roasted, and I like that even more.

-My last treat is a pretzel caramel bar. Also, anything I’ve ever made from her website has always turned out well. Nothing has ever been a flop. I will say you need to file these under the “Fussy” category because you make the caramel and well….if you’ve ever made caramel then you know it can be finicky. However, the end product will having you singing on a piano.

It’s like a bougie, homemade Twix bar. What could be better?

Well, there ya go-my 2020 cookie delivery. I might change up this year’s a bit. We’ll see. Will peppermint make an appearance? Will I be feeling like cranberries? Only the Lord knows.

Thanks for reading today! See you Wednesday.