Trees, Snowflakes, Mittens, and Ornaments

I made this set of mini-cookies for a friend's Kindergarten Christmas party. I have this feeling that they will eat them in approximately 1/100th of the time it took me to make them!

Peppermint Star Disaster

I don't think most cookie bloggers post their mistakes, at least, not mistakes on this level of magnitude. The short story is that out of 3 dozen delicious smelling, chocolate, peppermint star cookies, only six came off the pan without crumbling into pieces. You're looking at six pitiful stars on top of a pile of crumbs. I had to dump the last dozen into the trash because the candy stuck to the paper, and WOULDN'T COME OFF. I had so much hope for these - the picture in my magazine was so beautiful. And mine were too until I tried to take them off the pan. I apparently need more practice melting candy!

PS: I followed directions (mixing, baking, cooling times) TO THE LETTER except for one part - I did not use parchment paper for the first two batches, just had them directly on the pan. For the last batch I used wax paper (what's the difference, anyway?) and had to throw out the whole thing. Maybe that was my problem? Umm,yes, yes it was.
http://www.chow.com/food-news/55408/whats-the-difference-between-parchment-paper-and-waxed-paper/

Chocolate-filled Cream Puffs

This dessert was to celebrate Ben taking his final final. YAHOO! Thesis is still to go, but the end of classes feels pretty good.
I can't believe how well these puffs turned out. They were puffy! And mostly hollow on the inside! And held their shape! Also, I could've eaten the filling alone, so I want to figure out another use for it. Thank you, Better Homes and Gardens Baking book.

Simple Christmas Cookies

I had a great start to December with a book club meeting at my house (we read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens). So of course, I had to make cookies. Here are a few shots of a sampling of the cookies I made for the event.

The star-shaped cookies with sprinkles were super easy! After allowing the flood layer to dry overnight, I piped the shape in fresh icing, then coated with sprinkles and tapped off the excess. I used large round sprinkles for the red detail.

These snowflake cookies were simple, too, and they were done in one decorating session! After I piped on the design, I coated them with granulated white sugar for a sparkly effect.

The cookies in the back of the plate are a Martha Stewart recipe, called "Glitter Ball Cookies." They don't very closely match up with her picture, but they tasted good at least! The filling is made with ginger, honey, and of course butter and sugar.