Baking Day

Oatmeal raisin cookies....not very Christmas-y,  just plain good. 

I decided that if I was going to start my Christmas baking, I would need to make some cookies that my boys could eat without getting their knuckles rapped. You see, I do a lot of baking before Christmas with the intention of giving it away as part of my homemade gifting. My friend in Charleston Lake does up wonderful jars of pickles and preserves....cooked jams, marmalade, applesauce, and the like. I would like to learn how, but I am nervous about it. So my contributions have been cookies, loaves and snack mixes. I will fill tins and freezer bags of the goodies and put them in the freezer until I am ready to give them away.  

These cookies are called Cranberry Hootycreek biscuits from Wendy's blog over at An Abundant Life.

I ran across this cookie recipe by reading the blogs written by the Australian ladies. It is made with white chocolate chips, walnuts and dried cranberries. I had seen similar recipes all over Pinterest, so I decided it must be a popular one. I've made it once before in the early Fall and it is very good. 

Mini loaves. These are banana cherry chocolate chip.

After making two cookie recipes today, I decided to change things up and make my first batch of mini loaves. This is an easy delicious recipe from Taste of Home. I will wrap each loaf in saran wrap, then tin foil, and after I have labelled each loaf, I will place them in freezer bags. That will make it easier for me to pull out each one when I am ready to gift. 

Doggie biscuits waiting to go into the oven.

Finally, I decided to make another batch of  doggie biscuits. I have some doggie friends on my Christmas gift list. These cookies only take 20 minutes to bake, but must be left in the turned off oven until they cool so they can be left to harden. I will also package these up in cellophane or sandwich bags and put them in the freezer ready to go. I will dress them up with a little ribbon and "good dog" tags I found on the internet. Amazing what you can find for almost any occasion on-line. 

The corned beef dinner last night was amazing. It will be just my Sweetie Pie and myself home for dinner tonight, so we will finish up leftovers. There will still be a little corned beef left for sandwiches. Mmmmm. By going through my recipes this morning, I figured out what I still need to buy in order to make the rest of my cookies and loaves. Then I can start on my nuts and bolts and other snack mixes. Have another great evening everyone.