In The Zone

Paradise Macaroons

I thought I was in pretty good shape time-wise with my holiday baking but yesterday I woke up realizing that I needed to have at least two of my cookie tins ready for delivery by tomorrow, which meant it was time to get serious about finishing off all of the treats left on my list. EEEK! Thankfully I had one of those days where things just seemed to work. The cookie gods were on my side and I got a lot done.

Thimble Cookies

First off were Betty's favs - Thimble Cookies with raspberry jam and Cranberry Orange Chocolate Chippers.

Toblerone Shortbread

Then a couple of batches of melt-in-your-mouth Toblerone Shortbread.

Then Paradise Macaroons. I have always been a macaroon fan and remember the great ones that mom used to make, complete with the tiny piece of cherry on top, but somehow I just haven't been able to match hers. A few years ago I found this recipe and it changed everything. Its a combination meringue/macaroon topped with chocolate and chunks of toasted almonds. They are aptly named!

And, finally, because I had a can of sweetened condensed milk opened I finished things off last night with a pan of Hello Dollies.

Pecan Tassies & Pecan Shortbread

Today was a little less intense but my deadline was looming. My brother is coming home from Helsinki for Christmas and he loves Pecan Tassies so they were high priority. They are a cookie that only seems to be made only around the holidays so I made a few batches, one with chocolate drizzle and the other without (at the request of my in-house cookie tester). And, I get to use my tiny tartlet pans for them, so I love them for that reason too. Its a cream cheese pastry crust filled with a pecan butter tart filling - what's not to love?

The last batch were Pecan Shortbreads with just a hint of cinnamon. I used milk chocolate to drizzle over the pecan that is baked into the centre of each buscuit but next time I will go back to my tried and true semi-sweet chocolate - I just couldn't get a nice drizzle but they will have to do for this year.

Cleanup

So, after lots more butter and sugar and chocolate this year's cookies are done. There will be desserts prepared throughout the coming weeks but I can now at least rest easy that the cookies can be easily retrieved from the freezer when needed. And its always nice to get the kitchen cleaned up and back to normal. Now to wash my apron and pack the tins....M