Christmas cookies

At the last minute I decided to bake my neighbors cookies for Christmas.  This year I made chocolate thumbprint cookies w/strawberry jelly, caramel pecan bars, shortbread cookies w/ chocolate centers, chocolate chip cookies, and Santa whiskers.  I surely hope my neighbors enjoyed these yummy treats, because it was extremely hard getting everything done with Guppy on my hip.

Also, here is a picture of my latest pie creation - a chocolate hazelnut tart...

I am bound and determined to gain 20 pounds (which is odd, since I really need to lose about 20 pounds).

Cookies!!!

When I was ordering Christmas presents from Amazon last week, I bought myself a little treat too. Since I earned nearly all of the Swagbucks money, I felt completely justified in giving myself an early Christmas gift...
The book arrived yesterday afternoon, and I nearly peed my pants from the excitement. Isa Chandra Moskowitz is my most favorite cookbook author. Some vegan cookbooks feel the need to make everything (even desserts) super healthy. That is great and everything, but sometimes I just want a delicious, rich, loaded with calories and fat type of dessert. And Moskowitz completely understands this. She NEVER compromises the flavor or texture of her recipes. They may not be healthy, but they sure do taste scrumptious! I am not exaggerating when I say that I love nearly every cake, cookie, and muffin recipe she has ever published.

So, needless to say, I baked a patch of cookies last night. These are called Banana Everything Cookies. They have bananas, rolled oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. And in true fashion, they were delicious...

Because I am addicted to sugar (and baking!), I am planning on making a special trip to Whole Foods for some key ingredients I am missing. Be expecting lots of new cookie posts in the near future!