We actually did it! We made a treat every day from November 26th to December 24th. It was challenging at times, but a lot of fun! I think I'd only do it again in a kitchen with a built-in dishwasher. Our current one hooks up to the sink, so it's hard to do multiple loads in a day. Overall, I'm really glad we stuck with it! I've found some new favorites and we only had a couple duds.
These were some of my favorites. I gave barely any away because they were so good. They take some extra work to assemble all the layers, but are definitely worth it! The combination of almond flavored cakes, apricot preserves and chocolate is splendid. And, you can color the layers for whatever occasion you're making them. I saw a cute suggestion for red, white and blue for Independence Day.
These also took a little extra work, but were wonderful! They have an almond paste and pistachio filling sandwiched between shortbread cookies and dipped in a chocolate glaze. They aren't super sweet, but are very flavorful, which was nice after a month of sugar.
Now these were easy. And tasted exactly like Christmas should taste. Moist, sweet, and spiced with a hint of lemon. If fruitcake was good, this is what it would taste like.
This was the easiest thing we made the whole Advent. A few minutes in the microwave with a few basic ingredients is all that you need for these. And the payoff is big! Although this doesn't have the super creamy texture of true fudge, it was still delicious, and definitely worth the 5 minutes of work.
These Italian cookies are gluten free! Almond paste, confectioners sugar, and egg whites provide the structure instead of flour. These were fun, but definitely best enjoyed in the first couple days.
An awesome friend let me borrow her pizzelle iron! The slight flavor of anise was so different and worked really well with these crispy cookies. These were my sister's favorite of everything we made. I loved them too and definitely want to buy a pizzelle iron in the future. It would have to be after we get a bigger kitchen though.
This was also easy, but I think I cooked it a little too long since some of the oils separated. I, and another sister, still liked it, but Kyle thought it was too dark. I might try it again cooking for less time and substituting bittersweet chocolate for the unsweetened chocolate.
These were not really good at all. They were fine, but didn't have much flavor and weren't really sweet at all. Also, they took a ton of work because you have to blanch hazlenuts. It's a pain! And we bought unshelled nuts, so we had to shell them too. Does anyone know a good source for blanched hazlenuts? Or an easier way to shell and de-skin them?
This is another version of the butter cookies we made
earlier. We used normal butter for these and they weren't quite as amazing, but they were still delicious.
Sadly, I didn't get a solo picture of one of my favorites! I might just have to make them again to get a better shot. I even made them twice because I forgot to get a picture the first time. But then they were gone too quickly again! You can kind of see them hanging out behind the Amadeus cookies. They're a riff on the above recipe, but with the butter browned. And yes, this is the best plate of cookies ever. It was for my awesome friend who lent us her pizzelle iron. That's why you should lend us kitchen equipment! We'll return it clean and usually with some awesome goodies :)
You've seen this gingerbread
before, but I thought this was so cute I had to post it. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones! Just like these gingerbread people.
Previous Advent Posts:
