Christmas Cookie Baking 2012 (Segment #2)

How are you all coming along?  Did you get some ingredients to bake along?  lol  You've no doubt  heard of sew-alongs, but who ever heard of a bake along, huh?  I might start a whole new trend here, who knows?  Incidentally, another hint that I just thought of........I use a hand mixer to mix all my cookie dough.  It saves on the hands and the cleanup since all I have to do is remove the beaters to wash between recipes.  (I have tons of bowls.)

Yesterday someone with a no-reply blogger address asked me if I color my own sugar.  I almost laughed out loud!  While it might be smart to do that financially, I suppose, I have enough trouble with this whole cookie making process at my age without stopping to color my sugar first.  Seriously, I'd probably save lots more $$ if I churned my own butter!!!  You have no idea how I hoard the sale butter in my freezer prior to this process!!!  And YES, I only use butter!

Okay, are you ready for recipe #3?  This is an all time favorite and another one that was handed down through the generations in my family.  These (I guarantee) will melt in your mouth and you will get nothing but rave reviews!  I don't think it would be Christmas here without them:

MOM'S PECAN FINGERS

2 cups butter

1/2 cup sugar

4 cups flour

4 cups finely ground pecans

2 Tablespoons vanilla (yes, tablespoons)

Mix all together and form in little rolls in crescent shape.  Bake 15 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet in 350 degree oven.  When still warm, roll in powdered sugar.  Makes 7 or 8 dozen.   

And there they are ready for the freezer.  Now, I must say that this recipe is easily cut in half so unless you plan on eating these for a long time, or have a big family, or LOVE to eat a lot of cookies, perhaps you might want to do that.  One little hint in the preparation is this..............prepare a small cookie sheet or big dinner plate with powdered sugar lining the bottom, and a strainer filled with more powdered sugar so when you remove the cookies from the cookie sheet, you don't have to roll those warm delicate little cookies, you can just transfer them to the sugar lined cookie sheet or dinner plate and sift powdered sugar over the top and put them directly into your container.  I sprinkle more powdered sugar over the top of each layer as I go along though since I want each to get adequate coverage .


Okay......now for cookie #4, which I suppose is really not a cookie, since it's not baked, but something else........don't ask me what???

TING A LINGS or HAYSTACKS

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanuts
1-2 cups chinese noodles

Melt chocolate in glass microwave safe bowl, add rest of ingredients and mix well.  Drop by teaspoons full onto waxed paper or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Allow to dry, or refrigerate until hard.  (Or if you live in a cold climate, plop outside for about an hour to harden.)  These are super easy-peasy and they will satisfy any chocolate lover!

So there you have it!  So far we're at 4 out of 10 now.......(I'm up to #10 though and hopefully I'll be able to finish those today.)  I'm also thinking about making my French silk pie and throwing that in the freezer for Thanksgiving.  I usually don't freeze that pie, but we are having unseasonably warm temps here and it's supposed to go up to 62 degrees on Thursday.........not good for keeping a butter, egg filled, chocolate pie outside in my car's trunk in my sister's driveway until dessert time.  This way, if I take it frozen, it should be perfect by the time we eat it.  Don't you agree????