I'm thinking Christmas!!! Are you?;)
The planning, the preparing, and the quietness & hush
about these precious holy-days.
One of my holiday favourite things is baking.
Scottish Shortbread is a must at Christmas!
It's such an easy, no-fuss recipe but yummy as well.
I have been making these for years!
(I'll post the recipe at the end of this post...just for you!)
Regular shortbread is another must-do at Christmas in our home.
A little more mess...but so worth it!
I love shortbread cookies....my favourite!
~
My sweet sister, Denise
gave me a scottie- dog cookie cutter a few Christmas's ago
and I adore it!
As you may know, our home is filled with 4 scottie dogs,
and so..my love for "scottie things".
She also lovingly prints me up some "scottie Christmas gift tags"
every year at Christmas for gifts.
I l o v e them!
;)
Aren't they cute?!
And then there's the Christmas decor for our home.
Love, l o v e, l o v e this part of the season!
I don't know that I eat too many gingerbread cookies
over the holidays, but I sure love d e c o r a t i n g with them!
Home-made gingerbread hearts
for the tree.
When the dough is made and formed into a heart with a cookie-cutter,
I use a straw to make a hole before baking them in the oven.
Then I can hang them later from our tree with a piece of jute.
Easy!
And then there's the bells...
I love white bells.
I bought these a few years ago,
and they look even nicer as they age.
I hang them with delicate white ribbon
that I picked up from our Fabric Store.
Then there's the mantel to dress up.
That's so fun!
Something new to create every year.
Gift-giving is one of the high-lights.
I love to give some hand-made gifts,
along with store bought ones.
These were some of last year's goodies,
but I'm in the planning stage now....
I made some progress today..
Our white tree is up out of the basement
and into the dining room!
We buy a real one before Christmas for the living room...
because I l o v e the smell of real trees!
Oops! How'd you get in there?!
;)
A stuffed Christmas bear I bought our oldest son...
years ago!
Ok as I promised...
the shortbread recipe.
Scottish Shortbread Cookies
~~~~~~~~~
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar plus *2 tbsp. sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Beat the butter until light & creamy.
Beat in the 1/2 cup of sugar.
Save the other *2 tbsp for later.
Sift the flour with the salt and baking powder.
Fold into the butter mixture.
Put the dough onto a cookie sheet
and spread it out into a rectangle,
1/2 inch in thickness, and approx 4" x 10" in size.
Mark with a knife (not straight through your dough)
into 1" x 2" bars.
Sprinkle with the remaining sugar (the *2tbsp)
and bake in the center of pre-heated oven for 15 minutes
or until the edges are lightly browned.
Cut into bars and store in airtight container.
They freeze well also.
Enjoy!
Mmmmm...good ;)
Did I mention..I l o v e Christmas?!
All my heart,
Deborah xo
