No Meltdowns... Just Cookies

It’s Christmastime. I’ve mentioned before that for personal reasons the Christmas season can be a challenge for me emotionally. Usually by the middle of December, I would have had a couple of meltdowns by now. My Sweetie and the boys would be tiptoeing around me. The dog would be giving me a wide berth. My mother would be calling to check if I'm okay. And I would either be curled up in a small ball or going through life as a zombie.

However, this year I seem to be doing much better. No meltdowns. I haven’t retreated within myself and I’m enjoying the holiday activities. Just for the heck of it I decided to bake Christmas cookies this year. I honestly can't remember the last time I made cookies or even Christmas cookies.

While in the checkout line at Publix (the time before last), I spied this year’s issue of Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies. I bought the issue six years ago and got some really good recipes so I decided to take a chance with the most recent edition. These magazines are packed with over 100 recipes each and the photography is absolutely gorgeous! Seriously, it's worth the price of the magazine just to look at the photos. My eldest son calls it Cookie Porn. (Here’s a coupon for this year’s issue.)

But be advised, as with most Martha Stewart recipes, you will find mistakes in oven temps, measurements, and yields. I discovered this little quirk when I used to subscribe to the magazine 15 or so years ago. The editors must get too Type-A over the excessive directions that they forget to double check the figures.

Anyway, with 101 cookie recipes in one book it’s difficult to decide which one to make first. I truly bought the magazine for the classic Scottish shortbread recipe. I love having a piece of shortbread with my tea. So I picked shortbread, candied ginger cookies, and coconut cookies. Since I hadn’t baked Christmas cookies in YEARS, I thought it was best to stick with simple drop cookies rather than go for the fancy stuff (like the gingerbread snowflake pictured above).

I mixed, chopped, sifted, measured, and spooned for hours on Sunday afternoon. When finished I had a glob of cookie dough stuck to my shirt, powdered sugar on the floor, and a floured handprint on my backside. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

The results? I over baked the shortbread a little bit for my tastes and it has a real nutty flavor that G-Man seems to like. All the guys told me that they like the candied ginger cookies and the coconut cookies have disappeared. Honestly? Even though I had a blast baking, I was a little underwhelmed by the cookies. They taste good. But if I’m going to spend the calories on a treat, I want that treat to WOW me. Know what I mean?

Also, these cookies would be good any time of the year. But none of them screamed Christmas or winter for that matter. I guess that's why most of us stick with our old stand-bys year after year.

I think I’ll bring some cookies into work to share with my co-workers and try a few new recipes next weekend. At least now I know that I remember how to bake and that I won’t die if I do something festive. It’s all good stuff.

Do you have a favorite Christmas cookie that you (or someone who loves you) make(s) year after year?

Photo: MarthaStewart.com