Monday, December 28, 2009

18 Christmas packages in 3 days: Santa's workshop explodes

Mark and I decided to make packages of baked goods for friends and family this year, in our first holiday project together. Baking gifts for people instead of buying them directly seemed to be fitting this year, and we jumped in with what you might call calculated abandon.

In about three days (not counting Mark spending hours making the fruitcakes and gingerbread dough), we made the following:

(no pics)
Fruitcake (Mark's family recipe - it's delicious! And he decorated the tops with slivered almonds and cherries. I wish we had a picture!)

Key lime fudge

Homemade thin mints

Chocolate peanut butter bars (my beloved gramma's beloved recipe)

Nut tassies (another of my beloved gramma's beloved recipes)

Chocolate chip cookie cupcakes

Rugelach




















Cake truffles (chocolate cake with white chocolate peppermint cream cheese frosting and peppermint candy cane sprinkles)















Toll house cookies with dark chocolate and mint
















Oatmeal cookies with white chocolate and cranberries




















Triple chocolate espresso cookies
(which I consider my special cookie, since Mark brought me a batch on our third date)















Gingerbread cookies with royal icing

I made a gift tag cookie for everyone who received a package, as well as other shapes. I was really proud of how festive they looked.








































































I packaged each type of cookie separately and then worked some kind of Christmas magic to get them all in their boxes. 16 boxes and 2 trays total.
















I made tags with the contents of each box to attach with ribbon. And tada! Hours and hours and pounds of flour, sugar, and butter later, Christmas gifts made with love and sugar. :) What could be better?






2 comments:

Unknown said...

A few things- first of all, Anthony's grandparents were thrilled with the fruitcake! Next, I can take a picture of one before they are all gone if you want one. :)
Next, the baked goods have made very good snacks for the long drive to Mass!
Anthony notes that they are filled with deliciousness. :-D

Unknown said...

These look totally awesome! Well done, my friend! I think people would pay a lot of money for something like that! (Is there a business venture in your future?)

;-)

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!