News from Portland, OR

In the winter of 1998 Feather Nester and I (and thousands of others) survived a week of no heat, no power, dwindling food, the National Guard, fear, and extreme boredom known simply as The Ice Storm of '98. I had lived in the Adirondacks for over a decade by that point and had never experienced anything even close to what that was. It was pretty common to be blanketed with ice where we grew up; it's so far north that it would be too cold for most of the winter to snow, so ice was the next alternative. So when they called for an "ice storm" I don't even remember anyone blinking. We were home from college and not that concerned with the status of the weather. Little could deter all of the movie watching and weekend drinking that we most likely had planned.

But we soon got our wake-up call. My mom was at work at the hospital and said that she would buy groceries on the way home from work. It doesn't take long for a house with one parent and an endless parade of visiting teenagers to decimate the food supply. But the storm had hit earlier than we had anticipated and Feather Nester and I had made the one last scrap of food we could find - Bisquick chocolate chip pancakes - for my younger brother and his friend. We lost power a few hours later and at the exact same time my brother came out of his room and said that he was hungry again. Additionally, they had just announced that citizens had exactly one hour to get where they needed to go before it was illegal to be outdoors and a full and permanent curfew would be enforced.

Still not having any idea that the storm would last for more than a day or two, we all made arrangements. My brother would go to my dad's small apartment in the city, we would go to my boyfriend's house (who still had power and very generous parents), and my mom was required to go back to the hospital. On the drive from the hospital to our house my mom was stopped by the police and told that she had to turn around. It was only after pleading with them for five minutes that she was trying to rescue all of her stranded children that they let her pass. So we gathered up a few things and got in the car. At that time we lived fifteen minutes outside of town and had to drive through the center of town to get to where we were going.

Every business and mall in our town is located on one main road and it stretches for miles. The memory of the drive down that road is something that haunts me to this day. There are very few moments that are so burned into memory that they are as fresh as the day they happened. It was the middle of the day, but the entire sky was grey because of the storm and every business and every sign and every light was dark. Not one car was on the road, except for ours, and the stillness was overwhelming. Every branch was cocooned in ice. Before that moment, I never could have imagined a town as vacant as that. And in this day and age where businesses are open on Sundays, holidays, and even Christmas day, to see a town that is completely abandoned and dead in the middle of the day is a sight you can't even imagine until you experience it.

After that drive, the rest of the week was quite dramatic, but less scary. In retrospect, I'm so grateful and astonished at how well my boyfriend's parents took care of us. There were five kids there in all and they managed to feed us all (with no shopping and no power) for a week, and even kept the wood stove burning. We were definitely bored and definitely freezing, but we fared pretty well considering.

The storm lasted for much longer than they had originally anticipated and the ban on leaving your house was firmly in place. There were so many downed trees and live power lines that even walking around was strictly prohibited. My mom was forced to stay at the hospital since no other nurses were able to get in, and my dad and brother lucked out and were the only little apartment on their street to keep their power. At some point they called in the National Guard and I remember feeling such a huge sense of relief that someone - anyone - was here to help.

I reminisce about all of this because my brother and mom are going through something very similar in Portland, OR right now. Although Portland is pretty far north and the perception is otherwise, they literally never receive snow. Rarely even a dusting. They do, however, get rain every day in the winter season. As you can imagine, if the temperature drops for an extended period of time, all of that rain turns to ice or snow and covers a city that doesn't own plows and doesn't salt their roads.





And if you grew up in a winter climate like I did, it's hard to look at these pictures and understand the full weight of the problem because it doesn't even occur to you that a city could go through this and not have the ability to plow or salt. But they've been receiving more snow and ice every day for an entire week now and other than the hill that leads to the hospital, not a single plow has been seen. To compensate for the lack of plows and the lack of salt, they require you to have chains on your tires to drive, but in the face of such weather, it doesn't get you very far.

My brother has been working from home for days now and was without power for part of the weekend. My mom has been able to get to work ok because she works at the one place where not having drivable roads isn't an option, but she was without hot water for several days. From what I hear, the weather is supposed to continue until at least Wednesday night, which is Christmas Eve, and I suspect that means there will be hundreds (or even thousands) of stranded and lonely family members this Christmas.

It's good to remind yourself every now and then of the sheer power of mother nature and how powerless we can be to deal with it, but for the sake of everyone involved I'm hoping that Portland gets a reprieve soon.

"Your call is important to us, please hold the line and someone will be with you momentarily."

Sorry to be MIA, but you're gonna have to wait a little longer. I've been struck down with a vicious sinus cold and haven't gotten off the couch in 2 days. Want to know what I've learned? That you can watch Saved by the Bell at pretty much any time of the day if you're so inclined.

For those of you who used to follow my friend Jaynes Ave, she's back to blogging again, so why don't you go catch up with life as a country mama while I continue to put my ass dent in the couch.

Our adventures west

Hellllooooo peeps! I feel like it's been so long since we've chatted. We're back from our holiday trip out west, which was great but I'm sorry to tell you that I don't have any pictures for you. I put them all on a cd and I think I left the cd at my brother's house. It's a shame too because two of the things we did out west were the Museum of Flight and the Oregon Zoo (including Sam the baby elephant) and we got some great pictures at both places.

The Museum of Flight was really interesting despite the fact that I know absolutely nothing about airplanes. It did, however, give me an absolutely frightening glimpse into the amount of abundant and random airplane knowledge my husband has been storing up in his brain. It was like 30 years of watching The History Channel all had it's chance to come vomiting out. Seriously, I've never once heard him utter a word about planes and the minute we walked inside he kept whipping out random bits of information. I spent three hours looking at him sideways going "What?? Where did you read that.... You just know that??"

In addition to literally hundreds of planes hanging from the ceiling and sitting in the exhibits (you can imagine how big this place is), we got to go aboard the British Concorde and the Air Force One that belonged to all the presidents from Kennedy to Regan. While walking through Air Force One my political nerdiness turned into basic third grade fascination (which is actually totally unlike me) as we walked by the private bathroom and I couldn't help but yelling out "JFK Pooped There!!!" I know... I have problems.

The pictures from the Oregon Zoo would have been good to show you because you could understand why the four of us sat in the elephant viewing room and just squealed and pointed for the better part of a half an hour. Do you have ANY idea how precious a four month old baby elephant is? Oh my god, so awkward and snuggly and charming. After spending half the day touring the huge zoo I made everyone go back before we could leave, but Sam was tired and was all snuggled up and sleeping at his mom's feet.

The other priceless picture I wanted to show you was me zipping around the zoo in my electric scooter. My back had an "incident" the day before ("incident" is my polite way of saying that my piece of crap spine went out for absolutely no reason, causing me horrible pain and a near inability to walk) and I knew I wouldn't be able to walk around the zoo. Solution? Scooter rental! You want to make your family laugh at you non-stop for an entire day? The answer is scooter rental! The sight of your wife or sister zipping around a zoo in an electric wheelchair apparently never gets old. It worked great though - I got to see the whole zoo without too much pain and entertained plenty of onlookers.

Unfortunately our trip back east wasn't quite as fun. We got as far as Newark, NJ on Thursday night and then learned about the ice storm that had blanketed the coast, canceling nearly every flight out, including ours. It was actually the first time this has happened to us, despite quite a lot of winter travel over the years, so I consider us lucky that this was the first time. Also lucky that it happened on the way back and not the way out. The last thing that would add to holiday cheer is having a day of visiting ripped away after spending the equivalent of rent on your plane tickets. So we got stuck in the Newark Howard Johnson's for the night. And here's where I have a bit of advice for you...

Maybe sometimes in life you should just accept your circumstances and NOT go for the cheapest item on the menu. Maybe there are times - and I'm betting many of those times occur near the Newark airport - where you should realize where you are, not be Suzy Budget Traveler, and spend the extra $40 for the Holiday Inn. After hearing that our flight was canceled and standing in line with hundreds of other stranded passengers at Customer Service, we were given a printed out list of hotels in the area that had shuttles. Being the member of the family who does all of the finances, and knowing that we're a single-income household right now, my first and immediate thought was "just get the cheapest place! I'm sure they're all fine and we're only going to be there for about 12 hrs." This is where I picture my future-self looking back through the time traveling machine with sorrow and pity on my face as I watch us with the printed out sheet of hotels saying "Oh you naive little travelers... you'll learn. There's nothing I can do to help you now."

So imagine my excitement when we called the Howard Johnson's and they said $58 a night! $58 a night!! What a great deal! They're so kind to the travelers! Man, Newark really isn't so bad after all. How great - we can escape this whole ordeal for less than $100 and still be a mile from the airport!! How someone can be so worldly and yet so naive is truly impressive. I place the blame for this firmly on the small town I grew up in. All of the hotels - despite their names - are nice. There are no "bad parts of town" and I've never learned that Howard Johnson just might be code for Super Ghetto Ass Hotel in the Wrong Part of Town.

So it doesn't occur to us that we might have made a huge mistake on our hotel choice until we've already boarded the Howard Johnson's shuttle. "Ugh... I hope the hotel is ok...." I say with a little bit of mounting fear to B. "Yeah... I hope so" he says back with equal fear. At this point we desperately look for signs that it's going to exceed our expectations and be fine. "The shuttle is nice! The van is brand new, that's GOT to be a good sign." Then we pull up to the hotel: "Oh! Look at the entrance! The lobby is nice!"

As it turns out, it's clearly cheaper to buy a van and spruce up the lobby than it is to... I don't know... refurbish the place... CLEAN the place. You get the idea. We stepped off the elevator and had an incredibly disheartening walk down the hall to Room 200, which actually was Room 20 since the last zero had fallen off. It was all downhill from here. The stained couch, the smelly room, the HBO guide from three months ago, the shower that didn't drain (I preferred filth over the sketchy shower - B was more brave than I), the hard beds, the random people banging on our door in the middle of the night. Oh.. and the fist fight.

Now this is where I have to give my dear husband LOTS of credit for being a wonderful care taker and having the sensitivity to wait all the way until we were home on the couch before telling me this story because he knows it would have scared the crap out of me. Apparently when he went into the lobby to check his email he witnessed a three person fist fight, complete with one guy grabbing the throat of another guy and slamming him into the wall. The front desk crew were non-too-impressed and managed to only muster a meek "uh guys... stop fighting."

As it turns out, the guys were rival pizza shop owners and it was literally pizza turf warfare. Apparently Pizza Guy A was flyering the cars on Pizza Guy B's turf, and not only that, he was stealing Pizza Guy B's flyers off the cars. The theft was revealed in the dramatic and final move of the fight when one guy pinned up him against the wall by the throat and his accomplice reached into his jacket and pulled out all of the stolen flyers. Ta DA!!! This prompted the desk clerk to save the day once again by saying "Uh... don't steal his flyers."

So, maybe the next time you're stranded overnight due to flight delays you'll take my advice and pony up the extra cash. Maybe at least look for a room that's CLOSER to $100 a night even if you can't bring yourself to spend that full $100. Because, unless you also have a blog and can entertain people with your misery, it's just not worth it.

Stained Glass Wreath Cookies

12 Days of Cookies - Day 12

Ingredients

• 1 (16-ounce) tube sugar cookie dough
  
• 1 bag assorted round hard candies (recommended: Lifesavers)
• 1 small tube white decorating icing
• 1 package silver dragees
• 24 (8-inch) long pieces string or ribbon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with silicone baking pads.

Slice dough log at 1/4-inch intervals and place onto prepared baking sheets spaced 1 inch apart.

Press a 1-inch round cutter into the center of each cookie round. Remove the small circle of dough and replace it with a round hard candy.

Bake in oven 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from oven. While still warm, make a hole at the top of each cookie with a large straw. Place baking sheet on the cooling rack and cool completely.

When the cookies have completely cooled, use the decorative icing and evenly space 6 icing dots around the edges of each cookie. Lightly push the silver dragees into the icing dots. Allow icing to harden.

Place the 8-inch piece of ribbon through the hole at the top and tie the ends together.

Repeat with remaining cookies.

You can eat your cookies or hang them as ornaments on a Christmas tree or in a window.

Black & White Cookies

12 Days of Cookies - Day 11

Click HERE for the instructional video

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon dry yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• Vegetable cooking spray (not flavored)

Directions

Add dry yeast to warm or room-temperature milk, let stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

Slowly add and combine the yeast mixture, and the extracts.

In a separate bowl whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour and salt and gradually add them to your mixture. Caution: Do not over mix, but make sure to keep your mixture homogenous.

Prepare a cookie sheet with pan spray and drop spoonfuls of dough 3 to 4 inches apart. Bake until the edges begin to brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

Let cool to room temperature before decorating.

Ganache:

• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 pound good dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 pound good white chocolate, chopped

Place chocolate into 2 separate bowls, 1 for dark and 1 for white. Slowly boil the cream in 2 separate pots. Pour 1 pot cream over the dark and 1 pot over the white and let chocolate melt. Whisk each until smooth.

To decorate: While the ganache is slightly warm, have fun with it. Maybe some of it will even end up on the cookies!

Snowflake Cookies

12 Days of Cookies - Day 10

Click HERE for an instructional video by Miss Paula Deen

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• Edible Paint Icing, recipe follows
• Garnish: silver dragees, sugar pearls, sparkling sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and almond extract until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating until smooth. Wrap dough in heavy-duty plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with assorted snowflake cookie cutters and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill dough 15 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges are very lightly browned. Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Paint cookies with Edible Paint Icing. Garnish with silver dragees, sugar pearls and sparkling sugar, if desired.

Edible Paint Icing:

• 1/4 cup cold water
• 3 tablespoons meringue powder
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• Food coloring, optional

In a medium bowl, combine water and meringue powder; whisk until foamy. Whisk in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add food coloring, if desired. Use immediately.

Candy Cane Cookies

12 Days of Cookies - Day 9

Click HERE for a video

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  
• 3 drops red food coloring
• 3 drops green food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add egg and lemon juice and continue to mix. Add dry mixture incrementally to wet mixture until fully incorporated.

Divide dough into 2 separate bowls; add 3 drops red food coloring to 1 bowl and 3 drops green food coloring to the other. Stir until colors are prevalent throughout.

Roll out both doughs on flour-dusted parchment paper to about 1/6-inch thick. Trim edges with a butter knife or pizza cutter to make a solid rectangle. Cut each color dough into 10 even strips, twist and wrap green dough with red dough and form candy cane shapes.

Place twisted dough on a parchment-lined cookie sheet 1/2 inch apart (they will spread) and bake for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Remove, cool and enjoy!

Chocolate Shortbread with White Chocolate Sauce

12 Days of Cookies - Day 8

Click HERE for the instructional video

Ingredients

Cookies:
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing the baking sheet
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour

Sauce:
3/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped or shaved into small pieces
1/2 cup sour cream, preferably at room temperature

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small metal bowl, combine the 2 types of chocolate and melt them gently over a pot of simmering water or a double boiler. Cool chocolate to room temperature.

Make the shortbread dough:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Blend until smooth and "creamed," 3 to 5 minutes. Mix in the cooled melted chocolate.
Sift the flour and add to the butter mixture and blend on low speed to incorporate the flour. Do not over mix . Remove the dough from the bowl and refrigerate for a few minutes to chill.

Make the chocolate sauce:
In a medium-sized pot, bring the cream to a gentle simmer. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the white chocolate pieces. Allow the mixture to sit and cool for a minute. All of the white chocolate should easily melt into the cream. Whisk in the sour cream and taste for seasoning. Cook's Note: Sour cream is temperamental when heated, so take care that your mixture never gets overly hot. If so, cool a little before incorporating. Set aside at room temperature.

Press the shortbread dough evenly into a 9 by 13 by 1-inch greased non-stick baking pan. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the dough is fairly firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow the shortbread to cool for about 10 minutes. Cut into 12 rectangles, 4 by 2 inches, and then cut diagonally across rectangles to form 24 long triangles for good dipping.

Arrange shortbread wedges on a tray with the white chocolate sauce in a bowl for dipping.

Cherry Berry Bars

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

Click HERE to watch a video tutorial

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 lemon, zested
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup assorted frozen cherries, thawed, drained well, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup mixed berry preserves
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In large bowl with an electric mixer, mix butter until fluffy. Add half the flour, then add in order: brown sugar, lemon zest, juice and egg. To remaining flour add baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Combine both mixtures until just incorporated. Fold in cherries and pour into an ungreased 8 by 8-inch baking pan. Using a spoon, equally dollop preserves on top of batter and using a toothpick or skewer, drag the tip through the preserves to create a swirl pattern on top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean; cake will be moist to the touch. Once cooled, cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar to serve.

Chocolate Covered Snow Peaks

12 Days of Cookies - Day 6

Click HERE to watch Tyler Florence's video on these cookies

Ingredients
4 large egg whites at room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 225 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites on low-medium speed with the whisk attachment until the whites become foamy. Add the cream of tartar and turn speed up to medium, beating until just fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, so it incorporates into the whites slowly without collapsing them. Once all the sugar has been added, add the vanilla and increase the speed to high, whisking until the meringue is firm and glossy, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Place meringue mixture into a piping bag with a medium-sized nozzle attached. Pipe 24 bite-sized "kiss"-shaped meringues onto the trays and place in the oven. Bake for 1 hour undisturbed then turn off heat and leave in the oven overnight to really dry out.

Melt chocolate over a double-boiler or in the microwave on medium power for 30 seconds. Holding each meringue by the peak dip the bases in chocolate so the bottom half of the meringue is coated. Let any excess chocolate drop off before placing on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Allow to set at room temperature - do not put in the fridge. Once set, store in an airtight container.

Hazelnut Tea Cookies

12 Days of Cookies - Day 5

Click HERE to watch Aida Mollenkamp's instructional video

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt

2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, plus additional for coating
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped

Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees F and arrange racks in upper and lower third.

Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until aerated and evenly combined; set aside.

Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add sugar and vanilla and continue to mix until whipped and light, about 2 more minutes.

Add half of the nuts and mix until evenly incorporated and nuts are broken up, about 1 minute.

Add flour and mix until well combined, about 1 minute. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in remaining nuts.

Shape dough into 1 tablespoon balls and place on baking sheets, spaced at least 1 inch apart.

Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until underside of cookies are brown, about 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes on baking sheets.

Meanwhile, place some powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Once the cookies have cooled, roll them in the powdered sugar until just coated and tap off excess. Let cool completely and recoat in powdered sugar, tapping off excess sugar, before serving.

See Ya!

I think we're finally ready. The mail has been held, the cat-sitter has been hired, the landlord has been notified, the bags are packed, I remembered the presents, the house is (relatively) clean, the thermostat is turned down, and we're ready to go!

We're flying out to Portland to have an early Christmas with my family. When you have three families to spend the holidays with, you end up stretching Christmas out to the whole month of December. Flexibility is required with modern families these days! And luckily, all three members of my family are within driving distance of each other this year, which never happens.

So we're off to see Portland, OR and Olympia, WA for a week! We haven't been out there in over a year so it'll be nice to visit the beautiful pacific northwest again.

I'll still post the daily cookies while I'm gone, but probably nothing else. Many thanks to The Food Network for coordinating their cookie week with our vacation week - that was incredibly helpful.

See ya!

Giada's Peppermint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

12 Days of Cookies - Day 4

Click HERE to watch the lovely Giada show you how to make these!

Ingredients

• 1 (16.5 ounce) tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough
  
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• Decorating suggestion: crushed candy canes or peppermint candies; white, red and green sprinkles; or red and green decorating sugar
• Special equipment: a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, and a 1/2-ounce cookie scoop

Directions

Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, knead together the cookie dough and 1/4 cup flour until smooth. Lightly flour a work surface. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough. Knead together any scraps of dough and roll out again. Continue to cut out pastry circles until there are 24 pieces in total. Place the dough circles on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are slightly golden around the edges, about 10 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Reserve 1 parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Combine 1 cup of chocolate chips and the cream in a small bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the peppermint extract and refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour. Using a 1/2-ounce cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure, place the chocolate mixture in the center of the flat side of 12 of the cookies. Place the remaining cookies on top and gently squeeze to distribute the filling evenly. Place on a baking sheet and freeze until the filling has set, about 25 minutes.

Combine the remaining chocolate chips and the vegetable oil in a small bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Dip the top of each cookie in the melted chocolate and return to the baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with crushed candy canes or peppermint candies. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store in an airtight plastic container.

Prop 8... The Musical

Billy just sent me THE best video EVER and I have to pass it along. It's from the geniuses at Funny or Die about Prop 8.

Gingerbread Cookies

12 Days of Cookies - Day 3

Click HERE for a video tutorial on these cookies!

Ingredients

• 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
• 6 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• Pinch of salt
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Zest of 1 orange
• 2 eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together in a large bowl, and set aside.

In a small saucepan combine the butter, honey, sugar, lemon juice and the lemon and orange zest. Bring this to medium heat and cook until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Let cool to about room temperature and beat in the eggs.

Make a well in the flour/spice mixture and add the egg/sugar mixture to the well. Using a fork, begin to gradually incorporate the flour into the egg mixture. When the flour has mostly been incorporated, turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface and gently knead until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous. Knead in a little more flour if the dough seems sticky. Chill dough for 1 hour or overnight.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to an even thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cookies are firm and lightly browned. Let the cookies cool for 3 to 4 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

When the cookies are completely cool decorate, as desired.

Cook's Note: If you are planning to hang the cookies, make a hole for the string before baking.

Pistachio Linzertortes

12 Days of Cookies - Day 2



Click HERE for an instructional video by Paula Dean

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 1/2 cups ground roasted and salted pistachios
• Cherry jam
  

Directions

In a large bowl, beat butter and confectioners' sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in egg yolks until combined.

In a small bowl, combine flour, nutmeg and cardamom. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until combined. Beat in ground pistachios. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with a 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter. Cut out centers of half the cookies with a 1/2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter. Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Let cool on pan for 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Spread cherry jam evenly over flat sides of uncut cookies. Top with flat sides of cutout cookies. Return to baking sheets, and bake for 2 minutes. Let cool completely on wire racks. Store in airtight containers.

Venice Floods

Click HERE to see some unbelievable photos from the flooding in Venice.

Back in the saddle again

Helllooooo long lost friends! I know I've been away for a while, but hopefully you were all as consumed with your respective Thanksgiving weekends as I was and didn't even notice. We had an amazing weekend home and got to spend time with B's family, my extended family, and some mutual friends - it was great. I'm a little thrown that it's already December 1st though, despite all of my early shopping and wrapping, there seems to be so much more to do.

We were treated to a typical December evening last night when our 3 hour drive home took over 4 hours thanks to some lovely NY weather. If you live anywhere near here or in a snowy climate of your own, you'll recall with vivid memories what it's like to drive in the pitch black at 40 mph with icy slush all around you, accidents on either side of the road, and the permanent pit in your stomach. B was a champion though - if I were alone I think I would have wimped out and stayed another night with our family.

One thing that made the first part significantly worse was our terrible windshield. It seemed to have some kind of film on the outside that wiper fluid wasn't getting off. It was creating a terrible reflection and made it impossible to see out the window. We got the idea to stop at a truck stop and buy some Rain-X and the experience was so transforming that B asked me to rave about it today so you'll all go out and buy some for yourself.

I swear to god it was better than the commercials. It was a miracle! We were driving in the pouring rain in the dark and literally weren't using our windshield wipers because it was completely unnecessary. I'm telling you, the stuff is magic. Go buy some!

As for the rest of the week, we're leaving Thursday for our early Christmas out west and will be gone for a week. I'll wait until we get back to post about the trip, but I'll keep up with the daily cookies. As you can see below, it's cookie time!

Paradise Macaroons

It's December 1st and that means that it's time for our annual 12 Days of Cookies! This year the cookie recipes (care of The Food Network) all seem to have accompanying videos, which is great. They're only a few minutes long and will give you a quick tutorial.

Paradise Macaroons Video

Ingredients

• 2 (7 to 8-ounce) packages sweetened shredded coconut
• 2 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large egg whites at room temperature
• 5 ounces granulated sugar
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 ounce vegetable shortening
• 2 ounces finely chopped dry-roasted macadamia nuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the coconut with the sweetened condensed milk, salt and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whip the whites until medium peaks form, 6 to 7 minutes.

Gently fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture. Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds onto a parchment-lined half sheet pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately transfer the parchment with the macaroons to a cooling rack. Cool completely before topping.

Fill a 4-quart pot with enough water to come 2 inches up the side, set over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Combine the chocolate chips and shortening in a small metal or glass mixing bowl and set over the simmering pot. Stir occasionally until melted, then remove from the heat.

Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate mixture, sprinkle with the chopped macadamia nuts and place on parchment paper to set, about 30 minutes.