Having a Plan for Christmas Cooking and Baking Is a Handy Tool

The festive season is sneaking up on us. It’s kind of like anticipating a storm rolling in. As the trees begin to dance and the rain starts to pitter-patter on the window panes, you wonder if it’s going to be exciting or stressful...and how much mess will it leave behind?
 
The holiday season – with all of its built-in traditions to create consistency – can either be fun, or it could go sideways as fast as a flash flood.
 
For instance, my oven suddenly broke down in the middle of cooking a turkey dinner one Christmas evening while I was feeding 16 family members. I wrote about it in the article on Planning for Christmas Dinner Success. While it certainly was memorable, I hope it never happens to you!
 
However, having a plan (and possibly a back-up plan) is a handy tool, especially if unexpected incidents happen and throw you off course.
 
Have you started to plan for Christmas cooking and baking? Are you thinking about it yet? What will you be baking?
 
My mother used to make a delicious, dark, Christmas fruitcake laced with rum every year, and I loved it…so much so that I asked her to make it for my wedding cake, which she did, twice. No, I didn’t have two weddings. But the first cake she made was devoured by our mischievous brown curly-haired spaniel, the resident food thief. Our pup thought the cake, maturing in its rum-base state on the kitchen counter, was fair game. She ate it all!   
 
To be honest, I’ve never tried making fruitcake because the bakery close to our neighbourhood makes one just like mom’s. And since I’m the only one who likes it in our house, I just buy one for myself and eat it all (shhh…that’s our little secret!)
 
In the spirit of the approaching festive season and planning ahead, I started to search for Christmas cookie recipes to share with you. I’ve got three in this newsletter: a raspberry thumbprint cookie, a ginger spice sugar cookie, and a chewy coconut maroon cookie. I hope you’ll try one. If you have to just pick one, our family favourite is the thumbprint cookie…just sayin’.

Enjoy! Happy baking, and I hope the rolling-in holiday season is rollicking good fun.