Holiday Cookie Tins

Every year since the end of college (except last year) I've make tins of cookies to send and give out to friends, typically the ones I don't get gifts for otherwise. I love to bake...but if I ate it all I'd be about 400 pounds....

The more tins I make the more stressful it seems to become (especially since I always seem to stay so busy) and so this year I limited myself to only two types of cookies....and a few other add-ins.

These must be made every year. It's not Christmas without them....even though there is nothing particularly Christmas-y about them.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients

approx 48 Hershey's Kisses 

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup Reese's brand creamy peanut butter

2 cups all-purpose biscuit baking mix

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup of sugar

Directions

Heat oven to 375F.  Unwrap chocolates. 

Beat sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in large bowl until smooth.  Add baking mix and vanilla; blend well.  Shape into 1-inch balls & roll in sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on un-greased cookie sheets

Bake 6-8 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from oven & immediately press chocolate kiss into the center of each ball.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely on wire rack. 

Gingerbread is also a must. Instead of little men this year though, I went the reindeer route... 

I did cheat a little and use this mix for the cookies. You can find it at your local grocery store... I wouldn't recommend buying it from the link :) 

Some melted chocolate and a few red M&M's later... I had these :)

I originally had decided to go with chocolate dipped candy canes, which seemed simple and fun, but instead did a slight alteration to this recipe (I hope you enjoy them Jenn!) I may have also been seen wielding a hammer against a helpless bag of candy canes :)

No photo of mine.. you'll just have to be ok with the Peas and Crayons version. Can you tell there is a pattern on where I get recipes??

Those bring me to a side story: While looking for this post from Peas and Crayons (to save me a little time in the chocolate dipping process), I found all of these posts:. It pretty much made me want to make them all to put in the tin (which I promise Jenn wouldn't be all that big...) And it spawned this conversation.....

I did have a mental image of him pacing in front of their mailbox....

And here is the little package for that pacing marine and the lovely wife that puts up with him....

I'll be back late this afternoon with that long promised studio update (I know I know...I apparently am terrible at keeping promises... in my defense, the Clearwater trip got moved and then cancelled... it's all been a crazy week or so.)

Here is a photo of the little bundle of joy that I was hoping to see (along with his mama) when I went to Clearwater.

There also have been some updates to the Etsy shop (See the new widget below!) Today is the last day you can order with guaranteed holiday delivery, but feel free to shop around!