Day Two Hundred Seventy

I made the first of two Christmas Crazy deliveries this weekend, which it's a darn good thing I gave up on trying to get it all delivered in one weekend. I returned home to find 20 more boxes and since then, that pile has doubled. Shipping delays, what?

It is truly the best sort of problem to have.

I will have photos and lots to say about the delivery once the whole thing is wrapped up, but for now, let me just tell you about how Mila made the process SUPER interesting this year.

Each year, as you likely know, I build a mountain out of the toys so I can take a "final" photo. I have this issue with stuff getting delivered after I think I'm done every single year, so there's always a few things missing from the photo, but it's as close to a full representation of your generosity as I can get. The girls are pretty used to the whole thing by now. In fact, about half way through the construction, Mila walked into the room and cheerily proclaimed, "Holy moly! There are so many toys!"

Alexis, the kid who has 12 years of experience at this thing, rolled her eyes and flatly replied, "It always looks like that." She could not possibly have been more bored by it all. Apparently nobody told her there is a pandemic and so many people are out of work right now and struggling. I personally never for a second thought we would be kissing our usual total.

We're going to hit it, by the way. I have a pickup to do on Friday that will get us there. I don't know how, but even in the most challenging of times, we're going to get there.

ANYWAY.

Mila was impressed. Alexis was bored. That's how it came to be that Mila decided she was going to help me. She started sorting toys - Barbies go together, for example. About every third toy, she would be like, "I would like this for Christmas, too!" It was cute for a minute or two, but then I needed her to focus. We had work to do.

So, I suggested Mila figure out the 2-3 things that she wanted the most. Santa might as well hear what she wants, right? She did that. She found the 2-3 things she wants most, but apparently she thought I meant I wanted to know what she wants from us the most? Santa wasn't even on the table.

I know Santa wasn't on the table because Santa got every single other thing she wanted. His list is now MILES long, and that list is being delivered to Santa by our Elf on the Shelf, Brittney.

Mila legit started taking toys over to her Elf and showing the Elf every single thing Santa should consider. "Brittney, please tell Santa I would like one of these. See it?" Dozens of things. DOZENS were taken to Brittney and displayed for clarity.

Every year the mountain construction project takes longer than I expect. This year at least I have an explanation as to why.

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Nine

Remember going places? Like, potlucks and Christmas parties and stuff? Weren't those the days?!? It's weird to think that at this time last year, I was hustling to make 12 dozen cookies for an event. Maybe I'll do that again next year? Maybe?

In the meantime, I made a small batch of the cookies below. They're one of my favorite for Christmas events because one recipe covers about 12 different variations. I've made them all over the years, and sometimes passed off several of them as "different" cookies. They're totally not. They're the same cookie flipped or dipped or with an extra ingredient or two.

There's the Dreamy Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich version.

And the Dreamy Chocolate Peppermint version (my personal favorite).

And sometimes I end up in a hurry and wind up making the plain old Dreamy Chocolate Cookie version.

Same recipe. In fact, I posted a different version of it a few years ago around this time. Maybe sometime I'll post even more versions of it. Like, the Nutella one. That's definitely a good one.

For now, here are the basics for the peppermint variations.

But first, here's a fun fact for you. The difference between these two cookies?

Obviously they look different, but how did they end up that way? The one on the left was cookie dough dropped by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet. The one on the right is also a teaspoonful of cookie dough, but to make it prettier, I rolled the dough into a little ball and then flattened it with the palm of my hand.

Same cookie. Dramatically different results. Both taste amazing, but one looks purtier and stuff.

The pretty version works best for making sandwich cookies.

No matter how you shape them, they freeze well, have a fantastic shelf life, and taste amazing. Win. Win. Win.

Dreamy Chocolate Cookies

(Makes approximately 36 cookies)

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2/3 cups baking cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl at low speed.

3. In a separate medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together.

4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg/vanilla mixture and mix at low speed until well combined.

5. Drop the cookie dough by heaping teaspoon onto your cookie sheet. If you want smoother/prettier cookies, roll each spoonful of dough into a ball and then flatten with the palm of your hand.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

7. Allow the cookies to cool for 1-2 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Icing/Sandwich Filling (optional)

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon butter, softened
Crushed candy canes

1. Mix the powdered sugar, milk, butter, and peppermint extract in a medium bowl with a hand mixer at low speed. Add more milk if you want it runnier or more powdered sugar if you want it thicker. It's your choice.

2. For the Dreamy Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich cookies, find two baked cookies that are close to the same size. Place a spoonful of icing on the bottom of one cookie and then squish another cookie against the icing. Roll the edges in crushed candy canes.

3. For the Dreamy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, spread a small bit of icing on top of the cookie. Pour crushed candy canes into the palm of one of your hands and then take the iced side of the cookie and smoosh it into the candy cane pieces.

4. For the plain Dreamy Chocolate Cookies, find a small cookie cutter with a wide edge (plastic ones often work best). Place the cookie cutter on top of the cookie and then dust with powdered sugar by using a flour sifter. Take the cookie cutter off and you should be left with the outline of the cookie cutter.

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Eight