Merry Christmas everyone

Hohohoho to everyone!

Lots, and lots of pictures.

Bob (my mixter, nicknamed by my young brother) and I have been very busy, so busy that while I've snapped some pictures, I haven't had time to come blog them all!

So here is some pictures of a few things I made late last week, and a peek at what this family had for breakfast this morning!

The top picture is of some fudgey chocolate cookies, the recipe I found in a magazine I bought to read while sitting in the waiting room of my children's doctor's office for walk-in hours to be done. The wait was very long (and I knew it would be, so I came prepared), but fortunately my son did not have strep-throat and I found a funky recipe or two! And sometime after Christmas I will find where in the mountain of cookbooks and magazines I left that magazine and put up either a link or the recipe for those cookies. They were a huge hit at the friends gathering we hosted on Saturday, being very fudgey and chocolatey!

Next you will see a picture of some sugar cookies, the Sour Cream Sugar Cookies featured in the December Today's Parent magazine. I really like the recipes from the magazine - they are real, use reasonable ingredients that don't cost a fortune, and are kid tested and family friendly. These cookies are a good example - I made the dough early in the day with help from my 4 year old, which chilled in the fridge while both children were at school. After school we pulled out the decorations and they designed and got fancy while I rolled and cut. The scraps really do re-roll very easily and the cookies still taste tender.

I didn't just make cookies, I also made some mini quiches which I could prepare well in advance, freeze, and then cook right before our little party. Bacon, Leek and Cheese mini-quiches, from Fine Cooking, were simple to make, froze wonderfully and cooked up golden, crisp and tasty. And they smelled very, very good.

The recipe is in the December issue, but not showing up on the website, though I haven't logged in to see if it is visible for subscribers only. So if anyone wants the recipe for the, just drop me an email and I'll jot it down for them.

I haven't tried reheating them yet, since 4 dozen mini quiches was alot for 5 adults to eat, especially when there was a table full of other goodies to eat, including another banana cream pie, more cookies and sweets, veggies, fruit, dip, and homemade latke's in the kitchen.

Finally we arrive at this morning, Christmas day. In our family, there are a few little traditions. Calories don't count on this day, so usually breakfast involves alot of very fattening items that you can just pop in the oven, Pilsburry buns and turnovers, while bacon is cooked up and eggs are made to order. Last year my oldest son made a request - Shortbread waffles with fruit and whipped cream. Well, these things are so decadent that you need a special day to have the excuse to have them. So when he repeated the request for this year, well all agreed.

Let us begin.....

You'll need a waffle maker for one - and for this, I recommend you not leave it straight on your counter. Put a sheet pan underneath it, to catch the drips. While it heats up, mix together in a small bowl 1 3/4 cup of flour and 1 cup of sugar. In a larger bowl, whisk together 4 eggs until they are fluffy. Add the flour mixture to the eggs and beat to combine. Then mix in 1 cup of very soft, but not melted, butter (I use salted since there is no other salt added.) And squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. Mix it well.

That's the recipe, only 5 ingredients.

You'll need the sheet pan because melted butter will leak out of the iron while the waffles crisp up to a golden brown color, though it won't be a uniform dark. These waffles will be soft upon removal from the maker (use a spatula to get underneath them and lift them to a plate,) but will crisp up on the plate.

These waffles are not the kind you serve with maple syrup, though bacon is a nice side. Instead, mound them high with freshly whipped cream, mine was made with a touch of fresh vanilla bean in it, and then top the cream with fresh berries. Since it is December and there are not good, fresh berries around here, I used frozen ones, defrosted with a touch of sugar to create a nice syrupy sauce with them. And my choices for this year were strawberries and blueberries.

And serve with lots of good orange juice. Coffee if you like it, which we don't. Which is why we used the mugs from my good dishes for juice instead of coffee. (Hey, I'm willing to let the kids try eating on the good plates today, but not yet willing to let them try crystal glasses!)

Merry Christmas to everyone - and here is one last pictures, a
sneak peek at a part of dinner: