Santa Baby

And a little more cheer from the girls.

Caroline designed and made her own costume from spare material I had.

The microphone is part of a chair back.

Who is Santa?

One of the girls favorite things to do is put on shows for us so a few nights ago they staged a special holiday performance. They like to make up their own songs.

Here's a little holiday cheer from Katherine.

Caroline's holiday cheer will be up tomorrow.



Do your kids like to put on shows for you?

Chocolate Coconut Island Cookies|Fun Holiday Cookies

I have made these comforting, soft, and scrumptious cookies every year for the holidays for as long as I can remember.

When I was little my sisters and I would bake lots of batches and give the cookies as gifts. My mother found the recipe in Recipes from Pennsylvania, a small cookbook given to her by my grandmother many years ago. I adapted the recipe by adding more chocolate, decreasing the flour, and frosting the cookies with my own vanilla fudge frosting.

Katherine loves to help me bake, especially when it involves decorating with festive sprinkles, snowflakes and tiny gingerbread men!

The coffee flavoring gives these feel-good cookies a touch of sophistication and the subtle coconut adds an unexpected surprise in every bite. 

Ingredients

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

¼ cup strong coffee

½ cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon soda

½ salt

½ cup sour cream

½ cup shredded sweetened coconut

Directions

Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 50% power for 3 minutes or in the double boiler. Set aside to cool.

Cream the sugar with the butter. Add the egg and mix in well.

Add the cooled chocolate and the coffee to the sugar mixture and beat well. 

Sift the flour, salt and baking soda and add to the batter alternately with the sour cream.

Stir in the coconut.

Drop by teaspoonful onto parchment paper on a baking sheet. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Do not overbake!

Frosting

1 ½ cups confectioner sugar

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until frosting is ready to spread. Spread on the cooled cookies while the frosting is warm. Decorate immediately.

 Enjoy!

The recipe to print can be found here.


This recipe was previously published on The Caffeinated Globe in a guest post.

Flourless chocolate cake|A perfectly elegant holiday choice

Your search for an elegant, divine chocolate holiday dessert ends here!

This dark flourless chocolate cake is all at once light, dense, sophisticated, and absolutely delicious. A perfect ending to any holiday meal.

I pulled the recipe from The Los Angeles Times some twelve years ago and over the years I’ve made it my own with a little tweaking.

Ingredients

 8 ounces dark chocolate (I use 72% cocoa)

1 cup butter

3 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted

¼ cup strong brewed coffee

2 whole eggs

6 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions

 Cut the chocolate and the butter into pieces and place in a bowl. Melt in the microwave on medium power for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cocoa until it is smooth.

Beat 2 whole eggs, 6 egg yolks and the sugar until the mixture is pale yellow and thick. This will take 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the chocolate mixture and the coffee. Mix together slowly.

In a separate bowl beat the 6 egg whites with the cream of tartar until they hold their shape but are still moist. This will take 2 to 3 minutes.

Gently fold in ¼ of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the rest of the egg whites. Don’t worry about a few streaks of egg white in the batter.

Gently pour the batter into a 10-inch springform pan lined with buttered parchment paper.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes (some ovens may take longer). The cake is done when it is puffed, slightly cracked and no longer jiggling in the middle.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before removing it.

I like to serve mine with a dusting of powdered sugar, hand-whipped cream and raspberries. 

Enjoy!

The recipe to print can be found here.

This recipe was originally published in a guest post for The Caffeinated Globe.

Christmas Past | The first four years

Some of my favorite pictures from Christmas pasts. Come back next Wednesday for the next four years!

Caroline's first Christmas, 2002.



Holiday card picture, 2003.



Katherine's first Christmas, 2004. Sisters in their great-grandmother's dresses.



The first year cookies and milk was left for Santa, 2005.



What are some of your favorite photos from past holidays? Post and link back here!



This post is participating in wordless wednesday over at 5minutesformom.