Nearing the end of my Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies - and still so many cookies I’d like to to make!

For Day 11, I made shortbread in honor of a trip to Edinburgh I’m planning for next year.

King Arthur again.

Surprisingly addictive.

A cooling rack filled with triangular pieces of shortbread.

I’ve baked cookies for ten days in a row as part of what I’m calling The Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies.

Tonight: Chocolate Peppermint Snaps from King Arthur again.

I think I made them bigger than the recipe expects - but I probably like them softer anyway.

Also used white chocolate chips.

One small tray of baked chocolate cookies next to a larger tray of uncooked dough balls.

Day Nine of my Twelve Day of Christmas Cookies!

Ginger molasses cookies - another King Arthur Flour recipe, but a family favorite.

www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/s…

Used a bit more flour and chilled the dough which made shaping way easier.

Two trays of baked ginger molasses cookies

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies! Day Eight!

Cocoa Kisses! From another family recipe, and a full batch baked this time as a) a favorite and b) close to time to deliver a batch of cookies to folks.

Dusted the cookies instead rolling them in the sugar. I like how they look snow-covered.

Tray of chocolate cookies dusted with confectioners sugar such that they look like snow-covered hills.

Recipe: Cocoa Kisses

As part of this Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies shenanigans I’m undertaking, I occasionally slip in a family recipe. In this case, these chocolate cookies have a Hershey’s Kiss in the middle and were one my favorites growing up - though dangerous because they looked very similar to another cookie that had a cherry in the middle (yuck!). These require a bit more work than most of the cookies I’ve been making, but are still mighty tasty.

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies! Day Seven!

Gingersnaps!

Recipe: www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/g…

Had this saved for a whilee but had never made it before - mostly because I don’t use shortening a lot.

The batch for tonight I burned the bottom of a bit, but still tasty.

One small tray of ginger snap cookies and two larger trays of uncooked dough ready for the freezer

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies!

Day Six!

Mexican Wedding Cookies. This time, a family recipe.

Notes:

Tastes like nostalgia!

Four baked green cookies coated in powdered sugar, and two larger trays filled with unbaked - and very green! - cookies

Recipe: Mexican Wedding Cookies

As part of The Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies thing I’m doing, I’m mixing in a few family recipes. This is our version of Mexican Wedding Cookies. I always remembered them as being the one green cookie we made each year - though they don’t taste anything like green. It’s just food coloring after all. In doing a bit of research on the name, this is a style of cookies originally called Russian Tea Cakes, but the name changed (and splintered) in the post-WWII Cold War period.

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies! Day Five!

Peanut butter cookies! Cross-hatched and everything!

Dipping back into King Arthur for the recipe (because they’re solid, in grams, and haven’t let me down): www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/c…

Peanut buttery!

Three baked peanut butter cookies on one tray with two other larger trays of unbaked cookies - plus aluminum foil balls that allow the trays to stack in the freezer

Day 4! Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies!

Today, I broke out the disher and made some chocolate cookies, again with a King Arthur recipe (I find theirs to be pretty straightforward and good).

www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/c…

Missing espresso powder, but still tasty!

One small tray of cooked chocolate cookies and a larger tray and a half of uncooked cookies

Twelve days of Christmas cookies, Day 3!

Good ol’ chocolate chip. Trying this recipe from King Arthur Flour: www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/c…

Didn’t have enough corn syrup, so I swapped in molasses for the remainder.

Worked!

A small tray of baked chocolate chip cookies and two larger trays on uncooked dough

Twelve days of Christmas cookies, Day 2.

Sugar cookies courtesy of Serious Eats: www.seriouseats.com/soft-and-…

Three baked for tonight, the rest headed into the freezer for baking later in the month.

Notes: Not bad. Could probably cook a little shorter.

One small tray of cooked sugar cookies next to a bigger tray of unbaked cookies

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies. Day one.

Eggnog Snickerdoodles. Recipe from NYT Cooking. Couldn’t find run extract anywhere, so went with actual rum (Smith and Cross).

Really tasty.

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1…

Two trays of cookies

Settling in for my 35th stadium and school in my quest to see a game at every FBS football program. Today it’s Missouri at Arkansas for the totally-not-made-up Battle Line Rivalry. 🏈

Author and son at Donald W Reynolds Razorback Stadium

Today was a good reminder at how effective exercise is at improving my mood.

I’ve been a bit in the dumps lately (nothing specific, just ennui/malaise), but the moment I finished my first set of deadlift today it was like it all melted away.

Looking forward to getting in a run tomorrow, too.

I suspect I might be more of a Cal person than a Stanford person after seeing games at both back to back today.

Stanford is just so, and park-like. And maybe a quarter full. It’s objectively great in amenities and symmetry and fit and finish, but it lacks soul.

Except the band. The band is great.

I missed a whale of a game when I had to leave stop one for the day (sorry Cal). But howdy from a 7-7 game in the second quarter at stop two: Washington at Stanford. This is the 34th stop in my quest to see a game at every FBS college.

Selfie of the author at Stanford StadiumStanford Stadium pregameScoreboard and trees at Stanford StadiumStanford players pregame

Folks, Cal is the most fun college game atmosphere I’ve been at in a long while. I hopped off the BART, walked uphill through campus to a beautiful stadium nestled in a canyon with a chill, fun crowd vibe.

Just awesome.

Kind of bummed to leave early to make my next kickoff.

It strikes me as very Cal that kickoff is being delayed by a sit in protest of some sort at the 50 yard line.

Hi from California Memorial Stadium and today’s first stop - and my 33rd FBS stadium visited in my quest to see a game at them all. Settling in for a bit of USC @ Cal before I hightail it over to Palo Alto for my second stop today.

Selfie of the author wearing a gold Cal hat at CAlifornia Memorial Stadium. View of the field at California Memorial StadiumSelfie in front of California Memorial StadiumCalifornia banner at California Memorial Stadium