My “Christmas Baking Extravaganza” is this Saturday.  You’ll hear all about this wonderful tradition, complete with photos and recipes, in my next post.  In the meantime, I’ve been busy baking these:

Nutella Sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 1 and 2/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup blanched almonds
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 1 tbsp. milk
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • Nutella hazelnut spread

Instructions

  1. In  a food processor, blend sugar and almonds until almonds are very fine.  Cut the butter into medium-sized chunks and add with the motor running.  Process until smoth and creamy.  Add the extracts and milk, and process until blended, scraping sides of bowl.  Remove the cover and add the flour, sprinkling the salt on top.  Pulse in the flour just until the dough starts to clump together.  Scrape dough into bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Working with 1/4 of the dough, knead until slightly softened and roll it on a floured cloth to 1/8" thickness.  Cut cookies and transfer with metal spatula to cookie sheets, placing cookies 1" apart.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, watching closely, until cookies just begin to turn golden.  Spread a thin layer of Nutella on bottom of solid cooled cookies.  Top with cookie with hole in the middle.  Sprinkle decorations in center hole.

And these!

Molasses Sugar Cookies:

This recipe came from one of my favorite websites, allrecipes.com.  This site has endless recipes, and the star-ratings and reviews are incredibly helpful.  I love reading the comments and suggestions of folks who have tried the recipes I’m interested in.  These cookies are easy to make, have a high yield, and are really delicious!

There are still many cookies to bake on Saturday.  Some old recipes, tried-and-true, and some new ones too.  Can’t wait to share!

“A”