This is the conglomerate result of this year's baking. Two afternoons of making dough, three afternoons of baking, and a few hours of icing gingerbread cookies lead to his pile of containers. I figure there are somewhere around 400 cookies in those containers. Whew, that sure is a lot of work!
Some closeups. It doesn't look impressive or like there is that much inside, but some of the cookies are small and are stacked many deep. I try not to do too many fragile ones.
More cookies. The smaller containers either had the tinier cookies or leftovers from the big containers. Missing is one small tub of coconut snowballs that my mother ate and over half a dozen mocha truffle cookies that Brian and Jason snitched.
Those cookies that don't stack well are put in fairly shallow tubs.
Oh no, puppy porn - how did that get in here? Autumn is my constant companion. Yeah, the kitchen floor is still raw plywood, but I am trying to be patient...
To give you an idea of just how well packed these boxes are, the picture below is a box of Anna's Rolled Cookies, from my old McCall's Cookie Collection cookbook, which is years out of print now. It was part of a set of pamphlet sized cookbooks but I got my first copy solo at a local fleamarket back when I was in my early 20s (I'm 52 now). These are a really tasty vanilla sugar cookie, and were he first kind of cutout and the first Christmas cookies I ever made. Still one of my favorites too, and I usually make the dough and bake them first because decorating them takes forever. But that's because I am so darn fussy about it. This is the main box of them, I had a couple smaller boxes, one of which was the first two sheets, which overbrowned and got eaten by family. Doesn't it look like a treasure chest? I have built up quite a selection of jimmies, sprinkles and colored sugars over the years. The silver jimmies are new this year, found them at the craft store around Halloween and immediately thought of Christmas cookies decorated with them. I love the way they shine and these are safe to eat, not coated with mercury like the old silver dragees (which I have a small jar of that I don't use but won't part with). I have a ton of cookie cutters too, and usually add one or two new ones each year. Saw a palm tree and a moose I just have to get... I'm not obsessed or anything. LOL
BTW, that plastic box has a thrifting history. I got three of those from the little grocery store that used to be in town for 50¢ each. I lost one when it got left behind on a special school trip, but still have the other two. I guess the store used to get some sort of fish delivery in them, because that is what they smelled like when I got them, even though they had been cleaned. I got a bunch of plastic or glass gallon jars for 10¢ each too, and still use those for storage. This is a green town ahead of its time, in that we are talking the mid-80s for this repurposing, and we've also had curbside recycling since 1989. Plenty of state forest out here, so the folks that settle in this area tend to be environmentally aware as well as thrifty. *s*
I've used those boxes a lot over the years. They are deep enough to hold cupcakes if the frosting isn't piled too high.
Well this is the first cookie pan I packed for some lucky family this year. Clockwise from the top left around center are: Anna's Rolled Cookies, peanut butter thummies with grape jelly centers, coconut snowballs, mocha truffle cookies; vanilla thummies with strawberry, mint or apple jelly (like Christmas lights), and of course gingerbread with icing. In the center are almond crescents, the most low sugar and flour cookie I make - mostly ground almonds and butter.
,Another pan for another household. I gave away 3 large pans like this and 4 smaller ones. We kept the eqiuvalent of a large pan for ourselves, and the kids were chucking some down as I packed them.
Aw come on, you know how happy you'd be to get a big pan of cookies like that! Imagine the smiles...
This is grandson Ben having a bite to eat nearby, and yeah he finished all that bowl too. He's happy because he helped me bake some of those cookies and now he's going to get to eat some. Those are pans of fudge sitting next to him, and that is my next project - cutting up fudge. I make 4 kinds every year, and it goes to selected people. My fudge is a one-bowl recipe that gets a short time in the microwave and then has to firm up in the fridge overnight. I cut it all up and then pack it in small foil loaf pans. One local outlet store has the disposable foil pans very reasonable, and that is usually where I get them. It makes it easier when people don't have to return a container to me, though I have used the round cookie and fruitcake tins and even plastic margarine tubs in the past. Clean foil is recyclable in most of my state.
This is how the fudge looks when it comes out of the pan. This one is white chocolate fudge with chopped red and green candied cherries and candied pineapple and is much prettier when cut up. When the fudge is mixed I pour it into square or rectangular cake pans that have been lined with greased foil (makes it easier to lift the fudge out) and then they cool on racks in the pan until they can go into the fridge, covered with foil. Once chilled and set, the fudge can be cut up. Because it contains milk, it has to be refrigerated when not being served, and does not ship well. But it can sit out an hour or so at room temperature.
The same block of fudge all cut up and temporarily back into its pan. Yeah the pan was thrifted too, a flea market special.
In fact all of these pans are thrifted. I will buy used in good shape when I can get them. Clockwise from bottom left is the white chocolate fudge with candied fruit, chocolate and peanut butter layered fudge, dark chocolate fudge with walnuts, and mint chocolate layered fudge. Don't they look yummy?
As I've said, these are things I've done every year for many years. Sometimes I do some peanut brittle if I have the time. The year of our major constrution I did all biscotti and some cake gingerbread because most of my kitchen stuff was still packed and it was easier to find the sheets and pans I needed for those. What I haven't mentioned is that December 23 is #1 son Jason's birthday and I usually bake for that too - this year he had a chocolate chip cheesecake and I made Lee a sugar free chocolate silk pie because he can't have the sweet stuff. So there is always some tasty treat being formulated in my kitchen during the holidays, as well as plenty of memories too.
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