I love Christmas cookies..

Actually I like making them more than I like eating them for some reason. I get such a kick out of it. Each year my mom makes an AMAZING cookie tray. Oh gosh. We used to work on it forever and by the time Christmas finally rolled around our freezer would be full of cookies. This year though, since Im staying here and not flying home to visit, I decided to make my own tray!

So of course I had to start with the classics..

Chocolate chippies!

Then onto some oatmeals (my personal fav…)

Then I baked up a bunch of sugar cookies. These are just waiting for me to ice them. So I will be back with some iced cookie pictures!

Then I made some Peanut Better bars from the Cooking with PETA book. Love these! My mom made these for us each year and they were always a fav.

Crunchy, peanut buttery and chocolaty.

Next up..Peanut butter and chocolate cookies, Carob thumbprints and some Peanut butter spelt cookies. Also on the list some rum balls (Austin’s fav..his grandmother Mimi makes some great rum balls so I gotta do it up Mimi style!) And I also plan on a slew of different raw balls. Cannot wait to start those either. I gotta get movin!

My Aunt flew in from China yesterday so I got to hang out with her for a bit. She was too sweet and treated me to some rocking new baking pans from Williams Sonoma. My cookies come out fabulous with these new baking pans!! (complete with flour still on them=)

 

I had some old crappy pans earlier and was finding my cookies were burning on the bottom and not finished baking in the middle. Aaahh the wonders of insulated baking pans. The second I started these my cookies are turning out perfect. Some good pans are worth the cash!

So I was shopping around and came across some interesting peanut butter.

I had to pick some up just for curiosity’s sake. Its not the greatest for you as it has a decently big ingredient list but it tastes great and is very decadent. I’ll honestly probably just eat this once in awhile, but its great as a small treat!

I finished up the night with a big huge salad. I needed something to balance out all that baking! Grilled onions and peppers on a huge bed of lettuce with small veggie burger and a quick dressing of just some sour cream and spicy smoky salsa. Sooo good!

Since we are hanging around we decided to have a get together with all our friends that will still be in town. So far on the menu:

 

Appetizers:

Tomato Basil bread pudding bites with a balsamic reduction

lentil pate in Endive with cranberries and pistachios

Fresh artichoke and caramelized onion crostinis

Shrimp (!) with cocktail sauce

Veggie tray with a onion dip (and a vegan version too)

 

Desserts:

cookie trays

vanilla bean layer cake with hot chocolate icing

Assorted raw balls

rum balls

Looks like alot but oh well. Its fun! I cook as healthy as I possibly can but I try not obsess about it around the holidays (the rest of the year is a different story, ha!). I find that just keeping everything in moderation, enjoying friends and of course keeping up with workouts is the key to preventing any added weight during the holidays. I think that's the best way to get through the holidays. No stress, relax, hit the gym and have a good time.

Tomorrow I plan on going to my spin class and continuing to prep. If its nice out (It was sunny and 75 the other day!) I might bike around for awhile too.

Anyways I hope everyone is having a wonderful day so far!!

How's the holiday shopping going? I think mine is all done. (Finally!) Do you have any special treats you look forward to only at the holidays?

 

Take care!! Im on to Part 2 of cookie baking…