Christmas Goodie Trays

I was a little later with the Christmas baking this year than I would have liked to have been. Part of the reason is because I agreed to join a Cookie Exchange Party, which had me creating 12 dozen (that's a gross!) cookies earlier in the month. It was fun, but I'm not sure if I want to do that again. I end up with a bunch of cookies that I feel I have to "get rid of". And I can't pawn them off as being my own. (I sent a bunch to school with both of the girls!!)

The fun of it for Emma was getting to participate this year. Darcie helped her, and she loved getting her fingers in the frosting and putting sprinkles on her cookie: We have a few traditional cookies that we (read: I) bake year after year. One of them is our gingerbread cookies -- a recipe I got from one of my mom's old cookbooks. They're called, "Pepparkakor". I prefer to roll them thick enough so they stay soft after baking. I still use the same old-style metal cookie cutters that my mom had years ago, because they're my favorites! I chose to go with gingerbread when I discovered a lot of people bake sugar cookies, and I wanted a cutout cookie that was different than what other people made. The original recipe calls for white decorator icing in simple straight or wavy lines. We've expanded that to include red and green icing and a wide variety of sprinkles, jimmies and candy accents:

Sometimes the kids go a bit "over the top" with the decorations! However, it's nice to have them old enough to be able to let them go on their own for decorating, and for the most part, they crank out some pretty cookies!

A couple of other ones that I make are, "Holiday Pineapple-Filled Spritz" (the strips on the background tray in the next photo). The pineapple is sweetened, and then tinted with food coloring to create the bright red and green. Then they're sliced on the diagonal. We love these!

The small round ones in the foreground are a recipe I found years ago called, "Tiny Holiday Tarts". (What they REALLY are is Pecan Tassies!) But the recipe I have gives options for about 5 different fillings, beyond pecan. This year, I tried putting some of my extra tinted pineapple in them, but I'm not happy with the results. Live and learn! The tiny pecan tarts are like a mouthful of pecan pie -- really yummy!

So, here's the deal. I am a Christmas Cookie Tray Snob. Don't misunderstand -- I enjoy getting goodies from other people, and never hold anyone else to the same standards I've set for myself. However. I do have my own personal guidelines for Christmas Cookie Trays that we deliver. For example:

• These are special trays. A mere paper plate isn't good enough -- or big enough! I prefer metal (or sometimes plastic) trays that have a Christmas pattern on them. I had a super-hard time finding what I needed this year, and so I made do with a plain metal tray. In the past, I've recyled pretty trays we've gotten from other people, but then we started receiving only disposable plates, so my recycled supply dwindled away.
• A VARIETY of cookies is crucial. Two or three kinds? No -- I have to do seven. Ish. Sometimes I make one kind look like more by varying them, like with the little tassies. And I stay away from everyday cookies (never chocolate chip or any form of drop cookie).
• Here's where you're going to start thinking I'm more than just a little wacked out. I want the trays to have visual interest to them. So, you remember the old wedding rhyme that goes, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue"? Well, here's the cookie tray variation: "Something dark, something light, something dull and something bright". (It actually applies VERY well to creating a color scheme for a room or an outfit to wear!!!)
  So, following that mantra, I have cookies made from dark dough -- like the gingerbread, and some chocolate fudge. And then also some made from light dough -- like the spritz, and the white chocolate fudge. For the "something dull" -- well, most cookies have a dull finish. But I do go for a bit of a change in texture, when I can. For "something bright", I like to grab a few of our foil-wrapped candies for a tray accent. Plus, people are never shy about taking a foil-wrapped chocolate, because they know exactly what they're getting.

So this next photo is an almost-done tray. Slightly off center from the middle are some slices of our glazed poppy seed bread. We love it, and the speckles from the seeds make the bread fun. Then, clockwise from the top, we start with the Tassies. The pecan on the left, and next to them are the chocolate brownie variation. At the 3 to 5 o'clock area are the 3 flavors of fudge: white chocolate, butterscotch, and regular chocolate. (If I were really good, I'd do divinity too, but my last efforts with that were unsuccessful!)

The rest, you can tell. The pineapple spritz at the bottom, and the gingerbread on the left finish out the tray. Looking at it now, I should have arranged it slightly different, but oh well. It's done, delivered and probably devoured by now!

We usually finish it off with red and/or green plastic wrap, but this year I also found some goodie tray bags that had a holiday pattern and a ribbon tie & tag. Worked like a charm!

(And if you think THIS is a bit much, you should have seen the years when I printed up a card that listed the contents of the tray with Christmas graphics & our names. Yeah -- I need professional counseling!!)