Getting Ready for Christmas

I have had a few more baking get-togethers to prepare for Christmas. The first was with Brian's Aunt Carol who taught me to make Rosettes (top left corner). I had inherited a couple sets of irons and really wanted to learn. I haven't done it on my own yet but they seemed pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Once they are finished they are quite delicate. I had managed to keep them all nice and safe in their container until Christmas Eve when I put them on the hood of the car and they slid off from all the snow. They fell right on the driveway. I was practically in tears when I saw that only 2 had survived (I was also kind of in tears when I realized that it was becoming more difficult to bend over). Everyone was really nice though and ate the crumbs.

Then I got together with Katie P., Jodi and Erin M. for our annual Christmas cookie bake-off. This is a tradition that has been going on for about 5 years now. We have so much fun because instead of baking by ourselves we spend the afternoon together and it usually involves wine and appetizers. I was sad to have missed the last two years but they survived without me and even sent cookies to Africa! We didn't even mind that it was a bag of crumbs because it tasted soooo good.

This year we made:

Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding Cakes (depends on who you ask)

Candy Cane Cookies

Mini Turtles (pretzels, Rolos and a pecan)

Mini Salted Nut Rolls

Peanut Blossoms

and Krumkake...which I am hesitant to even write...

You would think that having just made it with my Grandma it would be fresh in my mind, but we are not really sure what happened. Jodi and I (the Norwegians) thought we were all set with two irons this year and of course we didn't let Katie and Erin (the Irish) too close, but still something when horribly wrong. Here is what they looked like:

Oh well, every year there is at least one incident or mess-up, so I guess it was the Krumkake this time! (One year we put the turtles outside to cool and squirrels ate them).