COOKIES!!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! You can smell it a mile away. Grandma Sweet's Annual Sugar Cookie Baking/Decorating Day. WOO HOO! I think this day is the most looked forward to during the whole Christmas season, and more so by the adults than the children. : )
When I first joined the Sweet family I heard many great things about this day. Barb makes tubs and tubs of sugar cookie dough and invites everyone over to cookie cut, decorate, bake and get into the holiday spirit. An essential family tradition. I have to say out of all the family traditions, this one is becoming one of my favorites and is something I hope that Lennon begins to look forward to every year.
This was Lennon's first year of participating in this family get together and boy did she ever enjoy it! It took a lot of effort to try and explain to a 22 month old why she can't eat cookie dough (but her Mommy can) and that she should be extra careful when decorating. As you can see she is a true artiste. It was so cute to watch her concentrate on each detail of cookie making. The painting and the sprinkles were her favorite part of the event, of course. And she didn't once pick her nose while handling the food. SUCCESS!!! It is true that some cookies get some extra tidbits of love put into them (thankfully they are usually eaten by their own makers). But that's part of the fun. Think of it as an added surprise.
I only had the energy and patience to let Lennon decorate about 4 cookies (two of which I was able to get pictures of), but I figure by next Christmas we may be able to double that number.
Hopefully by then I can get a copy of Barb's recipes and try it out myself at home. I hope to be the envy of the neighborhood with all of my perfect Christmas treats.
Thanks to Michelle I am well on my way. We spent a few long nights trying out new cookie recipes, so that we could make treats for family and friends. Next year I am sure we will get the hang of the whole "timing" thing (Who knew how long it took for dough to get firm in the fridge? Lesson learned.), but all in all it was a success. We were able to gift: Chocolate Crinkles (the favorite of all the cookies), Cheesecake Bars, Gingerbread Pinwheels, Candy Cane cookies and even a few professionally decorated sugar cookies---When I say professional, I mean the adults got a chance to decorate. : ) Thanks to Julia for showing us how the "Queen of Sugar Cookies" creates the perfectly decorated angel and gingerbread man.
On top of all that I actually spent a day at home experimenting with my own creations. Thanks to my Mom for cluing me in on how to make her pretzel treats (they were a huge hit) and to John for giving me instructions on how to make his delicious white chocolate covered pretzels. I wasn't brave enough to try that one on my own, so I
had Josh lend a hand on that one. I should have had him shop for the chocolate for that recipe too, since I am hopeless at reading directions. We now have enough Almond Bark white chocolate to last us till next Christmas! Any ideas on what to do with the extra, please send them my way. : )
In case you want to make your own special treats here is the fave recipe of this year:
Chocolate Crinkles
4 tbsp unsalted butter
8 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of baking powder
Topping: 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Directions:
1. In the microwave or double boiler slowly melt your chocolate and butter together. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale and fluffy. You want to see slow ribbons falling back into the bowl when you lift your beaters. Then beat in vanilla and stir in your chocolate mixture.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients into the
chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate
until firm enough to shape into balls (3-4 hours or overnight).
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and place your rack in the center of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set those aside.
5. Place the powder sugar into a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands roll the chilled dough to form a 1 inch diameter ball. Place the ball into the powder sugar and roll until covered completely. Tap off excess sugar if needed.
6. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on your baking sheets and bake the cookies 8 to 10 minutes. I like to bake them for 8 minutes so that they come out a little more soft, kind of like a brownie bite. Do not over bake, this will cause the cookies to become very dry.
7. Remove them from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

These cookies are best when eaten the day they are made.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Christmas Light Tour

This year we thought it would be fun to start (and in some of the other family member's cases, renew) the Christmas tradition of touring the Keizer Christmas lights. There is a particular neighborhood in Keizer, Oregon that likes to fanatically decorate their homes with Christmas lights, decorations and all sorts of holiday paraphernalia. They have been holding this neighborhood tradition for many years, even when Josh, Angela and Michelle were young. You are encouraged to bring a donation for the Marion/Polk County Food Share if you participate and you may drive through the displays or walk.
Well the entire Sweet-Volkert clan could hardly wait to experience the fun and adventure of watching the Christmas light displays and picking out our favorites among the houses. For the first time ever the entire Sweet clan came over to our house for dinner, along with the Volkerts and some visiting Sweet cousins of Grandpa's from Idaho, before heading out to the light show. Thank goodness we love family chaos since our house was buzzing with kids and lacking a fair amount of seats. Next year I hope to be better prepared. But all was well as we ate Josh's homemade French Dip sandwiches. Lennon was ever the gracious hostess and barely threw a fuss having to share her toys and her Grandma with all the other children.
After dinner we corralled all the kids and packed into 3 different vehicles to make our way to Keizer. It is no small feat getting our entire family packed, prepared and out of a house on time. As we neared Keizer the traffic was bumper to bumper, everyone inching to get to the lighted neighborhood. It seems that most people enjoy driving through the display, rather than walk.
The Sweet-Volkert clans are always up for an adventure, so walking was for us! We parked the cars, squeezed the little gals into their snowsuits, jackets and strollers. Clutching our cameras we braved the chill and walked on to the neighborhood. What did we find when we got there???? NADA!
Maybe it was the long line of cars headed in, the local hype or the childhood memories that buffeted our excitement of something stupendous, but when we got to this "neighborhood of lights" there wasn't much. A few houses here and there were smattered with lights and decorations, nothing out of the norm that you would see across your own front lawn. I will give credit to the handful of houses that did go all out and decorate. But a handful of houses in an entire neighborhood known for it's fantastic light displays? Come on! What a let down.

Luckily the girls and most of the other kids hardly noticed. They were having more fun chasing each other around the neighborhood and talking to one another while riding side by side in their strollers. I will say it was nice to be able to donate something to the
Food Share for Christmas and having Lennon meet Santa in a non-threatening way. Santa was standing at the end of the neighborhood collecting the donations and greeting all the children. Lennon seemed much more at ease visiting him with Daddy and in the safety of her stroller.
All in all the lights were a bust, but the night was not. The night was not too cold, unlike last year when we braved the freezing temperatures to see ZOOLights, which was a blessing. We got to spend time with family, which is always fun, make memories and get some good exercise---which was also very much needed due to the over abundance of sugary treats! Lennon and Addison were too cute riding along in their strollers and interacting with each other (also in the safety of their strollers). Seeing them together is always worth a trip or get together.
Next year I think this tradition will continue regardless of the lack of lights. But we will be better prepared at the house with more food and seating, we will remember to bring the hot chocolate along with us and we will convince the Campbells to brave the show with us. For they were missed!