This year I’ve been seriously
possessed by the holiday spirit, and like a Santa Claus, I’ve been all jolly,
pretty much since Thanksgiving. There’s been impromptu caroling, some serious
Christmas humming, and back-to-back-to-back sessions of “All I want for
Christmas is you”-ing. I don’t think there’s a stop to my holiday madness. Of
course, we all benefit from me being in a good mood, so maybe, and just maybe,
this is God’s gift to the world this Christmas.
Not wanting to corrupt this nice
feeling, I decided that this Christmas wouldn’t be about buying gifts. Instead,
I’ll gift simple little things, most of which I’ve made myself. I’m not a
particularly crafty guy, so I turned to consumable gifts, mostly cookies. I’m not
an experienced cookie baker, but it I didn’t care. I’m persistent and I’m not
afraid of a challenge.
Coconut macaroons
I started with coconut macaroons,
the highest taste-to-work ratio of all the treats I could think of. The besitos de coco, or (little coconut
kisses – as they are known there) can be found everywhere in Puerto Rico. Still,
most people don’t even try making these at home ; it would be good to send home
something familiar, but with all the love and specialness from the homemade
touch. I followed a recipe I found at allrecipes.com,
and boy, was I glad; they turned out delicious. I did have to add about 5 more
minutes to their recommended baking time, but they were glorious.
Raspberry and Mango thumbprint cookies
As far as I know, Thumbprints and
Mexican wedding cookies share two names back home. Yes, two names shared by the
two cookies: polvorones and mantecaditos
(dusty and lardy). I followed the recipe from the ‘90s cookbook Gifts
from the Christmas Kitchen to the T, except for two things. I did not use
cocoa, nor the chocolate. They turned out perfect! The recipe can also be found
online at allrecipes.com.
Linzer cookies
To say that I made these cookies
would be a total lie. The BF and one of our dear friends did all the hard work.
I just added the powder sugar. The recipe “we” followed is from the now defunct
Gourmet magazine, but it can be found at Epicurious.com.
“Our version” was the same, except that we added chocolate to the raspberry
filling (and they were so much better for it). The secret to these cookies is the
ground hazelnuts used in the dough. They turned out so, so good!
With nothing else to say, I wish
you all a merry, merry Christmas!
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