Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Baklava

Here's one of those desserts that just screams, "Its Christmas!!" I usually walk away from recipes that blatantly call for 1 pound of butter. But heck, its December. I live by a simple saying this time of year, its printed on my apron:



What? A little hard to read backwards? Sorry, photo booth needs to come up with an image reversal tool. It reads:
Be of good spice
Be of good cheer
Count blessings, not Calories
This time of year

Sorry about the creepy photo. Its the only one I got and I'm to tired tonight to go snap another one without bags under my creepy eyes.

Anyway, back to the baklava. Its super rich- one piece is usually enough to satisfy. And its perfectly paired with a nice cup of joe. I'm fairly certain that you can serve this for either breakfast or dessert, sort of like most pastries.

No really, you must serve this with coffee-and Starbucks has their Christmas blend out right now, could life get any better?

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough 1 pound chopped nuts 1 cup butter 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup water 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup honey

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
2.	Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
3.	Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
4.	Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
5.	Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Sorry about the weird numbering. I copied this from allrecipes.com where it got 5 star reviews (800+ in all), so you know its got to be good.

Cookies galore!

I have three tupperware containers of cookies just sitting here STARING AT ME! Its the most wonderful thing ever.

So, lets kick off the holiday glutton celebration with (virtual) cookie exchange party. The idea here is to bring a couple dozen cookies, trade with everyone else, then go home with all different kinds of cookies. Oh what a fun idea this is! If you are a total dork like me, that is....I LIVE for parties like this :)

My favorite "cookie" of the night was made by Randi. It is a chocolate butterscotch coconut bar. TO DIE FOR! I really like butterscotch- its just slightly salty which brings out all the other flavors.

Sweet + pinch of salt = delicious (more on this later!)



Next is another butterscotch cookie- this one with oatmeal! Soooo, so yummy. Thank you Kristina- I'm eating one or five of these right now!



Now the next cookie was made by Chrissy. I think this is called a blintz. But whatever you call them, they are GOOOOOD! She got up extra early to make these before work, which is saying something because look they are a lot of work to make (I wouldn't know, because she won't cough up the recipe, ahem!)....Thank you Chrissy for bringing these- and giving me all the extras. My butt thanks you.

I had a couple of these with my morning coffee today. They taste like a cross between a ice cream cone and a shortbread cookie. Love these!



Next is the hostess Erin's cranberry white chocolate cookies. Muy Delicioso! She made them super small so you can eat 4 or 5 without even noticing. She's a smart one!



And lastly my super duper flopped recipe for chocolate crinkles. I went to dig out this recipe, only to find that the link is no longer good (and NO, I didn't write it down anywhere else), so I just grabbed a new recipe off the internet and began.

I know you are supposed to chill cookie batter and all, but this was the consistency of a cake batter after it sat in the fridge for an hour. I made one batch that resembled a hard burnt crepe, then poured the rest of the batter in a 9x13 and made it into "brownies". Dusted with a little powdered sugar and nobody knew.... well.....at least they were edible!



If you are looking for some great holiday cookie recipes, I've got lots!

Two more new cookies recipes coming before Christmas! Go ahead and add walnuts, butter, chocolate chips and bacon (yes, bacon) to the grocery list. You won't be sorry!