The Final Leg of My Marathon!

It was a crazy day yesterday. I knew I had alot to get done, and even tho I was organized it was still quite a feat!
I didn't do any chocolate bark, but we made and decorated about 45 sugar cookies! It was alot of fun for the kids, and it is amazing how far sprinkles can travel! I used a recipe I found on Foodnetwork.com for the dough, and was really pleased on how it turned out. The dough was easy to work with, and the taste and texture of cookies were just about perfect! I was able to double the recipe very easily!

Sugar Cookies
Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or vanilla extract

Directions

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture, and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide dough in half, pat into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Generously flour a clean work surface. (For a nice, even layer of flour, lightly sift flour over the work surface.) Gently roll chilled dough about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shape using a cookie cutter, working quickly enough so dough remains chilled. If dough gets too soft, refrigerate on a lined baking sheet until firm again, about 30 minutes.

Transfer cut cookies to un-greased baking sheets, leaving about 1-inch between cookies. Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes. Lightly dust off excess flour with a dry pastry brush. (Excess dough can be pressed into a disk, chilled and rerolled.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the cookies, until the bottoms are golden, about 12 to 15 minutes depending on shape. Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a rack to cool. Decorate as desired and serve. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

In addition to the baking I did alot of prep for our Christmas Eve dinner. This year we decided to start a new tradition of having appetizers for dinner. Our menu includes my spanakopitas, turkey meatballs in a paprika sauce, goat cheese crostini's with a dried cherry relish, shrimp cocktail, and my hubby is making up some sushi rolls.
I won't post the recipe for spanakopitas, it is in a previous post. I have made one change to it, and instead of using bread crumbs, I use ground up Ritz crackers! It adds a wonderful buttery crunch.

My dried cherry relish I found on foodreference.com. I used it for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit.

DRIED CHERRY RELISH
Makes about 2 cups; 12 servings as a relish.


1-1/2 cups dried tart cherries
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon margarine
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper


In a medium bowl, combine cherries, red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Let soak 30 minutes.

Heat butter in a large skillet. Add onion; cook 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Add sugar; mix well. Cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat 10 minutes.

Add cherries with soaking liquid to onion mixture. Simmer, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes, or until almost all the liquid is evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.


I had some fun changing up the recipe for my turkey paprika meatballs. My mom has some diet restrictions, so I changed it up so she would be able to enjoy it!

Turkey Meatballs in Paprika Tomato Sauce

1lb ground turkey, thawed
1 cup cooked white rice
1 carrot minced
about 5 button mushrooms diced
1/2 tsp chinese five spice
salt and pepper
1 egg

Mix ingredients together. Form balls and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Once they are cool you can refrigerate them over night. Before serving put them in a pot with a can of fire roasted tomatoes, add 1 tsp of soy sauce and cook them over low heat for about 45 minutes, till they are heated through. You can serve them on bread, or just by themselves!