BFS #10 Cookie Exchange!

Let the FUN begin!!!! Baking is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas/Holiday Season. I love participating in Cookie Exchanges. We are participating in one this year with our local homeschool group. We also bake a batch for my Husbands employees. He has almost 50 and we give them each 1/2 dozen, plus a full serving tray for the break room. Normally I bake just 1 kind of cookie for his work. Lost year I got adventurous and baked 4 different cookies. (If you do the math that is a LOT of Cookies!) Thank you Tamara, I think a “Virtual Cookie Exchange” sounds like a wonderful alternative.

Part A: Please share your Favorite Christmas/Holiday Cookie Recipe(s)!
Part B: Share a memory, story or tradition about baking any Christmas/Holiday goodies.
Part C: Share a verse that is upon your heart this week.

~For my assignment~

Part A:

I have made this recipe for the past 4 years and I always get complements about them. The recipe was e-mail to me in the 2002 Food Network 12 days of Cookies . Here is a direct link to print out the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_25046_PRINT-RECIPE-FULL-PAGE,00.html

Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Recipe courtesy Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2002

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut Raspberry and/or apricot jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale they should each weigh 1 ounce.)

Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.

Recipe Summary Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 32 cookies

I also wanted to thank Tiany at Less of Me ~ More of Him for blessing me with an e-mail jam pack with cookie recipes.

Part B:

The memory is of Christmas Eve Mourning when both girls were still making cookies for Santa. (Let me explain Santa: We have never made him out to be this BIG deal in out home. We truly pore more into Jesus Birthday then Santa this time of the year. My youngest when she was 3 and my oldest was 5 (Now they are almost 6 and 8). She informed her older sister that "Daddy was Santa". We told her the truth and she said, " I know Mommy, after we go to bed on Christmas Eve, Daddy goes shopping and wraps up our gifts that night. All by himself , I might add." Are you giggling too :). For a mom this was priceless! Personally I come from a broken home where my dad was never around. This was a moment in time that I praised the Lord for my girls confidence in their daddy. My girls think Daddy is the King in our home. Next to Jesus, no one can even come close to their Daddy. My daily prayer is that they will measure up any man they meet against their daddy and our Lord. Thank you for allowing me to share) With that said . I spread out sheet on my floor and brought baking cookies down to their level. The hand mixer, mixing bowels , measuring cups, cookies sheets and any thing else we might need to make cookies. That day we would make the best Peanut Butter Cookies their daddy ever had. Something my mother did with me and I do with my girls. Instead of using a fork to Cris~cross the tops of the cookies. The girls would use their fingers in to make smiley faces on the tops. Mother always said, "That's the EXTRA sugar to make the cookies taste the BEST!"

Part C:

The verse I would like to share is :

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Matthew 21:22