Christmas is almost over

So the tree is down and the decorations are packed up, but I found the pictures of the Christmas cookies I baked.

I invited Mom, Chris, Sara & Julia over for our first (and hopefully not last) Banach cookie baking.  I got ambitious and baked five different kinds ahead of time. 

First up were the Snickerdoodles.  They are a basic sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar (green & red sugars for the holidays).

Next up were the labor intensive Candy Cane cookies.  These are a pain to dye (the red always turns pink) and difficult to twist.  They are sprinkled with sugar and crushed peppermints.  In the end they are so festive I just have to make them every year. 

I made Dad’s favorite, Pecan Fingers, and the easy peasy chocolate pretzels with red and green m&ms. 

Sugar cookies are always needed for Christmas.  I think I finally figured out how to bake them correctly.  The deal here is to roll them out thick (when you think you need to roll them one more time, stop) and freeze them for 15 minutes before baking.  They keep the same shape as the cookie cutter this way.

These are the cookies after baking, don’t they look just like the cutter?

When the girls came over I had them help make Peanut Butter Kiss  and Spritz cookies.  They turned out great!

Last up was decorating the sugar cookies.  I made royal frosting which Julia helped me dye different colors.  We all enjoyed decorating them, but I think Julia got tired of trying to stay in the lines at the end. 

Mom brought fudge to share and everyone got to take home one dozen of each kind of cookie.  It had been a while since I made these many cookies for Christmas.