You Can't Have Too Many Cookies

COOKIE DAY 2011 was all by myself.  I'm just too busy this season to join up with my dear friend MG for our annual gig.  Instead I had a sugar frenzy in the kitchen between laundry loads.  I also managed to clean out the frig and freezer.  You see I have 6 extra Italians coming for Christmas, including 4 actual adults.  And that's going to require some frig space.  The mud room and deck will be my cold food back up.  And of course I don't want my mother-in-law to see all the food I've let get moldy.

Every year I try out some new recipes.  This year I made lemon-pistachio refrigerator cookies.  For you non-bakers that means you roll the dough into a tube about 1.5 inches across, slice it, and bake.  This recipe was underwhelming.  Not enough sugar.  Kinda tastes like play-dough.

Next up was Mexican Chocolate refrigerator cookies.  These lovelies were dark chocolate with a hint of cayenne pepper and cinnamon.

Also made the ubiquitous pretzel-and-candy thingies, and some sugar cookies.

But the hit has to be the Mocha Chewies.  Amazing.  Packs a luscious chocolate/coffee hit.  And they are so easy I'm afraid to admit it.


MOCHA CHEWIES
1/2 c evaporated milk
1T. instant coffee (I would just a bit more)
1 c. dark chocolate pieces (get the good stuff)
1 c. marshmallow creme
1 15oz pkg Oreos or something similar, finely crushed
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. chopped nuts (I use pecans)
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 c. whipping cream

Lightly grease a 9x9 inch pan.  In a small sauce pan heat evap milk and coffee over low heat, stirring until coffee is dissolved.  Add the dark choc and mm creme.  Cook and stir until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat.   In a large bowl combine crushed cookies and powdered sugar.  Add melted chocolate mix to cookie mix and stir until combined.  REALLY combined.  Stir in nuts.  Spoon into the prepared pan and spread evenly to the edges.
In a micro safe bowl combine the chocolate chips and cream.  Micro until barely melted.  Stir smooth and fully melted.  Pour over mix in the pan, spreading into an even layer.  Chill about 1 hour or until set.
Cut into tiny bars, about 3/4" x 3/4".  They are intense!

 This is the magazine photo, but mine are just as pretty.

 The aftermath

NOT a holiday movie, but an important one

I gave up Netflix to save money, so had to watch our last 2 DVD's before they charge me for them.  I hate Netflix.

Anyway, one was The Magdalene Sisters.  I'm so overwrought now I have to post or go mad.  This is based on the very real treatment of "fallen" women in Catholic Ireland.   While women in America were waking up to their own freedoms and liberation, teenage girls in Ireland who dared to wink at a boy, or were the victims of rape, or any other "crime" involving sex were locked away by the church in these Magdalene Asylums.  There under violent, cruel, and humiliating circumstances they were expected to spend the rest of their lives seeking penance for their sins.

THIS is what happens to women when religion runs the show.  THIS is what happens when men think they somehow get a free ticket to oppress women.  THIS is what happens when weak women buy into the whole man-of-the-cloth bullshit.  THIS is what happens when an entire society represses all forms of sexuality and looks to some absent god as a replacement. 

As the last chords of the movie died away, I wanted to pull my sleeping girls from the beds.  I wanted to hold them close and tell them to let no man or god deem them trash.  I wanted to line up all women, hike up our skirts, and wag them lady parts at society Braveheart style screaming "THIS is part of our bodies!  And what happens there is OUR story.  This is OUR property!  THIS is our RIGHT!"

 

I'm losing it

I must be getting senile.  I find myself wanting the strangest things lately. 

Like a white Christmas tree.

And a belgian waffle maker.

And a Keurig coffee maker.

And a winning lottery ticket.

Look what we made . . . . literally

Holly Frame Christmas Card

Make unique Christmas cards this year at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Holiday Coleslaw

Thanksgiving was a blast - literally.   As you know my family is a bit, well, back-woods.  Educated backwoods, but we still proudly carry our white trash genes.  So of course Thanksgiving near some open fields means get out the shot guns and clay pigeons cuz dinner's over and it's SHOOTIN TIME!  My first time ever shooting off something larger than a BB gun, and I hit 3/3!  I myself uttered "We need more ammo!". 


To the feast I added the veggie tray, coleslaw, and red velvet cake.  The coleslaw was a huge hit and everyone wanted the recipe so I've posted it below.  The magazine photo made it look a lot more red and green, but it was mighty tasty.

MNMOM'S HOLIDAY COLESLAW


6 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c sugar
3/4 c buttermilk
1/2 c mayo
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c pistachio nuts, chopped
2 clementines or tangerines, peeled, divided into segments, and chopped
S&P to taste


Combine cabbages and onion in a large bowl.
Mix sugar, buttermilk, mayo, and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth.  Pour the buttermilk mix over the vegetables and toss to coat.  Fold in the cranberries, nuts and clementines.  Season with S&P.  Let stand for at least 1 hour or refrigerate for up to 8 hours before serving.

Gloria In Excelsis Cookies

My local pal and unauthorized co-blogger Mama in Wonderland was musing on Christmas Cookies today.  Like her, I believe that at the Holidays, baking truly unnecessary amounts of cookies is obligatory.  I can't eat them all but I sure like baking them.  What would the Santa Season be with my annual Cookie Day with the fabulous MG?  Or my cookie exchange with fellow bloggers, or my book club?

At our house, the twins are exiting the jaded teen "I don't care about Christmas Traditions" years just as cupcake is entering it.  Cupcake has always been my cookie partner - we'll see how it all shakes out this year.  But the cookies WILL be made!  Give them to friends who don't bake - they'll stay on your good side year 'round to keep that gift coming.

From Four Midwestern Sisters' Christmas Book by Holly J. Burkhalter
"More than any other holiday food, Christmas cookies hurtle you straight back to your childhood.  Everything else may have changed, but Christmas cookies still taste exactly the way they did when you were five.
We happen to think that cookies are the staff of life, all year round.  But at Christmas they are much, much more.  Their once-a-year specialness is what sets the holidays apart and remind you of Mom, and Grandma, and all the cookie bakers who have loved you.  They turn the kitchen into the center of the universe and pull us in like a magnet."

A Freebie for You!

My second ever giveaway, and just in time for the Holidays!  I love sharing freebies with my good friends.

Some of you may recall last year’s holiday card from the Family C.  Because of this wonderful blog, I was able to garner 50 free cards from Shutterfly.com and therefore greatly expand our card list.  We’ve been using Shutterfly for about 10 years now, and we’re dedicated customers.  They have NEVER let us down!  They are cheap, fast, and send the envelopes too.  And you know I am ALL ABOUT THE CHEAP! 

Every single year, their selection of cards expands.  We have a blast fitting different photos into all their combinations.  They really have something for everyone.  Traditional, classic, cutesy, artsy, you name it.  And they make about any card/announcement you can think of:   Christmas cards, holiday cards, birth announcements, photos books, etc.  We plan to use them for invitations this spring when the twins graduate.

And this year YOU can get in on the action!  I have promotion codes for the first three who jump at them.  They are good for 25 free cards at Shutterfly.com.  Just say the word!  The first three folks are the winners.  We'll figure out a way to get you the code without leaving your email in the comments.

NONE of these are our photos, just examples from the website: