Christmas Edition

Welcome to Kiki’s Christmas Edition! 

I wanted to share the holiday boxes I gifted family, colleagues and neighbors this year in case anyone is still looking for ideas. 

I knew I wanted to prepare everything in advance so I chose cookie recipes I could freeze and then bake from frozen. Here are the three cookies I included: 

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Cowboy Cookies 

M&M Cookies

A trick I used for storing cookie dough balls is to place them into a ziplock and zip it almost all the way closed. Use a straw to suck out all the remaining air and then quickly zip it shut. 

Here are some of my other favorite recipes if you are able to bake and deliver things fresh: 

• My Favorite Brownies 

• The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies 

• Better Homes and Gardens/Anne Farrell’s Rolled Sugar Cookies

  • Decorate with your favorite buttercream frosting 

  • I look forward to these every year!

• Mexican Wedding Balls 

  • Erik’s all time favorite cookie

    

  • As the recipe is a little hard to make out, I transcribed it below: 

    • ½ lb butter 

    • ¼ cup sugar 

    • ½ tsp salt 

    • 1 cup finely chopped pecans (we use a food processor so they are almost like a powder)

    • 1 cup flour (plus a little more, as needed)

    • Powdered sugar

• Cream butter and sugar. Stir in salt, pecans and flour. Bake in preheated oven at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Roll in powdered sugar while still hot (and again when cooled if desired)

• Our cookies are about a tablespoon size

I also included homemade chex mix in a mason jar and chocolate dipped pretzels. I followed Half Baked Harvest’s Chex Mix recipe (puppy chow would also be great!). For the pretzels, I melted semisweet chocolate chips in a glass pyrex in the microwave before dipping the pretzels and topping with sprinkles. 

Here are the boxes I used - they fit the mason jars perfectly. The best deal on mason jars I could find was Walmart. I used this rope and tied pieces of greenery I cut off my centerpiece from last edition ($9 mixed pine and cedar greenery from Whole Foods). The rope is cost effective if you are planning to make a lot of boxes. I made 25 boxes and still have a lot of rope left over. If you aren’t making as many, I think a wider satin ribbon like this would look beautiful. 

Lastly, I wanted to share a few recipes that have become a Christmas morning tradition in my family. 

• Cinnamon Rolls 

• Sticky Buns 

  • This recipe is not easy but I promise it is worth it! We like it best with pecans on top 

  • The original recipe is from a neighbor’s bread book. It was several pages long and extremely difficult to follow - I’ve tried to write it out as simply as I could below

I would love to know if you try any of these recipes and what recipes are tradition in your home.

Thank you so much for being here! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! 

Christina 🤶