The weekend before Christmas was a fun weekend for the kids and me. I was officially off work and the kids were out of school. John was up in Dallas at the Cowboy game, so it was just us. It was a Baking Weekend!
But first.... one of the fun things about living in a community like Friendswood that still thinks and acts like it's a small community, is the Friendswood Fire Department comes around each year with a ladder truck and Santa on top throwing candy. You can usually hear them long before you can see them as they are sounding their sirens throughout their trip around to all the streets in Friendswood! It's fun. They loudly make their way down the street and Santa tosses the kids candy. I will say that this year, I think the driver was thinking he was speed racer (or he really wanted to get home) because they were flying down the street. So fast - I could hardly even take pictures. I managed to get two... but they aren't great pictures!
After the firetruck fun, I pulled out our favorite cookie recipes, got all the ingredients from the store or pantry and we tackled the kitchen! This was probably the first time Stephen really was serious about helping this year. He did very well! He pretty much made the monster cookies all by himself. Rachel made the Sandtarts. The kids were into it for the first couple of recipes, after that... well, let's just say the ADD caught up with them. I think I lost them on the repetitive 8 - 10 minutes between each batch. They moved on to more "fun" things to fill in the time and Mom got to finish much of the baking. But, it was fun while it lasted.
What was on the Baking Agenda you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'm going to tell you because they were so yummy!!
The cookie list was:
SandTarts - little balls of powdered sugar w/nuts goodness. These are my Mom's favorite cookies! We have had them around the house at Christmas time for as long as I can remember.
Toffee Snickerdoodles - one of my favorites cause I love the toffee and I love soft yummy snickerdoodles. The kids like them too.
Monster Cookies - I made this one a couple of years ago and I made a note that it was good. The kids like it. I don't think it's one of my favorites. It has oatmeal, M&M's, Peanut butter, chocolate chips.
The savory treat list was:
Roasted Pecans - another family tradition that Mom made most every year. These are addicting!
Cheese Wafers - LOVE these .... REALLY... make the logs ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze. Then slicke and bake them when you want them because they are really good fresh and warm. You'll be lucky IF THEY EVEN MAKE IT OFF THE COOKIE SHEET!! Which, it turns out, they did not around my family! Literally..... If you weren't standing in the kitchen when they came out of the oven, you were likely not to get ONE... seriously! It was quite humorous!!
Paprika Cheese Roll - When I was a child, my Dad used to make this cheese treat periodically and I loved it. It's really simple but it tastes so good on crackers. We haven't had this in a very long time - probably at least 15 years that I can recall. I decided it was about time to make this to enjoy again. The recipe made two balls or logs and both were gone by the time the family left! It was yummy!
That was our baking extravaganza for the weekend before Christmas..... check out all the fun pictures!
More to come......
Oh - I can't figure out how to post the video so until then, you'll have to wait to hear the 6th grade band concert. I'm sure you were missing that one..... :-)
But first.... one of the fun things about living in a community like Friendswood that still thinks and acts like it's a small community, is the Friendswood Fire Department comes around each year with a ladder truck and Santa on top throwing candy. You can usually hear them long before you can see them as they are sounding their sirens throughout their trip around to all the streets in Friendswood! It's fun. They loudly make their way down the street and Santa tosses the kids candy. I will say that this year, I think the driver was thinking he was speed racer (or he really wanted to get home) because they were flying down the street. So fast - I could hardly even take pictures. I managed to get two... but they aren't great pictures!
After the firetruck fun, I pulled out our favorite cookie recipes, got all the ingredients from the store or pantry and we tackled the kitchen! This was probably the first time Stephen really was serious about helping this year. He did very well! He pretty much made the monster cookies all by himself. Rachel made the Sandtarts. The kids were into it for the first couple of recipes, after that... well, let's just say the ADD caught up with them. I think I lost them on the repetitive 8 - 10 minutes between each batch. They moved on to more "fun" things to fill in the time and Mom got to finish much of the baking. But, it was fun while it lasted.
What was on the Baking Agenda you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'm going to tell you because they were so yummy!!
The cookie list was:
SandTarts - little balls of powdered sugar w/nuts goodness. These are my Mom's favorite cookies! We have had them around the house at Christmas time for as long as I can remember.
Toffee Snickerdoodles - one of my favorites cause I love the toffee and I love soft yummy snickerdoodles. The kids like them too.
Monster Cookies - I made this one a couple of years ago and I made a note that it was good. The kids like it. I don't think it's one of my favorites. It has oatmeal, M&M's, Peanut butter, chocolate chips.
The savory treat list was:
Roasted Pecans - another family tradition that Mom made most every year. These are addicting!
Cheese Wafers - LOVE these .... REALLY... make the logs ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze. Then slicke and bake them when you want them because they are really good fresh and warm. You'll be lucky IF THEY EVEN MAKE IT OFF THE COOKIE SHEET!! Which, it turns out, they did not around my family! Literally..... If you weren't standing in the kitchen when they came out of the oven, you were likely not to get ONE... seriously! It was quite humorous!!
Paprika Cheese Roll - When I was a child, my Dad used to make this cheese treat periodically and I loved it. It's really simple but it tastes so good on crackers. We haven't had this in a very long time - probably at least 15 years that I can recall. I decided it was about time to make this to enjoy again. The recipe made two balls or logs and both were gone by the time the family left! It was yummy!
That was our baking extravaganza for the weekend before Christmas..... check out all the fun pictures!
More to come......
Oh - I can't figure out how to post the video so until then, you'll have to wait to hear the 6th grade band concert. I'm sure you were missing that one..... :-)
Love MA!
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