A week of Christmas Cooking.

I'm in the holiday cooking spirit. This is going to be a week of cooking. Last evening, I happened to be going through a couple of December magazines that have been on my coffee table for a week or so. Just looking at all the festive recipes has got me in a cooking mood.

This morning I tried these Coffee Sugar nuts out of the Canadian Living magazine. I like anything that is coffee flavored. These are sweet and addictive. Next time I would add a bit more coffee. The recipe calls for instant espresso, and since I didn't have any, I used instant coffee. They are still yummy.


I also made these ginger sugar cookies from the Better Homes and Garden website. I loved the picture in the magazine and I did happen to have some big sugar on hand. The recipe is called Giant Ginger cookies, but I used my standard 1/8 cup scoop and made regular size cookies. I made half the recipe and it made 45 cookies. That's lots for us to both freeze and keep in the cookie jar this week.


On Wednesday afternoon, the triplets will come over for our annual gingerbread cookie decorating. I'll be making and chilling the cookie dough Wednesday morning. I bought really nice Wilton snowflake cookie cutters to add to my collection. So in the afternoon, the kids will roll out the dough, cut out their cookies, then decorate them. Watch for those pictures. I promise they will be fun.

Thursday, we are having friends over for a supper party. Hubby and I have the menu made and we are looking forward to have a fun evening with friends.




EDIT: Here is the recipe for the Canadian Living Coffee Nuts from the January 2010 issue.

Coffee Sugar and Spice Nuts

1 egg white
1 tbsp water
3 cups unsalted nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp each of cinnamon and instant espresso powder
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of nutmeg

In a bowl, using a for, beat egg white with water. Add nuts stirring to coat.
Combine sugar, spices and salt. sprinkle over egg white mixture and stir. Spread on greased baking sheet
Bake in 275 degrees oven until nuts are toasted, about 1 hour. Break up clumps. Let cool completely on pan.