I’ve been thinking about this recipe since I first made it for Christmas Eve dinner.  I admit it – I’m obsessed.  But sweet potatoes take so much of the starchy heavyness out of gnocchi (though they are still quite toothsome) and the ricotta further lightens them up.  Then sage and brown butter, plus a few slivered almonds?  Elegant, and delicious.

I also loved that the gnocchi could be made several hours in advance – a lifesaver for this mutli-course meal.  (They were a first course – to follow was my mothers beef braciole, roasted beets and kale, and my Nana’s fig cakes)

This was a first attempt at pasta making for me – not as scary as I had feared. I’m still guessing at the purpose of the fork in rolling out the dumplings, but they looked about right, so I was happy.

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Apple butter was a staple at my preschool – on mini-bagels or bits of rice cake, the sweet, brown, gooey stuff was an alternative to the regular doses of peanut butter.  But I grew sick of the over-sweet grocery store variety, and when the fall gave me a big bag of farmstand mixed apples, I decided to try out making my own.

These gave me two opportunities – to use the last of the real cinnamon I bought in Israel, and to try canning for the first time.  I used both the clamp jars in the photo and more standard ball jars, and a basic water bath technique I found various places online.

They’ve been a big hit with my holiday gift recipients, and I’m still eating jars of it now – often with my favorite Cherry Glen cheeses (their Monocacy Ash is nothing short of exquisite)

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My boyfriend, a Cincinnati native, is visiting this week.  He was all amped up for the Bengals football game this afternoon, and determined to master a classic food of his home city – the Cincinnati Chili.  This particular food combines a sweet-ish beef chili with spaghetti (two-way), cheese (three-way), onions or kidney beans (four-way, five-way with both).  I’d had it before, at both Gold Star and Skyline, and was a definite convert.  But now, having had it at home, in his particular recipe, I don’t know that I can go back to the fast-food…except for for Coneys at 2 A.M.

It can’t quite erase the pain at seeing the Bengals lose and continue their 19 year streak…but it comes close.

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And my last installment!  It’s actually only 11 cookies, but frankly, I am cookied out.  So I thought I’d finish with something pretty, simple, and highly gift-able.

The peppermint crackles have crushed starlight mints in them, along with a touch of peppermint extract.  I added bits of candy canes to the top for a special flare.

It’s time for actual Christmas, and the eating of cookies.  Happy holidays, all!

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Dried mustard in a cookie?  Really?

Yes, really.

These spicy, complex little cookies are nearly perfect – a lovely crumbly texture, balance of flavors, and not too sweet.  They could easily be dressed up with a coat of icing or drizzle of chocolate, but I love them just as-is.

I’ve also fallen in love with my tiny star cookie cutter – it makes 1-inch or so cookies, that are perfect for single bite snacking.  Yum.

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Though Linzer Tarts are a little heavy on the construction, they are infinitley worth it – particularly these, where the cookie dough is filled with ground hazelnuts and cinnamon, and then the cookies ooze with wonderful blackberry flavor.  I’ll be bringing this one back for valentines day!

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Channeling the green box that the girl scouts love to tote, these little minty chocolaty cookies were a nice change.  Slice-and-bake instead of rolling out makes for slightly less even rounds, but the chocolate drizzle adds some elegance, and makes for a pretty present cookie.

Three more to go…

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Ok, so I might have promised 12 days of cookies, but did I say they would be in a row????  Zing!

Life gets in the way of baking sometimes, but I’m still having fun with these, and now my friends and coworkers have these sad puppy dog eyes when I don’t carry cookies everywhere I go.  So for my last week of baking, I’m getting back into the swing of things and trying a few more cookie recipes.

These look a lot like the last ones…mostly because I don’t have fun cookie cutters.  But they couldn’t taste more different – light and airy, citrus and ginger, with just a touch of plain glaze to set them off.  Way too easily munch-able for my waistline’s sake.

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It had to happen eventually – I missed a day.  I call excuse from the fact that I spent Sunday crossing three time zones and losing many hours in the process.  But I’m back, and at least today…there are cookies.

These ones scared me a bit – I had no idea what juniper berries were, and upon hearing that they were “piney”, I wasn’t sure the taste of wood translated into deliciousness.  But I was pleasantly surprised – the glaze does have a green, Christmas-y aroma, that goes very nicely with the gingerbread cookies.  The cookies are a perfect crispyness and nice crunch, softened just a touch by the sugar glaze.

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These are…well….delightful.  Like the best thing a chocolate chip cookie should be.  I’m a big fan of the cranberries, if you haven’t noticed, and adding the macadamia nuts adds not only some nutty flavor but also a bit of salt.  I’m also not usually a white chocolate fan, but here it works – nuggets of sweet silkiness.

These are the easiest cookies thus far – mix, fold, drop, bake.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

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