Note to self: Next year buy all holiday baked goods from a bakery. It’s Christmas Eve and I am so baked-out that I can’t stand the thought of another cookie coming out of my oven. Yet here I sit while the world’s most complicated pumpkin pie bakes in my oven. To be fair it is a maple bourbon pumpkin pie with a chocolate crust and it is fantastic, not to mention impressive when shared.
In the beginning it was really fun to make and decorate these roll out sugar cookies whose recipe I pulled from Bon Apetit Magazine. But after 3 or 4 go-rounds with the decorating and the sprinkles and the massive cleanup that comes when you mix a little boy and too much sugar, I am worn out! Not to mention the shopping, the wrapping, and all the holiday cheer a mom is responsible for creating. If you find yourself with extra holiday stamina and you want to make a larger batch, go here for another excellent recipe that produces almost 60 cookies.
The above link is for the cookie dough only. For fool-proof icing click here then go wild with food coloring and sprinkles.
Lastly, I put myself over the edge by trying these Red and White Vanilla Pinwheels for the first time. Here they are straight out of the oven:
These pinwheels are nice but warning! They are very complicated to make.
These pinwheels are nice but warning! They are very complicated to make and don’t offer a whole lot of leeway when it comes to being able to walk away and take a break from the process. I should have walked away from the recipe that told me to roll out dough to be “about” 11.5″ x 5.5″. I actually got out a measuring tape. This, I feel, is just wrong.
Whatever it is that you did or did not bake this year, I wish you a happy and relaxing holiday. Merry Christmas!
The Nursing Mother's Cookbook 