Holiday Cookies

 No matter what holiday you celebrate or refrain from celebrating this time of year, it is cookie season (unless you're in the southern hemisphere, in which case you'd probably prefer to make ice cream right now).  Below are a few of the tried and true recipes i've used over the years:

Oma's Anise Cookies

4 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp anise seed (opt)
2 tbsp melted butter
3 1/2 cups flour
dash salt
1/2 tsp anise oil

Mix eggs, sugar, and butter.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into egg mix. Add anise oil.
Roll dough out onto floured surface and cut into diamonds.
Tradition stipulates that the dough should be left out overnight to form a hard cookie, but my oma says this is not preferred. I agree.
Bake at 300 for 20 minutes.

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Hello Dollies

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
14 oz sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 325.
Combine crumbs with sugar and butter and press into 9"x9" pan.
Layer chips, coconut, and pecans. Pour milk over the top.
Bake 25 minutes, cool, and cut.

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Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour

Blend butter and sugar. Mix in egg and vanilla.
Add baking powder and flour, one cup at a time until dough is stiff.
Roll out onto floured surface and cut into shapes.
Bake at 400 for 6-7 minutes.

 Most importantly, you must let the kids decorate them.  It is the best part, after all.

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If you want to be adventurous or bring something to the party no one else will, try this last recipe.  Be warned though, this makes a very delicate cookie that is aromatic and lovely while warm, but bitter and kind of weird once it cools down.  Probably better served with an herbal tea than with milk:

Honey Lavender Shortbread

2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp lavender
6 oz butter, softened
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Combine first four ingredients.
Cream butter, honey, and sugar. Add to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Spoon dough onto parchment and roll to form a log. Refrigerage 1-2 hours.
Line sheet with parchment. Cut dough into 1/2 inch slices.
Place on sheet 2" apart and bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until golden.

Rule #1: See the Good in Everything

Always find something to laugh at in a bad situation.  See something cute or clever about all the embarrassing things your children do in public (there will be plenty more where that came from).

Unsolicited Advice

We've all been in situations where well-meaning friends or relatives, or even random old women in grocery stores, felt the need to hand out pearls of wisdom in regards to parenting.  Many times, the advice is terribly outdated, or at severe odds with our own lifestyle and values. 

The internet is full of tips on matching these unwanted encounters with either vitriol or gracious acceptance, and everything in-between.  There are message board threads and blog entries full of horror stories and snappy comebacks. 

But what about our own tried-and-true methods?  How often do we find ourselves tempted to stand over a new mother's shoulder in a department store, and suggest she try holding her fussy baby 'just so,' only to have a sudden flashback to a time when we were new to the game and would have bitten the hand of anyone who had dared something like that with us?

So my goal is simple: to compile and share anecdotes, links, resources, and life experiences for anyone that does want some advice.  It will be here, safely tucked away (and hopefully easy to reference) for future use.  And it will serve a dual purpose as an outlet for my own *ahem* pedagogy.