Me, that is. Or I should say, Freakin’ Flamingo!

You know I’m making some wild and sexy jams with a South Florida / Caribbean twist down here, right? I’m playing with Florida’s seasonal best and sometimes bringing in the flavors of other parts of the country – but always with our own local flavor. And now, everyone else knows, too!

Check out the new Fall issue of our favorite publication on the local food scene, edible South Florida magazine!

Freakin’ Flamingo jam is featured in their story on brunch from your CSA box and recommended as a stocking stuffer in their edible essentials Holiday Gift Guide, too!

Want some? Order online at www.FreakinFlamingo.com (and don’t forget our Oxford Falls Boutique for some awesome salsas, vegan gluten-free worcestershire sauce, and tasty dressings and sauces!) or come see me at the South Miami Farmers Market, most Saturdays from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm!

Remember: The selection changes all the time, so stop by often and create your own memorable meals and gifts with a Flamingo flare!

Wait. How did it get to be December, already? Here I am, going about my business searching for new ways to dispose of leftover Thanksgiving turkey, and there it is on my calendar: Latke Week! Potato pancakes, that is. Chanukah came early this year, time to light colorful little candles and to commemorate the miracle of a little bottle of oil lasting eight days, by feasting on fried foods. Yum! I thought I’d kick things off with my favorite of them all: Potato Latkes.

Traditional Potato Latkes (Potato Pancakes)
(Makes about 12 4″ pancakes, depending on size)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. white potatoes
1 small onion (about 3 oz.)
1 large egg
1/3 cup matzo meal
2 tsp. kosher salt

Canola or peanut oil for frying

Preparation:

Grate the potatoes and onion together, either in a food processor or with a box grater. Drain off any water and place in a medium glass bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir by hand, using a sturdy wooden spoon.

Pour about 1/4 inch of oil into a large frying pan and heat it on high, till a couple of drops of water in the oil, pop. And I mean only a couple of drops! Otherwise, you’ll start your own Fourth of July sound effects going. Seriously.

Now, choose your size of pancake: For a larger latke, scoop up 1/4 cup of the potato mixture, and place it in the hot oil. Using your wooden spoon or a spatula, flatten out the mound to about 1/4″ thickness. If you want a smaller pancake, use 2 Tbs. of the potato mixture and flatten.

Fry each latke for about 3 minutes on each side, or until crispy and golden brown, and remove to a plate lined with paper towels. If you’re making a lot of latkes, you may have to add more oil to the pan. It shouldn’t take long for it to come back up to temperature.

Serve immediately with apple sauce, sour cream, or as we did when we were kids – a light sprinkling of sugar.

Notes:

My ninety-year old mother, bless her, still uses the fine side of a box grater to grate everything by hand. The potatoes seem to release less water that way. I gave that up years ago, though, using the shredding disc on my food processor and simply draining off the excess liquid before adding the other ingredients.

Use a glass or plastic bowl to mix the latke batter. A metal bowl will instantly make the potatoes start oxidizing and turn pink. It won’t hurt the latkes any, but they won’t be white inside. They’ll be pink. Or beige.

This recipe is easily doubled, or even tripled, if you’re cooking them up for a larger gathering. To keep the latkes hot and crispy, set your oven to 200º F, line a large baking sheet with newspaper and put one of your baking racks on top of that. After draining off each batch of latkes, put them on the rack and place the whole pan in the warm oven. They’ll keep in there for a couple of hours.

You can also make these ahead! Just cook as described, and when the cooked pancakes are completely cool, just put them in an airtight container or freezer bag(s) and chuck ‘em in the freezer. To serve, heat your oven to 350º F and lay out the latkes on a baking sheet. Heat for about 15 minutes, or until hot all the way through.

By the way, I just learned a new fact about Chanukah today, by way of an e-mail I received from Jason at BlogCatalog.com. Did you know that there are 16 accepted spellings of Hanukkah in the English language? Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Channukah, Chanukka, Hanukka, Hannuka,Hannukkah, Channuka, Xanuka, Hannukka, Channukka, and Chanuqa. There is, however, only one in Hebrew:

However you spell it, Happy Chanukah! Or Hanukkah!

Yes, I said Peanut Butter Cup Bon Bon Cookies. A little bit today and a little bit yesterday.

At the moment, we’re only going up to my in-laws’ condo about once a week, picking at cleaning things out. No, we’re not making a lot of forward progress that way, but what’s the rush? It all has to go through probate court, and with the housing market the way it is, and the construction on the exterior of the building going on, no way we’re going to be able to sell it for at least a year. *Sigh*

But going slowly has its advantages, too. Mike started gathering up their books and set aside the only cookbooks they had, for me to look at: the 1967 Joy of Cooking and the 1956 and 1974 Betty Crocker Cookbooks. Flipping through them, I kept running across newspaper clippings of lamb shanks recipes. Not sure why – I don’t think they cooked anything from scratch in over 20 years.

But, lovin’ me some old-timey cookbooks (I own several going back to 1920′s), and thinking about the 12 Weeks of Holiday (Christmas) Cookies, I then turned to the cookie (or as they wrote it, cooky) chapters, and found several that I think I will share with you over the next few weeks.

First, my version of the recipe and then my notes:

Peanut Butter Cup Bon Bon Cookies
(liberally adapted from The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, ©1956)

Yield: About 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla extract (yes, that’s one tablespoon, not a typo)
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa
1/8 tsp. salt

5 full-sized Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, cut into quarters

Nonpareils, or decor of your choice

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together till well-blended and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour, cocoa, and salt. Beat on low speed till thoroughly incorporated, and you get a good, stiff dough.

For each cookie, scoop out 1 level tablespoon of dough. Flatten it out in the palm of your hand and place one of the peanut butter cup quarters in the center. Wrap the dough around the candy and roll it lightly between your hands to form a ball. Roll the cookie ball in the nonpareils and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, spacing the cookie balls about 1 inch apart. They will spread a little.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the cookies are set, but not browned.

Notes:

The basic recipe in the cookbook did not call for cocoa powder. I added that, as I thought a chocolate cookie dough would work best with a peanut butter cup center. Alternatively, you could melt and add a one ounce square of unsweetened chocolate. But for me, why make another pan dirty? And yes, there is no egg or leavening in the recipe.

You can make them plain and use virtually anything you can think of as the center surprise. Other kinds of candy bars, drained & dried maraschino cherries, dried fruit, maybe even a whole hazelnut!

You can decorate them in so many different ways, too! There’s a recipe given for a thin icing you can dip the baked cookies into. You can even color the cookie dough and the icing with food coloring, then maybe sprinkle with colored sugars or holiday sprinkles. Or just roll the unbaked cookies in different colored sugars.

I baked these for the full 15 minutes, resulting in a crisp cookie. If you’d like a softer cookie, you might want to take them out of the oven at 12 or 13 minutes.

I loved the crispy exterior, and the peanut butter cup piece inside kind of melded with the cookie interior itself, making a soft, rich texture contrast. But what I love best about this recipe is the myriad ways you can change it up to suit your taste and the flavors of the seasons.

Go ahead – Play with your food! You’re only limited by your own imagination!

Week 8 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

I love Rugelach. A soft, but crispy, pastry rolled up with a sweet filling and sliced into 2-bite pieces, to me, they’re the ultimate holiday cookies, no matter which holiday you feel like celebrating. While they’re considered a “Jewish” cookie, rugelach are a tasty addition to any cookie platter. That’s why I’ve chosen them for this installment of the 12 Weeks of Holiday (Christmas) Cookies.

One of the best things about rugelach is that you can fill them with virtually anything you like, making them really personal to you. I’ve added some flax seed meal to the dough, as I do with many of my cake and bread doughs, to give it a bit of a healthy boost.

I’m also including a “traditional” filling here, but don’t be limited by that! I filled the cookies you see here with some of my homemade Peach Vanilla Marmalade, sprinkled with finely chopped pecans. You can spread the dough with a thin layer of your favorite jam and/or nuts of choice, or even mini chocolate chips. The only limit is your imagination!

This is also a great make-ahead cookie. They’ll keep for more than a week in a sealed container on your counter and for several months in the freezer.

Rugelach

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold & cut into small pieces
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, cold & cut into small pieces
1/3 cup sour cream

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse till the dough comes together in a crumbly mass. Divide the dough into 4 roughly equal pieces. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and press into a rectangle. Refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 2 hours and up to 2 days.

“Traditional Filling”

1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Combine all filling ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Take one of the dough packets out of the refrigerator at a time. On a well-floured surface, roll the pastry out into a 1/8″ thick rectangle (roughly 8″ x 12″, but don’t sweat it). Spread 1/4 of the filling mixture evenly across the surface of the dough, leaving about 1/2″ of clear space around the edges.

Roll the filled dough up, jelly-roll style, long-ways. Turning the roll seam-down, cut the roll into pieces about 1-1/2″ wide and place the pieces on a greased cookie sheet, also seam-side-down. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.

Refrigerate the cookies for 20 minutes before baking. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned.

Notes:

* If using a “wet” filling, such as jam, do make sure your cookies sheet is well-greased. Alternatively, you can also use non-stick foil or a silicone liner to line the pan.

* I don’t know about you, but I never get a nice even rectangle when rolling out my dough. If you don’t either, take a bench scraper or a knife and square off your rectangle to get nice, straight edges. By the time you’re done trimming, you’ll have a rectangle that’s probably smaller than the measurements above. Just put the scraps in a plastic bag and put them in the fridge. When re-chilled, the scraps can be re-rolled to make more rugelach!

* I didn’t write down a “yield” number because your results, as they say, may vary. I got 33 cookies out of my last batch.

We’ve been spending a lot of our time lately clearing out the DVR, watching or erasing a ton of stuff we’ve recorded, and I ran across a really old Melting Pot that we recorded on Cooking Channel. Hosting, were a really green Rocco DiSpirito and Cat Cora – they were so cute! Anyway, the theme of the show was citrus, and the last thing Cat made were these adorable pear-shaped orange-almond cookies, that were – get this – no bake! Okay, they spend a very small amount of time on top of the stove, but that’s it! I thought these would be just perfect for Week 2 of our Twelve Weeks of Holiday (fine, Christmas) Cookies series.

Just don’t ask me to pronounce them.

Orange-Scented Almond Cookies: Amygdalota me Orange
(adapted from a recipe by Cat Cora on Cooking Channel)

Ingredients:

3 cups blanched almonds
2-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon orange water
1/4 cup orange juice, plus more, for shaping

Preparation:

Grind the almonds in a food processor until ground fine. Add in 2 1/2 cups of sugar. Put the almond mixture into a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add in the liquids and warm until sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes a cohesive ball. Put aside to cool.

Once cool, shape tablespoon-sized portions of the mixture into 1 1/2-inch-high pear shapes, wetting your fingers with the juice. Dredge each cookie in confectioners or granulated sugar to coat.

Wrap individually in cellophane or place in a box with a lid. Let stand for at least 3 days before serving.

Notes:

If you like marzipan, you’ll love this cookie, and if it weren’t for the 3 day drying period, this would be the fastest cookie, ever. The big advantage is that you don’t have to heat up the oven at all!

The 12 Christmas Cookies series snuck up on me, this year, mainly because the group decided to start now, and – very wisely, I might add – to post one cookie a week instead of one cookie a day.

So, I’m starting off simple, with my favorite chocolate chip cookie in the world. I’ve never made another chocolate chip cookie recipe that could beat it for flavor and texture – chocolaty, chewy, and crispy. It keeps well in an airtight container or plastic storage bag, and freezes well. Although it’s not a fancy schmancy “holiday” cookie, I don’t think any cookie platter would be complete without a really good, rich chocolate chip cookie.

The “Neiman Marcus” Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe started making the rounds of the Internet (such as it was), as an urban legend, about 15 or more years ago, back when the Internet as we all knew it, consisted mostly of e-mail and dancing babies. I’m betting that most of you have never heard the story, having been way too young to remember green screens and DOS, so a quick retelling. The story goes something like this:

A man and his young daughter were eating lunch in a Neiman Marcus restaurant, and ordered their chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They loved the cookies so much, that the man asked their waitress if they could have the recipe. She replied that they could have the recipe, but it would cost them two-fifty. The man thought that $2.50 was pretty reasonable and the waitress gave them the recipe. When he received his Neiman Marcus bill sometime later, he noticed a restaurant charge for $250. Outraged, he called customer service and was told that they could not remove the charge and he was stuck with it. Now apoplectic, the man told them that as revenge, he would e-mail the recipe to all his friends and relatives and urge them to do the same. The End.

This recipe makes an enormous quantity of cookies, so feel free to halve or even quarter the amounts. I quartered it and ended up with 30 cookies. The calculator is your friend.

“Neiman Marcus” Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes approx. 112 cookies)

Ingredients:

2 cups butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups blended oatmeal *
2 tsp. soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
24 oz. chocolate chips
8 oz. milk chocolate candy bar (grated) *
3 cups chopped nuts (I made these with California Walnuts)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375º F.

Cream the butter and both sugars. On low speed, add eggs and vanilla till completely incorporated.

Add the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing till combined, then add the chocolate chips, grated milk chocolate, and nuts.

Roll into balls about the size of a ping pong ball and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for several minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely. Or not. A cold glass of milk or hot cup of coffee at this point would be awesome.

Notes:

* To make “blended oatmeal”, measure the amount of oatmeal and run through the food processor or a blender on high, till ground to a fine meal consistency.

* The “original” recipe called for an 8 oz. Hershey Bar. Now, you and I know that Hershey Bars haven’t come in an 8 oz. size in probably 10 years. Also, this time, I didn’t have any Hershey Bars, so I used some Hershey milk chocolate Kisses. In order to grate the chocolate, put it in the freezer for about an hour, then pulse it in your food processor.

Well, of course it’s too early for Christmas, so why wait to make these fabulous cookies? Make ‘em for Halloween or Chanukah, or anytime at all!

I’m making up the annual holiday treats platter for our local post office, right now. I put together a selection of treats for these hard-working souls every year, because, well, between MJ and me, we can be pretty trying. No, really. Stop laughing.

Anyway, the centerpiece of the platter is the Framboise Brownie. These brownies are rich and moist, with just a hint of raspberry. In past years, the secret ingredient was always Bonny Doon Vineyard’s Framboise raspberry wine. Indeed, I found the recipe on their website. Can you imagine? Rich, dark chocolate, paired with lush, sweet undertone of raspberry? In a brownie? Mmm….

The Framboise became more difficult to find, so I stocked up whenever I saw it. A couple of months ago, I found out that Bonny Doon stopped making Framboise. Oh, no! Whatever was I going to do?!? How was I going to make my signature holiday sweet?!? Ack! Twitter to the rescue. Seriously. One day I discovered that Bonny Doon is on Twitter. So, I “followed” them and asked, “What happened to Framboise? How am I going to make my holiday brownies, this year?” And they answered me! Probably sensed my desperation.

A few years ago, several alumni of Bonny Doon moved to Oregon and started up their own vineyard, concentrating primarily on Rieslings. They called themselves Pacific Rim Winemakers. Pacific Rim (who I wish would hook up on Twitter, hint hint!) is making my beloved Framboise. Yay! I bought six bottles, because, you know, shipping was free. Well, wouldn’t you?

By the way, the Pacific Rim Framboise is delightful on its own, but seeing as most of our bar winds up in our food, rather than in our glasses, these days (bourbon & Grand Marnier in the sweet potatoes, amaretto in the cranberry sauce, etc.), it’s not unnatural to find wine in the brownies, around here.

Framboise Brownies
(adapted with permission of Bonny Doon Vineyard)

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup Pacific Rim Framboise Wine
8 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350º F. Butter and flour an 8 inch square baking pan. Set it aside.

Melt the chocolate in a small heavy sauce pan over low heat, stirring constantly. Add the Framboise and stir well. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Beat until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and the eggs; mix thoroughly. Add flour, sugar and salt and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake just until cooked, approximately 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the pan. Cut into squares and transfer to a serving plate.

*Notes:

Rather than buttering and flouring my pan, I line the pan with non-stick aluminum foil. When it comes out of the oven, wait about 5 minutes and you can lift the entire thing out of the pan by the foil lining, and allow it to cool on a rack.

Ready for your bonus, now? Are you sure? It’s… Cookies! Are you surprised?

I’m participating in Gourmet Girl Magazine’s Virtual Holiday Cookie Crawl. For the purpose, I’ve adapted my favorite Framboise Brownies into Framboise Brownie Cookies!

For the Framboise Brownie Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Prepare cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Mix up the brownie batter, above, allow to stand for about 30 minutes, and give it another good stir, by hand. The batter will have thickened. Drop by measuring spoon teaspoonfuls about 1-1/2″ apart onto the cookie sheets (they will spread), and bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheets before removing, using a thin metal spatula.

A ballot will be posted on Gourmet Girl Magazine’s site on December 22nd, so you can vote for your favorite cookies. Of course, I hope you’ll vote for mine. ->Blush!<- I’ll let you know when the ballot goes up.

Oh, and just so you know, I have received no consideration or compensation in any form from either Bonny Doon Vineyard or Pacific Rim Winemakers. Bonny Doon gave me permission to re-post their recipe, and Pacific Rim has no clue that I’m even mentioning them. Although I’m going to tell them. Really. E-mail’s going out as we speak. As it were.

And yes, I am going to finish up The 12 Days of Cookies! Coming soon! I swear!

I’m on the home stretch, and finally getting to Day 10 of our 12 Days of Cookies project, where our little band of intrepid bakers are baking and blogging 12 cookie recipes of our individual choice from Bon Appétit’s 2008 Cookie-a-Day collection!

Hazelnut Shortbread Sticks

Preparation:

Notes:

Love this cookie! Crispy, tender, and light, and the milk chocolate with toasted chopped hazelnuts really set it off.

They’re also very quick to prepare and bake – just what the doctor ordered for that last-minute cookie emergency. And yes, there are cookie emergencies. Really.

I actually melted the chocolate in the microwave (50% power for about 90 second, stopping to stir every 15 seconds), which made for an even faster and less fussy/messy experience.

I would absolutely make these again, and so should you.

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the eleventh installment!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Yes, I’m a day behind, but I will catch up! I promise! Didn’t you enjoy yesterday’s French macarons? Twelve cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit 2008 Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection – that’s the goal and I refuse to disappoint you!

First the recipe, then my notes.

Hazelnut-Butter Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips

Preparation:

Notes:

Let’s start with my changes, which were not made out of preference, but rather because I didn’t want to go shopping. I didn’t have any hazelnut butter in the house, but I did have almond butter (which my husband bought awhile back purely out of caprice), and so I used that. I also didn’t have any mini chocolate chips, so I used regular-sized ones. In the end, we decided that these changes had no affect on the outcome.

Well, maybe the mini chips would have fit better in these little, ittty-bitty, bite-sized cookies. If you look at the cookie photo on the Bon Appétit site, they look enormous. They are not. These cookies really don’t spread much, if at all, and the one-inch spacing on the cookie sheet is more than enough.

I don’t know whether to call this a dough or a batter, but either way, once you manage to get the nut butter stirred up, this comes together really fast and easy. In fact, it probably took me twice the time to get the almond butter stirred up, than it did to put the whole recipe together!

When you’re ready to bake, you should absolutely let the dough/batter warm up for at least 30 minutes. When it chills, it gets hard as a rock. I tried to scoop some out for the first cookie after 15 minutes, and not only did I nearly bend my measuring tablespoon, I managed to fling a wad of the stuff across the room. You could put an eye out! Be patient. Or wear goggles.

I also reduced the baking time from the recommended 12 minutes to 10 minutes.

The verdict? This is a rich and tasty chocolate chip cookie. It’s got a lot of flavor, and I suspect you could use any of the smooth, natural nut butters in this recipe. It’s quick to put together and isn’t high maintenance. Of the nine cookies I’ve baked for this series so far, my husband rates this is as a top 3 contender (along with the biscotti and pecan lace cookies). I would definitely bake this cookie again. I’ll just make my husband stir the nut butter.

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the tenth (and maybe the eleventh!) installment!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Welcome to Day 8 of The 12 Days of Cookies! Again, we (no, not the royal “we” – the group) are baking 12 cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit 2008 Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection. Why, yes, we are insane. Thanks for asking.

My offering today is a fairly simple recipe, and really delicious. Oh, and if it hasn’t snowed in your area yet, we can fix that – just watch the powdered sugar fly!

First the recipe, then my notes.

Coconut Orange Snowballs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar (sifted, then measured)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon coconut extract
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake coconut on rimmed baking sheet until light golden, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

Using electric mixer, beat butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and both extracts in bowl to blend well. Beat in flour, orange peel, and salt. Stir in coconut. Cover and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Soften dough slightly before shaping.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using 1 level tablespoon dough for each cookie, roll dough between palms of hands into balls. Place on prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until golden on bottom but pale on top, about 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool 5 minutes. Place remaining 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar in bowl. Roll hot cookies in powdered sugar, covering completely. Cool cookies on rack. Roll cookies in powdered sugar again, coating generously. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.)

Notes:

Living in the tropics, I was ready for something a little lighter and more tropical, after all the cranberries, nuts, and chocolate.

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the ninth installment! (I should live so long.)

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project