Cookie Friday: Christmas cookie plate

One of my very favorite things to do is bake cookies.  I've been known to go a little crazy when it comes to Christmas cookie baking.

My record is baking more than 12 different kinds of cookies for Christmas.  I went on a month-long baking spree.  Every free night I had was spent mixing up cookie dough in the kitchen.

While I had a lot of fun trying new cookie recipes, it was seriously too much.  My family is fairly small, and we don't have big gatherings for Christmas.  We ended up with way too many leftover cookies in the freezer, which isn't ideal considering that's also the time of year when you're trying to work off those extra holiday calories.

So this year, I went simple.  I only made two types of cookies.  One batch was my favorite ginger creme cookies, the other was the lemon sandwich cookies that my husband requested.

I'll leave the sugar cookies to my sister this year.  She's a much better baker than I.

So, what's on your Christmas cookie plate this year?

For the love of caramel

My husband is always outdoing me in the kitchen.  I spend a day baking my favorite Christmas cookies, and then he humbles me with his first-ever attempt at making homemade caramels.  And they were fantastic, of course, just like he is.

He made these caramels because he's a little stir-crazy now that fishing season is over.  We were out grocery shopping, and he decided to buy a $5 candy thermometer from the houseware aisle.  He stocked up on butter and cream, then spent a Sunday night watching NFL football in the kitchen while the sugar-syrup boiled, browned and bubbled into caramel.

His caramels turned out perfectly soft, with a nice rich browned butter flavor.  What was his secret?  He kept the burner on low and just let the sugar syrup slowly reach the hard-ball stage, about 245 degrees.  He actually kept one batch of caramel on the burner for more than 3 hours before he turned it up and let it reach the ideal temperature.  The slow boil freed him up to do some other things around the house.  (Yes, he has a short-attention span.)

I still can't believe he made the perfect caramels on the first try.  I'm never that fearless in the kitchen, but he's not afraid to fail.  I've still got a lot to learn from him (but don't tell him that).

Here's the church cookbook recipe for homemade caramels, if you want to try these yourself.  Remember, a $5 candy thermometer will work just fine.

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Cream Caramels
(A great Christmas gift!)
From Elk Creek Lutheran Church cookbook, Kensett, Iowa

• 2 C. sugar
• 3/4 C. light corn syrup
• 1/2 C. butter
• 2 C. light cream
• 1/2 C. finely chopped nuts (opt.)

Butter square pan, 8x8x2-inches. Spread nuts in pan.  Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter and half the cream in large saucepan.  Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring occassionally.  Stir in remaining cream.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to 245 degrees on candy thermometer (or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a firm ball).  Immediately spread mixture evenly over nuts in pan.  Cut into 1-inch squares.  Wrap in squares of plastic wrap.

The sky's on fire

Here's the view out my kitchen window as I was eating supper the other night.

I just love the early sunsets this time of year, even if the days are shorter.

On a side note, we missed another snow storm here in central Iowa.  A year ago last week, we had a whopper of a blizzard.  So if we can make it through another snow-free week, that means winter's at least one week shorter this year, right?