Christmas cookies

Christmas Cookie: Lemon Squares

Lemon SquaresThere is not much time left to get your Christmas baking in.  I’ve been churning out my regulars this week but I wanted to add a new one to the rotation: lemon squares.  They are pretty popular any time of the year but I think they’re great around Christmas since they are a bit lighter than my normal Christmas cookies.  Lemon squares also provide a nice citrusy contrast to all of the chocolate and gingerbread cookies you’ll find on most cookie platters.  I brought some to the office the other day and received a lot of nice compliments on them! (more…)

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A Christmas Cookie Favorite – Peanut Butter Kisses

Peanut Butter Kisses Cookies

Often times on this blog I’m putting up things which are either my favorites or somehow related to my own family’s traditions.  Well there’s another member of my family who sometimes gets overlooked in the foods we eat; my wife Cheryl.  Her favorite Christmas cookie which reminds her of her family are Peanut Butter Kisses, the cookies which have the big Hershey’s kiss in the middle. (more…)

Christmas Cookie – Pecan Tassies

Here’s another of my favorite Christmas cookies (What ones don’t I like? The ones I don’t make of course.  Sheesh!).  You’ll need a mini-muffin pan for these.  I didn’t have one for the longest time since I never made mini-muffins, and still don’t.  I did however gain one when Cheryl and I got married and have made these cookies ever since.  (more…)

More Christmas Cookies – Thumbprint cookies

Another one of my favorites.  These are really simple to make and they cook pretty quickly too.  Like all the other “Christmas” cookies from when I was little, these would only get made once a year.  They’re probably good anytime, but for some strange reason they only get made at Christmas.  My mom still makes these too, I ate some when I was home last weekend.  (more…)

My Favorite Christmas Cookie – Porlos Testa

Just like Grandma used to make!

Remember how I said my Grandmother’s stuffing was one of the first recipes of hers I got?  Well this is the very first one.  Porlos testa (TEE-sta).  Nothing says Christmas to me like these “cookies.”  I suppose they’re more like a pastry but growing up they were my favorite, and still are.  These were really special because they were only made at Christmas.  Kinda like egg nog.  And it seemed like everyone in her family made them.  I’d get them at her house, at my great-aunt and uncle’s house where we had Sunday dinners, and at home because my mom learned how to make them.  There’d be two kinds of these Hungarian treats.  (more…)