It's Christmas Time!

Hi. Merry Christmas!
I have had a cold, but I sanitized myself and the kitchen to try some recipes today. I dragged myself into the kitchen, lugged the kitchenaid mixer up to the counter, and commenced to make a huge mess in my itsy bitsy kitchen.  Thank goodness for Mark, who is always at hand to help wash and dry when it's time for another round.  I have two friends that want to be a part of my cookies.  Kim, who begs for me to mail her some, and Patti who wants to come over and help.  It's always been just a Mark and Marty event, and the idea of mailing Kim cookies completely overwhelms me. I make exactly the amount of cookies I need to share with my two sisters and parents, plus my two sons and their wives and of course, Mark and me. Last year I threw out ALL my cookie tins. They were thirty years old, bent and maybe a bit rusted. How did I know that they aren't in every Dollar Store and Walmart anymore??  Rubbermaid has had to step in.  Eww. Not Christmasy to see what you're opening. I liked the mystery.

I made my old favorite, M&M Cookies, but after several months on low carb diet, ICKY SWEET with a strange mouth feel.  I only made 4 dozen. You can find a recipe here.  Next time I'm going to try the browned butter recipe that Pioneer Woman makes.  Everything she cooks is great!

Then I made one of my son's favorite, Butter Meltaway, which used to be labor intensive, making little balls, baking, very tenderly rolling in powdered sugar, then again after they've cooled.  Oh Hallelujah! Mark bought me a Kitchenaid cookie shooter at Costco the other day and I decided to make them like spritz cookies, shooting out little quads, then laying them ever so gently on a sheet covered with powdered sugar, then shaking more on top. Genious!  Here's the recipe.

My niece is having a cookie exchange next weekend, so I mixed up a triple batch of white and of green colored cookie dough, thanks to Martha Stewart's spritz dough recipe, and they are sitting in the fridge waiting to meet the oven.. I'll make green cookie shooter trees and white snowmen, another cookie shooter shape.  I need to bake them Friday night to be fresh for Saturday.

Because we've been low-carbing it, and all sugar and flour tastes/feels strange, I decided to whip up a batch of peppermint meringues using Splenda instead of sugar.  The only big cheat was, I crushed a peppermint stick to sprinkle a teeny bit on top before I baked.  They taste and smell terrific! I didn't add coloring, as the white with the delicate touch of red peppermint would look nice.

Leftover egg yolks?  CUSTARD! This is in the oven, Low Carb Custard sweetened with Splenda, and instead of milk, use heavy cream.  It smells heavenly.

I still have some other plans:
My favorite thing on earth is caramel.  I have never tried to make it.
Mark asked for iced Lofthouse Cookies like Costco and the grocery stores sell.
And because peanut butter and chocolate are a wonderful combo, some Buckeye Fudge.
It isn't Christmas without pound cake to share.  I usually make sour cream pound cake, but after reading this recipe, I am sure Cream Cheese Pound Cake will be a winner.