Deck the Halls: Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

Our last Deck the Halls cookie recipe this week is for Raspberry Almond Thumbprints. These cookies are adorable and if you're making cookie platters as gifts, they would be a great way to dress it up!

Ingredients:

Cookie

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup raspberry jam*

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons water

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

 

Directions:

Combine butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly). Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon jam.

Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire cooling rack. Cool completely.

Combine all glaze ingredients in small bowl with wire whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cookies. 

yum!

xo,

Liz

Deck the Halls: Lemon Snap Cookies

To add to our cookie trail, today's Deck the Halls post includes a recipe that is yummy all year round, not just during the holidays! During my trip to SC in November, my sister-in-law introduced me to an easy cookie to make in replacement of the classic lemon bar. These cookies aren't as sticky and messy as lemon bars, but still just as yummy, light, and refreshing! I can imagine eating these on Memorial Day just as much as I hope to snag a few on Christmas Day, too!

Lemon Snaps

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.                     

 Nom nom!  Enjoy!

Deck the Halls: Peanut Butter Blossom cookies

On my cookie trip at the end of November, we made sixteen different kinds of cookies. SIXTEEN. Who knew baking could ever be so intense!? Today I want to share with you one of my favorite cookies, not just for Christmas, but for all year round! The peanut butter blossom!

Ingredients: 

• 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Granulated sugar

1. 1 Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
   
2. 2 Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
   
3. 3 Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
   
4. 4 Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each
   cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.
   About 4 dozen cookies.

Yum!

What is your favorite Christmas cookie?

xo,

Liz

P.S. Here are all the Deck the Halls posts!

Deck the Halls: A little peek of our home!

I woke up last Sunday and decided that I didn't like the way I had previously decorated for Christmas one bit. The good news is that it was early enough (around 7 a.m.) that I could take down everything in our teeny tiny home and start from scratch. The bad news is that I actually did it. Ha! I'm glad I decided to start over because I was seriously unhappy with the way our house looked. Gotta have a pretty house, right?

Here's a little look into our home this holiday season! As soon as I finish up a few nooks, I'll be sure to post them as well :) 

Have you posted a little look into your home this holiday season? If so, leave me a link in the comments! I would love to see!

I hope you had a great Monday! I'm pretty beat. I worked my butt off all day at work and did a massive Christmas shopping spree for a few hours between work and crocheting.

Don't forget--Donna's is closing up for 2011 on Wednesday! Order those early-January gifts now while you can!

What does your week look like? I'm mostly identifying with the line "...and settled in for a long winter's nap" from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas! ;)

xo, Liz

Deck the Halls: Pom Pom Trees!

From year to year my taste and style changes, so I always find myself making a few last minute crafts to freshen my holiday look. I've always been fairly traditional when it comes to decorating for Christmas--red, gold, silver. I love how warm it feels. I also love the ease of taking down all the red and keeping the gold & silver adorning our home to bring in the new year! 

As I was organizing my studio space after we moved in June, I found a few cardboard cones that I had bought this time last year. Keeping them in mind for trees of some sort, I finally came up with what I wanted to do!

Materials:

• pom poms in 3 various shapes (small, medium, large) and colors. I found mine at Michael's.
• I chose red and white for this DIY but also bought blue, purple, and an assortment of bright colors. I'm using the other colors to make trees as gifts for my little nieces of nephews! 
• hot glue gun
• cardboard cone (mine was 4 x 10)
• Not shown: plastic trash bag to cover my surface and protect it from hot glue drippings.

Step 1: Dump out your pom poms so you can organize them by size and color. It was easier for me to have them spread out on a plastic trash bag than if they were still in the bag.

Step 2: Begin gluing the larger pom poms around your cone in no particular order (unless you want to have it striped or diagonal). 

Step 3: Begin filling in space with the other sized pom poms, in no particular order, to cover the entire cone.

Step 4: Let dry for a few minutes after you cover the entire cone. You can add in more pom poms to create a more textured feel and also this is a good time to fill in missed space!

Step 5: Stage accordingly! I used my pom pom tree to add a little color to a pie table we have behind our sofa. I wanted that table to be full of whimsy and color since it's where our stockings hang. (In case you're wondering, It's a Wonderful Life is playing in the background ;).

What DIY projects have you completed this season to freshen your holiday collection?

xo,

Liz

Click here for more Deck the Hall posts.

Deck the Halls: Stash Buster Braided Scarf

Hi everyone! Life has been catching up to me big time. Over the last week I had A LOT of papers to grade, lessons to plan, gifts to buy, and recipes to bake. Are you starting to feel the holiday crunch? I sure am. Every day I'm making a more and more specific To Do List. I think I even have a To Do List for my To Do List. And unfortunately, I'm not joking. 

The good news is that this weekend Cory and I had zero plans, so after being out of town last weekend, I wanted to make sure I could bring a few new cute DIYs that might make your holiday more festive and your gift giving much easier!

This time of year I have an embarrassing stash of yarn.... and by embarrassing, I mean huge. I can't bare to throw away large hunks of left-over yarn because "I can definitely use it for something!" Do you say that to yourself, too? Well, the good news is that I am finally using it for something Hooray!

Today's DIY is a simple project that you and a group of loved ones, friends, or children could work on. Everything you need you probably have around your house, especially if you knit or crochet! Ladies and gents, I introduce to you:

Materials:

scissors

yarn stash (I also added a little lace, trim, and ribbon, too!)

 (I picked a color family that I thought I would wear all year round. I like a lot of color, so this assortment of colors definitely works for me. You could match like-colors with different textured yarns and get a pretty cool effect!)

Step 1: Group all your yarn together and tie a knot with about 3 inches at the end for a tassel. 

Step 2: Unroll all your yarn and measure nearly 2 yards. Cut your yarn. Don't be afraid if your floor looks something like this:

Step 3: Section off your yarn into 3 sections so you can braid. I tried to group different colors and textures together for a eclectic feel.  Try your best to keep the strands apart as you braid so you don't have a gigantic knot. I had my husband hold the tassel and I walked the strands through the braid (a little ridiculous looking if we had recorded it).

Alternative: If you're not into braiding, you can knot every 6 inches or so throughout the scarf and still get a pretty cool look. I actually decided to do both on mine! I just wanted it to look really funky and original ;).

Style, wear, and enjoy!  

I will be making these as quick gifts for some of my Anthro-lovin' girlfriends ;)

Want to see more Deck the Halls posts? 

Deck the Halls: A Mad Men Giveaway!

I've been a Mad Men lover for years now and the fact that season 5 has been so incredibly belated sort of breaks my heart. I know out there in tiny corners or back alleys there are readers who have never seen Mad Men, or have never seen all the episodes. I'm making my personal mission to stop that. That's right. It's getting personal because I love the show THAT much.

So, I have a little treat for one very special reader.

A Mad Men Giveaway!

(The copies of Mad Men being given away are brand new and never opened.

I shot my personal copies to avoid glare from the wrapping.)

One lucky reader will win a copy of all 4 seasons of Mad Men a $100 value!

I'm throwing in a few special Mad Men surprises with this giveaway for that lucky winner! ;).

What you have to do to enter:

• Be a follower of this blog via Google Friend Connect
• Leave a comment including your name and email address telling me what you're looking forward to this holiday season!

For extra entries:

• Tweet about the Mad Men giveaway mentioning @donnasdecembers (so I can see it)!
• Follow this blog on Bloglovin'
• blog about the giveaway

NOTE: This giveaway is open to domestic AND international readers, so enter away!

Good luck to you! I will be picking a winner next week as I'm off to enjoy my birthday weekend! :)

xo,

Liz

Deck the Halls: Paper Snowflakes!

Typical November weather in Maryland is like a steep slide at the playground. You start up top in the low 60s/high 50s and by the end of the month, you're scraping 45 for a daily high. Not this year, though. Oh no. We have been hitting 70 degrees nearly every other day the entire month. Even though we had a pretty shocking snowstorm in October, there is zero snow in sight for us. It makes me a little sad to not see such a defined transition from fall to winter, but I'm hoping it is right around the corner!

One way to keep myself occupied and thinking about snow is by cutting out paper snowflakes! I know for many of you it is probably a tried and true tradition, or maybe if it isn't, you will start this year. I have visited a lot of tutorials for snowflake making and wanted to share with you the best of the best to ease the process for you!

For those of you who like step-by-step photographs, this tutorial from Hope Studios is easy-peasy.

My favorite tutorial for crafty and creative snowflakes is from Vintage Junky.

They offer a pretty cool (and easy to follow) pdf of many designs and shapes that, to me, are asthetically pleasing.

Tiffany Bird over at Simply Modern Mom put a different, more crafty and kid friendly spin on the paper snowflake by using polygons and swirls! I love the mod look of these paper snowflakes!

This easy-to-follow tutorial by Allison Gryski is pretty simple with beautiful results. She obviously has an eye for detail: cute!

I have seen this design popping up in local restaurants and shops as it has more of an artsy feel. I never realized how easy they would be to make, though! This tutorial from Cutoutandmake.com is so easy! I wonder how you could incorporate felt or fabric into a design like this? Hmm..

And if you're looking to add a little paper snowflake cheer to your giftwrapping this season, How About Orange has you covered!

When was the last time you made a paper snowflake? It only takes about 5 minutes and I love how such a simple process totally transports you back into time! It's like being a kid again :)

xo,

Liz

p.s. Go here for more Deck the Halls posts!