Chocolate Crinkles for Peg

Chocolate Crinkles for Peg, originally uploaded by Vicki (Knitorious) / Victoria-Pictoria.

I exchanged my Chocolate Crinkles with Peggy and others last night and brought home a nice variety of holiday treats to share. I enjoyed some hors d'oeuvres and chocolate martinis with friends. It was nice.

Ali came along around noon yesterday and she helped me out a little. She's on a bit of a baking bender, anyway, having been at the house the previous couple of days making dozens and dozens of cookies for gift-giving, including shortbread swirls and checkerboards. They are awesome. She was rather spurred and inspired after doing an internet search and landing on a site where there were many reviews, comments and suggestions, and she is now interested in the way things work -- what do all of the different ingredients do, how do they work together, what happens when, what if...

I've always had this fantasy that one of my girls would be a chef of some sort... pastry is good... and that another would be nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Art Direction" category. A girl can dream.

I'm hoping for knitting time tonight... preparing for another attempt at Addison's Christmas stocking. If that doesn't work out, there's are several hats on the knitting-to-do list.

Comments

[margene]

Nice gift bag. Nice way to spend and end a day, too.

[Gretchen]

Yum! I've been baking too- cranberry-pistachio biscotti and cranberry-almond granola yesterday. I still want to bake some mini pumpkin-chocolate chip breads, make more puppy chow, more biscotti.... all before Tuesday. Yeah, right. Not to mention trying to do some guerilla sewing in the next two days. *Big sigh*

I seem to do this every year- trying to cram as much work in a few days, and give up frustrated about 24 hours into it. Bah humbug!

I will, however, make brigadero tomorrow if school is called off because of the winter storm expected- can't wait to try that recipe!

[Carole]

The cookies will taste even better due to that beautiful presentation. We're getting a snow storm tomorrow and I plan on baking cookies. whee!

[KarenJoSeattle]

I have yet to bake anything, though I probably will out of self-peservation. I'm allergic to milk, including butter and cream. My mom's margarine-subbed recipe choices really aren't worth the calories. When it's the holidays and there are boxes and boxes of cookies around more than I intended still get eaten.

Mom tried to make some for me, but she's not a baker, or a cook. Why I don't know because she took plenty of science and math in college. I think it's the art and intuition she missed. They're a big part of what makes baking work, along with practice.

Even if Ali doesn't become a pastry chef, an annual Christmas baking bug could be very useful. Enjoy.