christmas visits

Happy Holidays and a very [late] Merry Christmas to you all!  I hope the last few days have found you happiness + good health, and God as blessed you with time with family + friends!

        

Our Christmas was wonderful!  We spent our Christmas with both sides of our family, eating until we were stuffed and having a jolly good time!  Some of my favorite gifts included a new Coach purse from my in-laws, diamond earrings from the Hubs, an ice cream maker from the bro, and my new Vibram FiveFingers from the Hubs!  (I will be posting sometime about how + why I plan to incorporate barefoot running into my routine.)

And a certain someone just so happened to celebrate his 30th birthday on the 26th!  I can’t believe I’m married to a 30 year old!  CRAZY!

And for his annual “gift” for his birthday, we headed down to Matt’s “Happy Place” – Branson!  Or more specifically, Silver Dollar City…

 

We were also able to visit a fairly new distillery about 10 miles north of Branson – Copper Run Distillery.  They make small batch moonshine, whiskey, and rum.  It was delish and of course we ended up taking a bottle of whiskey home for the Hubs.

  

And of course, no trip to Branson could be complete without a stop at my absolute FAVORITE frozen custard place!

 

Yes, I know, it’s the 3rd time we’ve been this year, but it’s a definitely treat since there is not one in STL.  Plus, we went to one in Springfield instead of in Branson… so at least it was a different location, right?!

I decided to try something new that I had never seen before.  The Askinosie WooHoo Concrete.

A wonderful blend of bitter chocolate blended to pieces with Andy’s incredibly creamy vanilla custard.  And check out Askinosie Chocolate – they have a really great story.

Matt chose to get the Boomer Bear in support of local Missouri State University.  A new combination that seems a bit weird but totally worked.  Sweet + buttery + crunchy = delish!

  

Another successful Andy’s visit.  And although they are opened through the winter (GO if you have a chance), we won’t be back until SDC opens up again in the spring.

cookies of christmas past

Today I bring you a recipe from my Christmas past.  This is the one cookie I remember making every Christmas, and pretty much only at Christmas time.  It is actually my deceased grandmother’s recipe, which gives it just so much more meaning to me.  Plus, it is a super easy recipe and tastes wonderful!  Of course I couldn’t just make the original recipe… I had to “health it up” a bit.

But first, let’s talk about the cookie press before we start.  A cookie press is a device used to easily make cookies in to pretty shapes.  Sort of like a cookie cutter but 10x easier.  Your dough has to be a soft dough without a bunch of stuff in it though.  Therefore, perfect for these cookies.

There are several different types of presses.  A hand press (like mine or this one) or an electric press.  I am lucky enough to have my grandmother’s antique hand press and it still works perfectly.  My mom and I have tried newer versions and an electric, but they don’t work nearly as well.  But, that’s just my opinion and you can find one you love using for yourself.

Vegan Cream Cheese Press Cookies
Makes 6-7 dozen cookies.  Original recipe adaptation in brackets.

1 cup Earth Balance [1 cup butter or margarine]
1/3 cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese [3 oz. cream cheese]
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 2 tablespoons water [1 egg yolk]
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
[Or just 2 1/2 cups AP flour]
Cookie press

Grab all your ingredients.

Make a flax egg by adding 2 tablespoons water to 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed.  It will gel nicely after you let it sit a few minutes.  Or, you can just use 1 egg yolk.

Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add the sugar and flax egg and cream well.  Then add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

Slowly add the flour. Mix until all is incorporated until adding in the next batch.

If you want, you can add some food coloring to make the cookies a bit more festive.  I used green food coloring because I wanted to make Christmas trees.  (You will notice that mine look more like shamrocks than Christmas trees.)

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.  You don’t have to do this, but we always have in my family.

Fill cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet (OK, I greased mine).  Add sprinkles if your heart desires.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool on tray for 2-3 minutes and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

So, mine definitely don’t look like the Christmas trees I was hoping they would, but oh well.  Shape doesn’t effect the taste!  I would’ve done red and make poinsettias like we used to when I was a kid, but I was out of red food coloring.

                                     

  

These aren’t the sweetest cookies in the world, but they are still delicious.  And they make the BEST tasting cookie dough in the world.  OK, that might be an exaggeration, but my dad, brother, and I would seriously eat this by the spoonful when my mom would make them every Christmas.  Soooo goooooood!

I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!