christmas cookie (and gift) time!

Last weekend, I was suddenly given the gift of time.

You can probably guess what I used it for.

That's right: Christmas baking!

I made hazelnut-almond batons* and thin gingerbread almond cookies* from my favourite new cookbook, Classic German Baking. Of course, I also had to make a loaf of marzipan stollen.*

After two of those recipes called for grated lemon peel, naked lemons started colonizing my kitchen. I thought I should use them up before they multiplied, so I re-adapted my Great-Grandma McNair's lemon loaf to be gluten-free. It was fluffy and soft and buttery — I'll be posting about that soon.

After all that ... I was done. If I don't cook or bake for the next two weeks, I will be a happy camper. (Yes, that includes Christmas. Maybe we could have a cookie plate for dinner?)

If you haven't made your Christmas cookies yet, I thought you might like a round up of my favourites over the years, so here are few links. And do check out Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss — it is a lovely tome of German goodness I will treasure for years. It even has a whole section devoted to Christmas baking.

• Chocolate Ginger Cookies
• Jane's Pecan Puffs
• Nougat Marzipan Cookies
• Ottolenghi's Spice Cookies
• Shortbread
• Shortbread Peppermint Pattie Cookies
• Spiced Ginger Mounds
• Three-Layer Peppermint Bark
• Tipsy Rum Balls
• Walnut Slugs
• Cheese Ball! (If you can't survive on cookies alone)

What's that I hear? Now that I've given you cookie ideas, you're still looking for a few gift ideas? Oh, OK ...

• The Trudeaus gave these lovely scarves to the Obama daughters when they visited earlier this year.
• I finally had a chance to see this pretty jewellery in person today at a pop-up downtown. I am especially enchanted with the interesting stud earrings.
• Not exactly romantic or magical, but who wouldn't want a fat separator for making gravy and stock? I know I do.

* I adapted all these recipes to be gluten-free and they worked perfectly. Let me know if you'd like the details.

one year ago: ginger meringues
two years ago: peppermint lavender balm
three years ago: annie's sun-dried tomato dip

hitting the road ...

There hasn't been much cooking or baking in my world over the past month.

Instead, I ate many snacks of roasted hazelnuts (a tiny Tupperware container easily fits in my fancy purse) and was lucky to try tacos in Vancouver, dumplings in Toronto and burgers in Calgary.

During the day, I've been putting on a suit and going to business meetings —just call me Corporate Stephanie. During the evening, I've been catching up with my good friends who are sprinkled across Canada. All in all, a pretty great month.

Now that it's December, I'm happy to be back in Edmonton, plotting the German cookies I'll bake for my Christmas cookie plate and settling into the routine of reading Christmas cards after dinner.

But! I thought you might like to know about the restaurants I discovered, so I've updated Hop & Go Fetch It with eight new spots from my travels.

Check it out for that taco bar in Vancouver, not to mention sushi like butter and a hippie lunch spot. For Toronto, look for my new favourite neighbourhood coffee shop and a fancy, independent coffee shop in the heart of all those shiny office towers downtown.

one year ago: wish list
two years ago: shortbread peppermint pattie cookies
three years ago: annie's sun-dried tomatoes