And So It Begins

Whew! Another Cookie Bakeoff on the books. So hard to believe that today is the beginning of December, but we had snow overnight and most of today so it's really starting to look like Christmas, which makes it really easy to get into the swing of things. This is the lid from one of my favourite cookie tins by Mary Englebright and it always makes me think of the Bakeoff and the fun we have.

We had a little smaller group this year but I estimate that we still made about 600-700 cookies from 8 or 9 recipes different recipes (I lost count). There were long-standing favourites like Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread, Toblerone Shortbread, Linzer Hearts and Buttered Rum Sandwich Cookies, along with a few new recipes too - Rum Balls and Crisp Lemon Cookies drizzled with white chocolate.

And then we had a new take on an old favourite. Julia had the brilliant idea of turning the tiny Gingerbread men that Betty made upside down and decorating them like tiny reindeer. Aren't they just the cutest things?

Of course Emmy's annual challenge is to see how many dragees and sparkles she can fit onto a single cookie and she did a banner job of it again this year.

The day ended in a flurry as we headed into town for the Santa Claus Parade. It begins at dusk so there's lots of lights, kids, dogs, singing and music. And then today it was off to the annual German Christkindlmarkt to pick up some goodies (can you say Stollen?) and a few little Christmas prezzies. Hard not to get into the spirit now....M