"What do the two of you do with all those cookies?"

 

Inquiring minds seem to ask this question every year.  Yes, that is a wooden glider on our screened front porch, stacked with many cookie containers and a couple of fudge tins!  We live where it gets very cold in December, so this is a workable way of storing cookies for the season.

My hubby started working on Christmas baking in November.  By November 25, he had already made three batches of Heavenly Delight fudge, along with double batches of Secret Spice Cookies, Chocolate Spritz, and Chocolate Mint Crisps, and a large batch of Whipped Shortbread.  By Christmas he had made Lemon Shortbread Thumbprints, Macaroon Kisses, Peanut Blossoms, Lemon Spritz, Christmas Tree Spritz, Eggnog Logs, Sacher Torte Cookies, and Gingerbread Men.  I had made Chocolate Nutters, Christmas No-Bakes, Chocolate Orange Cookies, and possibly another kind.  I forget.  Most of his varieties were double batches.  There were several kinds I had hoped to make that there just wasn't time for.

Hence the question: What do the two of you do with all those cookies?

Well, we do share a lot of them with other people.  Some wing their way to family in Nevada.  Several people on our list get a special, personal plate of their very favorite cookies.    Like the plate below of lemon shortbread thumbprints.

We give cookie plates to several of our neighbors.  (The plates below are examples from previous years.)  If we hear that a friend or family member is stopping by, we prepare a cookie plate for them to take home.  And Mr. T has been taking a cookie tray whenever he goes to his volunteer job at The Wilds of New England.  I took a plate to the staff at my dentist's office.

We take a cookie and fudge tray to Christmas dinner, where it is often all the dessert that's needed.  Below you see a partially depleted tray.

And below you see how it might have looked before anyone had dessert.  This was last year.  Just have to brag on Julia, who made those amazing caramel thumbprints, which taste even better than they look.

And she made them again this year, but this photo is from 2021.

We also served a cookie tray when our two older granddaughters came on Tuesday for their Christmas with us.  Christmas No-Bakes are one of their favorites.  Below is an older version.  This year's were simply drizzled with white chocolate, but I didn't get a picture.  Truth to tell, I'd forgotten about the marshmallow variation.

And of course, when we are invited to a Christmas party or there's an event at church or elsewhere, a cookie and fudge tray comes along with us.  There have been several such events this year.  Below you see a cookie tray and then a cookie and fudge plate, both ready to head out the door for Mr. T's work Christmas party.

And that is what the two of us do with all those cookies!