Spicy Mexican Chocolate Cookies

After posting photos of my all-time favourite Christmas cookies on Instagram yesterday, many people expressed an interest in the recipe (there are MANY if you Google the title of this post). However, here's the one I've been using for 25 years:

MEXICAN CHRISTMAS COOKIES

preheat oven to 350F. Makes 6 dozen 

6 oz unsweetened chocolate

Melt the chocolate gently over a double-boiler. Set aside to cool a bit.

2 C + 2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (don't be tempted to use more!)

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Blend above dry ingredients in a medium bowl

1 3/4 C sugar

1/2 C. unsalted butter at room temperature

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

Cream the sugar and butter together in mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the eggs one at a time with vanilla. Slowly stir in the melted, partially cooled chocolate.

Mix in the dry ingredients just until blended. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Form 1" balls of dough, roll in icing sugar and place 2" apart on parchment-lined sheets. Gently press a raw almond into the top of each cookie, just so that it stays (don't flatten the ball). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will appear raw-ish in the middle.  Gently push down the almonds a bit more. Allow to cool.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

My kind of air freshener!

Baking. That's the only thing I want to smell in my house. Not some chemical Tahitian sunset coming from a plugged in plastic seashell. Today my home has the lingering scent of Mexican Christmas Crackles. This is my go-to holiday cookie. When it comes to the holidays, nothing says Christmas to me like the smell of these chocolatey-cinnamony-clovey-cayenney cookies.

Mexican Christmas Crackles

6 oz unsweetened chocolate (I used Trader Joe's discs), melted over double boiler

1/2 C. room temperature unsalted butter creamed with 1 + 3/4C sugar

add in 3 eggs one at a time

add 1 tsp vanilla

gradually stir in chocolate

Sift together:

2 C + 2 TBsp flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp cloves

slowly combine dry with wet and stir until blended. Chill in fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Form tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball and roll in sifted icing sugar. Place onto sheet 2 inches apart. Press a whole almond or 1/2 cherry into the top of each ball.

Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on sheet 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

I made three batches yesterday. That's 18 dozen. I only needed 11 dozen for my cookie exchange last night. Mmmmmm, more for me! Well, not too many. When the kids were young, they called these "the spicy cookies" and avoided them like brussel sprouts. Sadly, when they got home from school they both devoured several. Apparently their palates have matured!

What smell says Christmas to you?

Look What Michelemademe

Awwwwww. Is this not the sweetest pinnie?

Thank you Michele for this super-fabulous-one-of-a-kind-upcycled-denim-sunshiney-pin-cushion. I absolutely LOVE it! You also get a prize for world's tiniest, most adorable handwriting. You caught me just in time, by next week I might not have been able to read it the way things are going with my close-range vision!

Check out Michele's blog. She's on a roll lately with all things tiny and inspiring. That girl is gonna put me in progressive lenses any day now.

Tomorrow is a retreat day for the VMQG gals and a few other friends who will join us. The day before retreats, I am a multi-tasking fiend. So far I've made (since waking up this morning): spinach lasagne, turkey shepherd's pie, fresh salsa, two salad dressings, Southwest quinoa salad, garlic bread and a delicious latte (for immediate consumption - everything else is for tomorrow). Yesterday was baking day: orange Nanaimo bars (we're close enough to Hallowe'en for those), brownies and butterscotch oat cookies (recipe here, thanks e they are divine!).

No one is going hungry on my watch.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. The autumn sun is shining!!

Candy Cottage

Last Saturday we had our special friends visit from out of town for dinner. This family is a pleasure to spend time with for many reasons; the Mom and I have TONS in common (we quilt, bake, travel, read & value friendship, family and learning), the Dads both love beer, coffee and technology, and their 2 kids get along swimmingly with our 2 kids. We hang out, laugh, play games and relax together. It's never work.

In addition to their fun visit, they brought us a very sweet gift. Take note: if you want to make a busy mom happy, then bring her the gift of time that looks like the pieces of a gingerbread house wrapped up in wax paper accompanied by a Christmas take-out box filled with candy. Isn't that just a brilliant idea? Man, that gift made me HAPPY! D and I had talked about making our annual gingerbread house several times, but to be honest, after baking for my cookie exchange and a few other recent events, my baking mojo had seriously worn off and I just couldn't face it.

Yesterday was the first official day of kid Christmas holidays. We put our gift to good use and this is what we made.

It's as cozy as our real life cottage! Thanks L3. You're the best.

Tomorrow D and I are going to another friend's house where I'll be teaching 3 girls how to make meringue mushrooms and buche de noel! Woohoo - baking mojo is back!

Cake Walk

There was a fundraising event at D's elementary school today ~ Christmas in Whoville ~ that included a cake walk, photos with the Grinch in his sled, costume contest, surprise jar wheel, beanbag toss, 50/50 draw, popcorn & candy floss, carol singing and crafts. The volunteer parents really got into it and there were great costumes. D rocked her purple wig!

I made two cakes for the ever-popular cake walk. Man, what kids will endure for a free cake!

I just didn't have the energy to create a Whoville cake, so went with a peppermint candy design instead. I traced my 8" cake pan onto paper and drew out the swirly design. Then I cut a template out of a plastic page-protector sleeve (the kind you put in a 3-ring binder) with an x-acto knife and laid it on top of the iced cake. Sprinkled red sugar over the cut out part and then carefully peeled back the template (some icing repair was required in places). There was red sugar all over the kitchen, but it swept up well!

I was tempted to flavour the butter cream icing with peppermint extract, but was advised that "kids think that's gross", so just went with vanilla.

If you're into making a low-cal version peppermint ornament, check out pinksuedeshoe's post!

Full Frontal!

Now that it has reached it's destination, I give you sherbet coins (sorry....were you hoping for Daniel Craig?).

My little chinese coin selvage mini made it all the way to remote Western Australia in just a couple of weeks! Helen wrote a very sweet blogpost about it. I'd say we both came away blessed by this little swap. The gorgeous quilt she sent me was very well received at my guild show'n tell last week - they loved Helen's swirly free-motion quilting and beautiful fabric choices.

I have several little swap projects to focus on now that retreats and other commitments are done. November was certainly a busy month for me. I am looking forward to a week of re-grouping and then...........Christmas!!

By the way, I have my new holiday cookie recipe all dialed in. Christina did this guest post last week just in time for me to try her Lemon Ricotta cookies for retreat. They were a big hit and my kids love' em, too (fyi, I didn't have lemon extract, or Meyer lemons but it made no difference to our enjoyment of these cookies! I didn't decorate with pretty silver balls either, but Lucy's little boy did. You've gotta go see his handiwork!).

Happy holiday preps to you!

75th Post Giveaway Winner!

Mornin' !

After a fun dinner with neighbours last night we came home and I remembered the draw! B helped me by drawing the winner from my list of Followers on the sidebar....

Betcha can't read that, can you? It's KIM of SKEENA DESIGNS! Congratulations Kim! I would love to send you the needle wallet and a couple of other wee treats, but I'll need your mailing address (please use my email address over there in my profile on the sidebar).

There just might be a large, furry someone with buck teeth and floppy ears hopping around tomorrow, dropping chocolate eggs here and there. We got things started yesterday by making these delicious Easter nests (SO easy, just squish the rice krispie treats into a buttered muffin tin and pop in 3 little eggs!).

Last Easter I made these, but now I can't remember where I put them for the rest of the year! Oh dear.

I used a tutorial by Kim at RetroMama to sew the eggs from scraps. Sew cute!

Hoppy Easter, all!

Red Velvet

I'm off to grab the kids at school to stake out some sidewalk before the Olympic torch relay gets here. These are for the 'post-torch' party our neighbours are hosting. I made them using this recipe (but skipped the buckets of red food colouring in favour of about 1/4 tsp. of Wilton cake-decorating gel colour).

How handy that Canada's colours jive with Valentines Day!

Holiday mornings...

are simply the best. Or perhaps, the best are simple.

Jammies 'till noon.

Maple-glazed cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven.

Doggie naps on the couch.

Holiday mags to flip through.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Ahhhh, Christmas. And just to be clear, it is almost 2:30 in the afternoon. Still fully jammied.

BTW, check out the cover of Quilting Arts. Barbara McKie is so talented! The baby sea lions she has rendered in cloth and thread are incredibly lifelike. I just love their little ears. The texture she's achieved in their coats with disperse-dyed polyester prints and threadwork is amazing.

Dismembered Digits

How's that for a post title? Before you start imagining hideous rotary cutting accidents, spurting blood and ruined fabric (let's face it, that's the biggest worry, isn't it?), let me remind you that Hallowe'en is only NINE sleeps away!! Costume supplies are gathering slowly around here. I'm sure there will be some late nights next week because this week I am busy preparing for Quilt By the Bay (otherwise known as QBTB) coming up on Saturday.

In order to support my habit/addiction/not-so-secret-obsession (the EXACT same one all of you have, I'm sure), four years ago I decided to start a small business offering one-day quilting retreats. For 13 hours on a Saturday, 25 women gather to sew, laugh, share and EAT. Emphasis on laughing and eating. We do this 5 or 6 times a year. I love it, although the days leading up are busy for me, shopping, cooking & baking. It's great when QBTB falls near a holiday, because we all know that holidays = fun cookies. Thus:

We make these every year...they are great for freaking out friends at school. If you'd like to make your own, here's what you'll need to mix up in your cauldron.

BLOODY WITCH FINGER COOKIES
1 Cup (250 g) room temperature unsalted butter
1 Cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp (5 mL) almond extract
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
2 3/4 Cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
green food colouring (I use cake decorating gel)
3/4 C blanched almonds
small tube red gel icing

In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and extracts. Beat in flour, baking powder and salt. Add green food colouring until your dough becomes suitably witchy. Refrigerate dough for 30 mins. or overnight.

Pre-heat oven to 325F. Using about a heaping tablespoon of dough at a time, roll between your hands to get a finger shape. Squeeze in two places to form a middle knuckle. Press an almond in one end. Score the middle knuckle with a knife to make wrinkles (I forgot to do this part in the above photo). Place cookies on a sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill the sheet with raw cookies for 15 mins in the fridge, then bake for 20-22 minutes until the bottom is just starting to brown.

Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes. Pull up the almonds, squeeze some red gel icing in the dent left by the almond, then replace the almond so the icing oozes out around the 'cuticles'.

Leave a bunch on the counter and listen to the comments: Euwwwwww! Gross!!!! Yummy!!!

I'll be back in a few days with some photos from QBTB. I can't wait to see what everyone is going to work on!

Squashy delight

Happy birthday B!!! It's very exciting. Not only is it another amazing day weather-wise (clear, crisp, sunshiney), but it will be the first day of fall pumpkin baking for me. I absolutely love pumpkin in all forms: carved into a Hallowe'en jack-o-lantern, pureed in soup, baked into a pie/cake/muffins/cookies, stirred into creamy risotto. I'm not that picky, really. Just give me pumpkin!! I've got several already lining the front steps of the house, ready for the kids to carve in a couple of weeks' time.

But for now, I'm off to bake one of these for B to have after our restaurant dinner tonight. I'm sure he'll share.



This cake is devine. It is a Martha recipe "Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Icing". Yum, yum, triple yum. I found it one day while googling pumpkin recipes and have made it several times with great success.

And speaking of birthdays, just look at the grin on Miss Fiona when she opened her Eiffel Tower pillow cover!

I'd say she loved it (and I'm so pleased - it's most excellent when someone loves your work as much as you do, isn't it?). That's why I gift it away.....to good, kind, appreciative homes, that is.

Happy Thanksgiving (if you're north of the 49th parallel) this weekend. We've received a lovely invite to spend the holiday with friends on Vancouver Island. I'll be back next week with a reveal of my mystery fabrics. They are almost as delicious as Pumpkin Cake with Burnt Butter Icing!!