Sunday, December 16, 2012

Advent and Gingerbread

"Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot...Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting - that is, hopefully doing without - will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

an outdoor fireplace in my city, decorated for Christmas

I have not done very many Christmas projects of late, but did find time to have a Gingerbread baking party with friends. The recipe, from the Cozy Kitchen blog, came out beautifully and was lots of fun to make with friends. I recommend making an icing that is not buttercream based, so that it will set and the cookies can be stored afterwards.

To accompany the baking, I love this beautiful, unusual version of one of my favorite Christmas carols:

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (Abdelli version) by Loreena McKennitt on Grooveshark

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Christmas Cookies: Homemade Thin Mints

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." - "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens

This is the first Christmas cookie I've made this year, but honestly, these can be made any time of year. The Girl Scouts have some definite competition with this recipe from the Cozy Kitchen blog.

cutting out the cookies

cookies, baked

coated with chocolate and setting in the fridge

This is a definite winner, and highly recommended. Be sure to store them in the fridge or freezer to keep them from melting.

Merry Christmas!