Yes, Virginia is a Santa Claus there.

[mrissa]

Virginia brought me a crocheted hyperbolic plane for Christmas. It is so cool.

For those of you who went for the gusto in the poll about items made by my mom and me today, counting cookies, candy, and bread, we did twelve. I thought we were going to wind up with a final count of eleven, which was no one's answer, but then timprov pointed out that the cornbread that went with dinner was bread made by my mom and me today and therefore counted towards the total. So. Twelve. I didn't really think we'd do that. I'd like to thank the Academy, and my agent, and...wait, I don't have an agent. Possibly I would if I put in my cover letter that they would get this kind of goodies at Christmas. Anyway, as timprov reported, twelve:

Cornbread, which only sort of counts
Huckleberry shortbread
Strawberry shortbread
Chocolate-dipped candied orange peel
Chocolate-dipped dried apricots
Peanut butter ribbon fudge
Peanut blossoms (those peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss in the middle, in both milk and dark chocolate, but the dough was the same so it didn't count as two)
Walnut buttercrunch
Brun brods
Pistachio meringues
Rum balls
and today's on-the-spot spur-of-the-moment what-deeds-of-derring-do-will-they-dare-to-do-next creation, Lemon oatmeal cookies.

My usefulness went precipitously downhill all day, until at the end my functions were: 1) say entertaining things to Mom while she did the icing swirls, and 2) blink blearily in weary dizziness. Had an awesome time anyway. We are mighty. We are fierce. And our lemon oatmeal cookies totally rule.

Now I fall over on something soft.

Comments

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

You are indeed mighty. I'm impressed. :)

[moiread]

I never had a doubt. Ha.

Everything on your list sounds delicious and I am deeply envious that your household will be munching such a variety of delectables. Go you!

[brooksmoses]

Wait, lemon oatmeal cookies?

I had not previously realized that my life was incomplete in this particular way. Want! Recipe?

And hooray indeed for mighty fierce cookie-making.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

1. Take this recipe (http://www.marissalingen.com/oatmeal.html).

2. Substitute lemon extract in for the vanilla extract. Do not use artificial lemon extract, but you weren't supposed to be using artificial vanilla, either.

3. Instead of rolling out the cookies and cutting them into shapes, roll them into balls and roll the balls in sugar.

4. Bake at 350, 10-12 minutes.

5. Stir together some powdered sugar, butter, milk, lemon extract, and (if you care) food coloring to make an icing. Stick it in a baggie and cut the tip off. Pipe squiggles of lemon icing onto cookies.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

You really are mighty. Wow.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Twelve! That's it, I'm going for one sigma higher in future speculative M'ris banking investments. I have clearly been thinking too conservatively for the curve.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, so was I: I never would have set the scale at 2-12 if I had thought we'd get to 12.

I knew we wouldn't get to 2, though; 4 was my "I cut my hand off with the shooting star cookie cutter and we only had time to make one more thing before the ambulance came" number.

[genevra.livejournal.com]

It really must be only my family who calls Peanut Blossoms "Tit Cookies". It's hard for me to remember that they have any other name, in fact.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Aheh. Yah, I think that's idiosyncratic, probably.

markgritter calls them volcanoes, but we have other cookies we call volcanoes on my side of the family, so that gets a little confusing.

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I want the rum ball recipe even if it is super-boozy, apparently the low-booze option is a fantasy that doesn't (perhaps MUST NOT) exist.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to get out of the habit of declaring every single thing I make the "easiest thing in the world," but this really is.

18 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c. rum

Melt the chocolate and milk over low heat, stirring slowly until smooth. Stir in rum. Allow to chill until the consistency is nice and workable. Roll into balls. Roll balls in finely chopped nuts of choice or cocoa powder or (if you must) powdered sugar or flaked coconut. (I hate coconut. But you can.)

[prettymuchpeggy.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your cooking macha-ness!

Brun brods - please elaborate as I have not have the pleasure of being introduced.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Brun brod (http://www.marissalingen.com/brunbrod.html), meet Peggy. Peggy, brun brod.

I hope the two of you will be very happy together.

[prettymuchpeggy.livejournal.com]

Thank you, oh mighty and awesome one.

Yum - a combination of sugar and spice cookies. Is oleo the best oil medium or will butter work as well?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Should work fine with butter. They're a really lovely thing to have in the afternoon with a cup of tea or hot cocoa: small but intensely pleasant.

[ungemmed]

Delurking, hopefully uncreepily, to say that they definitely work fine with butter, judging from the compliments I always get on them.

(I was linked to your journal from matociquala at some point, and have lurked occasionally since, mostly for recipes. You do wonderful recipes & I thank you for them.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Glad you've enjoyed them!