Half-baked Homeschool

I am not crafty, but I love the idea of homemade gifts at Christmas, so I turn (naturally) to cooking instead. Cookies are generally my favorite type of baked good, and Chirstmas cookies are my favorite of all.

I remember as a little girl, spending Christmas at my grandma's house in northwestern Ohio; she and everyone who came would stack tins of their homebaked specialties on the washer and dryer on the "back porch". The chill of the unheated room kept the cookies fresh, but it certainly didn't keep me out of the tins. I loved the variety and the either delicate beauty or homey slopiness of each one.


Now we have our own tins, and they are filled with the cookie selections of the year. Well, what's left of them (and it's plenty!). This year, as in past, I spent several weeks fitting in as much baking as I could. By December 18th, they were finished, and we plated them and wrapped them for our annual "cookie hand-out".

I tend to get bored with making the same cookies every year, so I choose about 7 or 8 from our traditional options. These years rotation included:

• Peppermint Mocha Cookies (my mom makes these for me)
• Oatmeal Refrigerator Cookies
• Pumpkin Fudge
• Almond Stars
• Cream Cheese Spritz Trees
• Jam Thumbprints
• Chewy Gingerbread Men
• Almond Butter Truffles (Buckeyes using Barney Butter instead of PB)

It takes quite a bit of time to bake in abundance, but I just can't think of a better way to say "I love you" or "Thank you for your friendship" (or in the case of the local volunteer firefighters -"thanks for keeping my house from burning down and blowing out all of the smoke when I left the chicken on the stove and left the house last January") than a tray of cookies. Perhaps granola could say it instead?