Christmas Cookies 2020

Happy Holidays!

Although this holiday season has been very different, I was still happy to be able to share our Christmas cookies with family and friends. The assortment included our usual favorites, listed below. I added a Christmas version of our special linzer cookies, a vanilla bean version of my husband’s favorite- spritz cookies, and a new speculoos cookie.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2021!

Cookies Clockwise from Top:

• Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps (2x recipe)
• German Lebkuchen (2x recipe)
• Lemon Butter Cookies (2x recipe)
• Haystacks (2x recipe)
• Belgian Spice Cookies (Speculoos) (2x recipe)
• Raspberry Meringue Kisses (2x recipe)
• Vanilla Bean Spritz Cookies (2x recipe)
• Hazelnut Linzer Cookies (2x recipe)
• Pecan Shortbread Cookies (4x recipe- 2 batches of 2x recipe)

Thanksgiving Menu 2020

Happy belated Thanksgiving and Happy Holiday Season to everyone! We definitely missed our extended family at Thanksgiving this year but our quiet feast was still lovely.

I love to post my Thanksgiving Menu to help me plan in the future. Hopefully some of my menu choices are helpful to others too. I will link the new menu items to posts as soon as I am able.

I decreased the proportions for our small scale feast but we still made quite a variety of dishes in order to accommodate everyone’s favorites. My kids actively participated in the cooking process throughout the day which was the absolute highlight for me. 🙂

We tried a new gravy this year- this change would have been met with great objection from our extended family. 😉 It incorporated roasted poblano chilies, a favorite flavor in our house. We also enjoyed a new festive cocktail which was so fabulous I plan to incorporate it into the menu next year.

Breakfast:

• Fresh honeydew, pineapple, grapes & cantaloupe
• Crumb Cake
• Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts & Raisins (Bundt loaf)

Lunch:

• Classic Split Pea Soup
• Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup
• Skillet Cornbread with salted butter

Festive Cocktail:

• Vanilla Pear Sour

Dinner:

• Herb-Roasted Turkey (upside-down)
• Buttermilk-Poblano Gravy
• Cornbread Dressing with Bacon & Sage
• Cranberry Relish with Apple Cider
• Herb-Scented Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet Potato Spoon Bread
• Slow-Roasted Carrots with Browned-Butter Vinaigrette
• Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpeas with Mustard Vinaigrette
• Pumpkin Pie Bars with optional whipped cream
• Brown-Butter & Vanilla Bean Apple Pie with optional whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Leftover Dishes:

• Turkey Stock
• Sweet Potato Biscuits

Yes! My cat, Franklin “the Fluff,” has an Instagram page. ❤