It's A Wrap

I feel like I've spent the last two weeks in a fog of flour and butter, but all for a good cause. The Christmas baking is, for all intents and purposes, finished and packed in tins for the freezer and for gifts.

Social Tea Squares are always a hit and I think this year I made four batches. Maybe five. It's all a blur. And three batches of my all-time favourite, Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread, cause you want to be certain to have enough.

The usual suspects were on my list - Toblerone Shortbread, Pecan Tassies, Chevre Sugar Cookies, Pecan Shortbread with Chocolate, and Fudgy Chocolate Tartlets - but it's always nice to try a few new recipes too and I really like everything that I tested this year (as did the Official Cookie Tester). Those little Cherry Ginger Thumbprints on the right are delicious and easy.

Cranberries are a favourite of mine and I had pinned a new recipe for these Cranberry Orange Cookies. They are fantastic. Dried cranberries and pistachios combine with orange to make a lovely little treat to have with tea, and the tiny bits of red and green are a festive touch.

 

I also had fresh cranberries in the house so I made another recipe that I had pinned - Orange Cranberry Yogurt Loaf. Actually, I had enough cranberries for two recipes and each made three small loaves, so I had six made in no time. I need to remember both of these recipes for the Holly Bazaar next year.




 

Because I have several tins to fill I just store the batches in large plastic containers in the freezer until all of the baking is done and then fill all the tins at once. It's a bit of a process but easier than sorting through all the tins every time there's a new batch to add.

So, it's a wrap for another year. Some days I feel for the soft spot in my head wondering who on earth needs to bake this many cookies, but when I see them all packaged up and ready to give and know the joy that these little morsels bring, I have my answer.....M