Last-Minute Festive Food

I was talking to a neighbor earlier this week, and she was asking whether the cookies I'd been making were going to be on the blog. I wanted to say yes, but I've honestly been pushing so hard to get things done this year that I haven't had time to take photos while baking. 

I didn't even take any photos while making the dipped pretzels featured in this post. But - since they have to sit out on wrapped paper to harden, at least I do have post-prep photos. 

Let me explain the idea behind them:

So... yeah... you melt the white stuff (I use a double boiler on the stove, but you can follow the package directions for the microwave if you have one), and you dip stuff in it, then let them to dry/harden on waxed paper. 

Can you guess where on the prep table the bowl used to be? 

It's pretty easy and fairly fast. Dipping these pretzels by hand, I made 90 of them in about 45 minutes - and that included the stovetop melting process. 

I mentioned in the video that these are Gluten-Free. But, even so, can you imagine anyone turning them down? Seriously. You can do a lot of Gluten-Free stuff pretty easily - sometimes even by accident!

Frankly, that's what I need this time of year, because my brain starts to not want to process more difficult tasks. The lead-up can be pretty darned frantic, and you sometimes forget to take a little time to just enjoy it all happening. The best I can do in these cases is plate things.

Umm... This batch of Spritz cookies is also Gluten-Free! Bonus!

And wrap them in plastic.

And hope to remember to take them with me when I leave the house specifically with the intention of taking them to the neighbors. (Who among us hasn't walked out the door and realized a present/bag/set of keys was still on the counter this time of year?)

Luckily, a lot of my baked goods tend to go into the mail (or to the neighbors), so that means that in the final few days before Christmas I have nothing left to do but sit back and enjoy the world going by. Christopher and I have made a kind of tradition of going out to dinner a few days before Christmas. We try to go somewhere we might not usually go. It's a great way to take a step back, breathe a little, look at the lights, and let someone else deal with prep and delivery for a bit. 

However you plan to spend the next few days - whether in the kitchen whipping up a few last-minute festive treats or on the road/in the skies or avoiding it all with a cocktail, I hope you get to enjoy it. 

Merry Christmas!

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What are you up to for the Holidays? Do you celebrate Christmas, or some other event? Or do you avoid them all and just take advantage of the sales? 

Just so you know, I'm making a New Year's resolution to be better about my blogging. I'm not planning to define "better" just yet, though. ;-)