Seasonal Sundays: Let's Bake for a Cookie Swap

Stock up on butter, all, because this week's "Seasonal Seven" recipe collection is for the holiday bakers in our number, whether we've got a cookie exchange coming up or live with some bonafide cookie monsters or plan to deliver treats to a neighbor with a sweet tooth. I hope you'll find one or two destined as "keepers" in your own Christmas cookie favorites.

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

~ PIN This ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

THANK YOU for stopping in today ... and last week and next week too. "I appreciate you." I do ... and always love hearing from many of you throughout the week. Don't be a stranger! PS And if you like this week's recipes, perhaps you'll share this newsletter with a friend or social circle? If you forward this message, others may subscribe for free right here. Thank you!

It's one thing to bake a few cookies for home: there they are, splayed out on a pretty plate, still warm from the oven, glistening with love.

Then again, it's a whole different thing (and a little pressure, too?) to bake for a cookie swap or gifting to friends and family. Your own recipes or mine, here's what experience says you're looking for in cookies this time of year:

• ... not too big, nobody's got room for giant cookies this time of year
• ...a bit sturdy since delicate cookies just won't survive packaging and transport
• ... no soft frostings or jams on the top, too messy, this eliminates most jam-print cookies, also ones with icing or embellishment that will smush
• ... suggestive of the season, the flavors, the colors, the shapes: this probably isn't the time to pull our your chocolate chip cookies, as beloved as they are
• ... unless, that is, they can be adapted for the season, think rice krispie bars with colorful sprinkles or holiday M&Ms, they fly off the plate
• ... stay fresh for at least several days (my personal go-to for longevity? Family Shortbread, which not only keeps for a few weeks but improves over time!)
• ... ones that pass along an old family tradition, or a particular family favorite across generations
• ... and of course, not so fussy that you end up losing beauty sleep during such a busy time just finishing up some ol' cookies

Meet you in the kitchen? We've got cookies to bake!

PS I'm a long-time fiend for baking Christmas cookie, you'll find many of my best tips here, Holiday Baking Tips from a Certifiable Cookie-Baking Fiend. For example, have you tried rolling out sugar cookies in powdered sugar instead of flour? Such a difference!

In Praise Of ...

• ... driving north to spend a snowy Thanksgiving with our Minnesota uncle and aunt, their daughter and her husband, we think we've not been together for Thanksgiving since possibly 1978, we couldn't help singing a round of, "Over the woods and through the trees, to grandmother's house we go ..."


• ... my husband and a nephew who went "out in the woods to cut down a Christmas tree" for an outdoor backdrop to my father's almost life-size crêche, older than me and so very brittle now, a couple of years back, I found the same set for a couple of thousand bucks on E-Bay but it'd go for nuthin' at a garage sale

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THE SEASONAL SEVEN:

For this week's recipes, I aimed for recipes with holiday flavors and combinations that ...

• ... that won't break the bank (buying ingredients) or devour a weekend (baking)
• ... pack, carry and keep well
• ... easily bake in small cookies, just one or two or possibly three bites big

• THE RECIPE Big Fat Chewy Molasses Cookies Mix & bake in one hour! (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Slice 'n' Bake Coffee Cookies with Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans Big results, small effort. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Perfect M&M Cookies First grabbed, first to disappear. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Sugar Cookie Bars Bake, frost and sprinkle all at once. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Frosty Christmas Trees Gingerbread spices with a touch of chocolate, easy to handle.
• ANOTHER TAKE Fat Rascals Simple English butter cookies spiced with cinnamon and studded with small currants.

• THE RECIPE Gourmet Chocolate Mocha Cookies Deeply, darkly chocolate-y.
• ANOTHER TAKE Chocolate Ginger Crinkle Cookies Chocolate-y ginger-y cookies that take hold and grab. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE No-Chill Cutout Sugar Cookies Just mix and roll, no need to wait. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE No-Roll Christmas Sugar Cookies Quick and easy, chewy and buttery, colorful and festive. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Family Shortbread All the family tips and tricks to make simple, ethereal English shortbread.
• ANOTHER TAKE Chocolate-Almond Shortbread Cookies Almost sugar-free, great for shipping. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Cranberry Macadamia-Butter Cookies Sweet and chewy, an annual obsession. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Fresh Cranberry Drop Cookies Cookie bites bright with fresh cranberry, sweet orange and toasty pecans.

• HELPFUL HINTS Holiday Baking Tips from a Certifiable Cookie-Baking Fiend
• FOR CHILDREN A Birthday Cake for Jesus: A Story My sister's gentle way of keeping the spirit of Christmas. (PIN This)

What's Brand-Spankin' New?!

Wondering about a recipe from the last while? Check Recent Recipes from Kitchen Parade and Recent Vegetable Recipes from A Veggie Venture.

• THE RECIPE Bourbon-Apple Cider Cocktail A simple, straight-forward seasonal cocktail, just three ingredients. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Hasselback Potatoes So little effort, so much drama. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE (Sloooow) Baked Potatoes (How Long to Bake a Baked Potato) One Hour Is Just Not Enough.

Compliments!

Please know, YOU really matter here. Your comments and email (my current address is in the FAQs) encourage and inspire and motivate and some times make me laugh out loud or turn a little teary. It's a good day when I can "see" what you're cooking, "hear" how a recipe worked out, "know" what you're loving.

• LOVE HEARING THIS! "The first thing my husband said when we took it out of the oven was "Wow!". The hasselback potatoes look so impressive with such little effort. So tasty!" ~ Anonymous
• THE RECIPE Fast Roast Chicken with Hasselback Potatoes My signature recipe, just three ingredients and an hour. (PIN This)

December: Reader Favorites

• THE RECIPE Finnish Glögi (Hot Red Mulled Wine) Scandinavian-style hot red wine "mulled" with spices, fruit and for good luck, an almond. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Hibiscus Tea with Ginger & Vanilla My caffeine-free coffee substitute, served hot and cold.

• THE RECIPE Homemade Swedish Potato Sausage A picture essay of a grandmother passing along a family recipe.
• ANOTHER TAKE Potato Blintzes An old family recipe.

Post-Thanksgiving & Still Trending

• THE RECIPE How to Dry-Brine and Roast a Whole Turkey A dry-brined turkey is simple and uncomplicated and produces turkey with dark, crispy skin with moist, flavorful breast meat and dark meat. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast Plus Turkey Stock and Turkey Gravy. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Homemade Creamed Corn A simple, healthy makeover. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Fresh Creamed Corn A garden luxury. (PIN This)

December: Recipes Lookin' for a Little Love

• THE RECIPE Colored Roll-Out Sugar Cookies Pretty and easy-to-work-with roll-out sugar cookie dough. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE No-Roll Christmas Sugar Cookies Quick and easy, chewy and buttery, colorful and festive. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Healthy Red & Green Green-Bean Salad Pretty for Christmas, healthy for year-round.
• ANOTHER TAKE Christmas Cauliflower Healthy roasted cauliflower with ribbons of festive red and green.

The Kitchen Parade Almanac: Looking Ahead ...

• December 1st (today!) - Alanna's Unofficial First Day of Winter
• December 1st (today!) - First Sunday of Advent
• December 1 - 23 - PikkuJoulu (Finnish "Little Christmas")
• December 6th (Friday) - St. Nicholas' Day
• December 6th (Friday) - Finnish Independence Day
• December 13th (Friday) - Santa Lucia Day
• December 21st (Saturday) - Winter Solstice (Official First Day of Winter)
• December 23rd (Monday) - Christmas Adam (Adam & ... get it?!)
• December 24th (Tuesday) - Christmas Eve
• December 25th (Wednesday) - Christmas Day
• December 26th (Thursday) - Boxing Day
• December 26th - 31st - Kwanzaa
• December 31st (Tuesday) - New Year's Eve

• A COLLECTION OF MANY YEARS My Christmas Recipes Christmas baking, food gifts, special stuff for kids, Christmas meals and more.
• ALL THINGS SWEET Holiday Baking Cookies, bars, quick breads, cakes, candies and more.

• THE COLLECTION New Year's Recipes Bringing the year to a close in style.

Looking Back ...

THIS WEEK, YEARS PAST
• 2019 Early December Especially Cut-Out Cookies (Week 49)
• 2020 Early December Especially Post-Thanksgiving Detox (Week 49)
• 2022 Supper Soups (Week 49)
• 2023 Taking It Sloooow (Week 49) (PIN This)

RECENT WEEKS
• Simple Thanksgiving Sides (Week 48) (PIN This)
• Unexpected Thanksgiving Desserts (Week 47) (PIN This)
• Substantial Soups (Week 46) (PIN This)
• Casual Fall Suppers (Week 44) (PIN This)
• Seasonal Sundays: Fall Recipes for Cauliflower (Week 43) (PIN This)
• Pumpkin Season (Week 40) (PIN This)
• Fall Baking (Week 39) (PIN This)
• Seasonal Sundays' Five-Year Anniversary: My Signature Recipes (Week 38) (PIN This)
• Fall Meal Prep (Week 37) (PIN This)
• Late-Summer Entertaining (Week 36) (PIN This)
• Recipes That Inspire JOY (Week 35) (PIN This)

Soups & Salads Especially for December

• DECEMBER's COLLECTION Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for December, tons of ideas!
• LOOKING AHEAD Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for January, back to healthy eating

• BUT DON'T MISS THIS Easy Make-Ahead Endive & Apple Salad Welcome freshness and "crunch" when serving rich food.
• AND THIS Cabbage & White Bean Stew Spartan and spare, a welcome reset for our bodies and tastebuds.

Good to Know!

• THE RECIPE How to Make Norwegian Lefse Step-by-step video by lefse expert LeAnne Kruger.
• ANOTHER TAKE Homemade Swedish Potato Sausage A photo essay, a grandmother teaching her grandchildren the family tradition.

Silly (But Fun?!) Food Holidays

• December 1st — Eat a Red Apple Day (Cinnamon Apples)
• December 1st — National Pie Day (Pies & Tarts)
• December 3rd — National Apple Pie Day (American Apple Pie)
• December 3rd — National Green Bean Casserole Day (World's Best Green Bean Casserole, naturally)
• December 4th — National Cookie Day (cookie recipes)
• December 6th — National Gazpacho Day (How I Became a Seasonal Cook. Blame the Gazpacho.)
• December 7th (first Sat) — World Pear Day (Easy-Easy Pear Sauce)

A Quick Peek Into a Real-Life Kitchen

Just so you know, everything's not all pretty pictures around here, in the background is a pile of dirty dishes. And just like many (all?) of us, come five o'clock, I too draw a blank about what to make for supper, despite so many recipes I so dearly love. Here's a quick peek from this week.

• THIS WEEK The great news about traveling for Thanksgiving? No hosting. The bad news about traveling for Thanksgiving? No leftovers. So as soon as we got back from our Thanksgiving travels, I warmed up the yeast and the flours on the counter overnight, then mixed the dough in the morning. I had a yearning for good toast so threw in some of my Herb Blend. So good!
• THE RECIPE Easy Everyday Bread for the Stand Mixer Better bread, no kneading by hand! (PIN This)
• ADD THIS FOR EXCELLENT SANDWICHES & TOAST DIY Herb Blend for Homemade Herb Bread The twelve herbs I use for herb bread.

• THIS WEEK On a snowy Saturday, bread in the oven and soup on the stove was perfect. So good!
• THE RECIPE Hamburger Soup A hearty soup with chunks of meat and a cornucopia of bright-colored vegetables. (PIN This)

Something to Read

It seems like there are an endless number of historical novels set in WWII's European Theater but few (any?) in the Pacific Theater. Am I right? And if so, why would that be???

I honestly don't know (and can't even come up with a good theory) but reading Under the Java Moon, set in a colony of the Netherlands known as the Dutch East Indies (now the giant nation of Indonesia) where 100,000 Dutch citizens were forced into prison camps.

And this being 2024, soon to be [Project] 2025, listening to this very listenable book based on a true story, I felt a huge pit in my gut, knowing how the new president and the Republican Party have promised to arrest and force undocumented immigrants (and how many others, tbd) into internment camps.

• THE BOOK Under the Java Moon: A Novel of World War II (affiliate link) by Heather B. Moore


• NO TIME TO READ? How I Read 4X More This Year Than Last What I gave up, how I read so much, what I read.

Don't Be a Stranger ...

I'd love to hear from you. Comment, send me a quick e-mail (my current address is in the FAQs), dot-dash in Morse code, build a fire for smoke signals, launch a message in a bottle, send a Christmas letter, get the dog to yip, toss me a note wrapped in a rubberband, write a message in the sky, scratch a note in the sand, listen to a seashell, tuck a question into a plastic Easter egg, whatever.

• Any advice for Seasonal Sundays?
• Just one thing that would make it more useful for you?
• Anything else? Chime in, chat away.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. When you make my recipes, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below or better still, on the specific recipe's page.

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