Wow! December is kicking my ass.

So I made some very lofty promises about a yearly grocery trip. Let's all be real here: no one is saving any money in the month of December. The grocery trip will happen. I am going to document it all when it does happen. You will come with me as I prep and plan for that madness. Right now though I am taking a break from the wiping of butts and counters, from the wrapping of presents, and from the menu planning. I am doing this because I would rather type to you wonderful people than anything else! Instead of trying to hash out all of the details of a grocery shopping trip that takes two days; I want to talk about cookies.

Every year I host a cookie baking party. I let everyone in who wants to do some of their holiday baking in my kitchen and I eat some of their tasty cookies. I get to chat while all the kids play and the hubs gets all the cookies he can eat. I look forward to it every year.

This year I am going to share my very special holiday cookie recipe. It is special to me because it was the first cookie recipe I ever created. I knew how to make dough. I knew what I liked in a cookie, but I had never put it all together before. This was my first one. I love it. It is a very pretty cookie and not terribly sweet. Now this year I did make a chocolate cookie that is ridiculous, but you won't get that recipe until next year!

Elyse's Christmas Cookie

2 1/4 Cups AP Flour
1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Sticks of Softened Butter
Zest of One Orange
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup White Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Cup White Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Shelled Roasted Salted Pistachios Chopped
1 Cup Dried Cranberries Chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl. Mix and set aside. In another bowl cream butter, sugar, and zest until well mixed, but not light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture slowly into wet ingredients. Fold white chocolate, nuts and cranberries into batter. Bake for 9 -11 minutes.

This dough freezes well too!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful December. I am in my element and having a blast with all of the planning and chaos. I love seeing people happy and being around my family. Now go bake something and then clean it up! You are not done with December yet!