Yeah, I know (Christmas Sweet Edition).

Surprised to see me so soon? Me too.

If you know me you know I like to eat. This is one of my favorite times of the year for that activity, because there are lots of Christmas goodies that I really enjoy. One thing is cookies. I don't normally make or eat many cookies during the year, but all bets are off during December. I usually spend a few days and make a variety of 10-15 kinds of cookies, then I distribute them to our jobs and families. After a healthy distribution to myself, of course. One of my favorite specifically Christmas cookies is pfefferneusse, which I used to eat a lot as a kid, then lost touch with for many years. A few years back I discovered that Archway made them every year, and I also found their Fruit Cake cookies (now discontinued), Mexican Wedding Cake cookies, and Cashew Nougats. They are a little expensive, and they don't usually last too long in our house, but this year I thought that I should put a limit on how many of them I eat (Sarah bought me 12 boxes of pfefferneusse last year, because they can be hard to find). I have tried making the pfefferneusse myself on a few occasions, but they never come out right. The Archway cookies have raisin paste in them, which is probably why Mine don't taste right. I have to google raisin paste, maybe I can make it myself.

Another thing I like is stollen, which is a German Christmas bread that has nuts and fruit in it. It can just have raisins, but it can also have the yucky fruit that's in fruitcake that no one likes (I love fruitcake too, but I make my own in early September and pour bourbon on it every week until Christmas or until I break down). I made a stollen at home last year that was awesome, but it didn't translate well at work. I bought one at a German bakery last year as well, and it was good, but not worth the 16 bucks (mine is 5 bucks, albeit a bit smaller). I did find out recently that the German bakery uses a base for the stollen, which made me kind of sad.

Anyway, at one of our local supermarkets, they get the Archway cookies and 3 different kinds of stollen in every year at this time. I usually get the marzipan one, it has a almond paste core running through the bread. I went to this market yesterday, and they had the Archway cookies and the stollen, but this year they also had a competitor for Archway (I forget the brand), and the cookies were cheaper. I picked up a stollen and a box of the competitor's cashew nougats. The competitor didn't have pfefferneusse, but they did have bells and stars sugar cookies, which Archway doesn't make anymore.

I managed to wait until I got home to try the cookies. I ate two of them and that was it for me. There was an overpowering butter flavor taste to them that I didn't like, so I gave them to Sarah to take to work with her. I don't know if the Archway cashew nougats taste like that, it's been awhile since I've had theirs, but I won't try them now. Especially since I tried their two new flavors, Candy Cane and Snow Top. Candy Cane is a white sugar cookie with candy cane bits in it, which I did like, but I don't think I will buy them again (I made a test batch of a recipe from King Arthur Flour of a chocolate cookie with candy cane bits, and while I didn't really like them right after they were baked, they were awesome the next day). Sarah thought they tasted like medicine. The Snow Tops are chocolate cookies with nuts in them, very bland actually. Definitely won't be buying those again.

The same thing happened with the stollen, I even at two slices of it and I didn't really care for it. I'm not sure what this means. Perhaps my tastebuds are being slowly destroyed by my discovery of hot sauce this year? Am I growing out of eating sweets? That would be nice, but all other signs point to no. I think it might be karma. I really enjoy cooking and baking, but I only really bake at work and I don't do too much cooking that is very involved. When I do spend some serious time making a meal, it usually turns out really good. I found a stollen recipe in one of my cookbooks where the method is very similar to the one my dad made in his bakery, so I'm looking forward to trying that. And the weekend after next I have planned for my cookie baking, which Sarah is going to help me with. I'm going to start on Thursday doing prep, because Saturday night is Sarah's office Christmas party, which I am making something for, so I won't be doing cookies that night.

Fair reader, do you have a particular Christmas cookie that you enjoy making/eating? I'm always looking for more to add to my arsenal, so post 'em if you've got 'em.