A very merry Christmas
To all of my readers, Mr Woofy and I would like to wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. And remember, as Mr Woofy would like to warn - don’t party too hard, cuz it makes your halos go all crooked-like. 
I really did mean to write up a new post today, but unfortunately I just don’t have the energy. I have, over the past three days, baked/iced/giftwrapped over 350 cookies of an assorted variety for our Christmas goodie hampers. The list of goodies include:
- Jam thumbprint cookies with homemade nectarine butter
- ANZAC cookies
- White chocolate and cranberry cookies
- Gingerbread cookies w/ royal icing
- Green tea macarons with sweetened adzuki buttercream
- Yoyos with orange buttercream
- Chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons
- Tim tam truffles coated with:
- white chocolate and rolled in crushed walnuts
- milk chocolate and rolled in dessicated coconuts
- dark chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder
- Peanut butter & choc chip cookies
- Strawberry rice cakes (ichigo daifuku - not technically a cookie, but still a part of the gift baskets)
Unfortunately, the end result is that my back feels like it has been snapped in half and I am sore all over. Be back soon…well, as soon as I recover, anyway! 
Merry Christmas, everyone! Thank you for reading this blog and especially for all your lovely comments and emails - it takes a lot of effort to keep motivated and keep this blog running, but your lovely words make it all worthwhile, so I just want to say thanks
xox,
Ellie
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Comments
HaNa Will you post the recipe to the Green Tea Macaroons? I love those types of macaroons and would like to try your recipe! Thanks!
Katie 350 cookies!!!! Epp, did you sleep at all during the last few days? They all look great though. Happy Christmas to you too.
Cindy Michael’s reaction to the 2nd photograph above: "Is she mental?" I’m in the midst of my own much-more-modest bake-a-thon and there’s enough frustration as it is. He hasn’t yet learned that some bakers are much more serene than I.
We both wish you a restful summer break with those you love!
Linda The recipients of your baked goodies are very lucky!
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
Chris Wow! Look at all that! Quite a display. I love the picture of Mr. Woofy!
Happy Holidays! Get some rest…:)
MyKitchenInHalfCups I’ll try to not party too hard Mr Woofy!
You have a Merry Christmas Ellie.
chocolatesuze hey girl merry xmas! your stash of biscuits is awesome im jealous hope you have a smashing 2008!
Ellie Thanks, Kat Same to you!
HaNa - I’ve linked the recipe, just add approx 15grams of matcha powder to the batter. The adzuki buttercream recipe is as follows:
100g unsalted butter
2 heaped tbsp sweetened adzuki paste
2 tbsp pure icing sugar
Beat together till combined, then taste and add more adzuki paste or icing sugar if needed.
Katie - I averaged about 4-6 hrs per day, which is usually enough, but not on these occasions as I was baking from the moment I got up till the moment I went to sleep!
Peabody - Thanks hon I hope you had a lovely Christmas too!
Cindy - Please tell Michael that the answer to that question is a most resounding “yes”! As for serene…I should’ve taken some better pictures of the baking process…trust me, serene is not the way you’d describe it 
I hope you and Michael had a wonderful Christmas!
Linda - Thanks hon You too!
Chris - Glad you like it, I think its one of his best portraits to date I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!
Christine - Alas, only one of my friends received a cookie basket, the rest went to my mother’s church friends!
Tana - Same to you, hon
Suze - Thanks hon, hope you had a lovely Xmas as well, and best wishes for the coming year
Anh Wow, Ellie, you have been busy!
I have just come back from a short trip… So Merry (belated) Xmas and Happy New Year!
Johanna wow - over a hundred cookies a day is insanity - but impressive - no wonder mr woofy looks exhausted - must be tiring for him just to watch (and I am sure he wanted to show you how much he loved your baking by helping himself to a few cookies!). hope you are now able to relax and enjoy the festive season!
Ellie Anh - this time of year is always crazy, but as my mother hasn’t been well, I’ve had to take over all kitchen duties which has been really really tiring (>_<) I hope you had a wonderful trip!
Johanna - Insanity appears to be my middle name Alas, no rest for the wicked yet, but perhaps in the new yer
Thanh My goodness, that’s a whole lot of cookies. I thought my 200 macarons was hard, but your effort is even more amazing. At least all mine were the same thing and it was just the frustration of bad looking macarons that killed me. But to make so many different types of biscuits is utterly crazy, or dedicated.
I’m glad I went the macaron path now. Initially, I was going to do an assortment of cookies like you as well. In fact, I had printed out a lot of your cookie recipes, like the jam fingerprint one, the ANZAC biscuits and some other biscotti types one on your blog. Making all of those would definitely have made me go crazy. Good work Ellie.
Deborah Dowd Wow! I am impressed! Hope you are taking time to enjoy all the blessings of the holiday season and I wish you (and your pup!) a healthy and happy new year!
Ellie Thanh - I’m happy to call it insanity Though next year, I think I’ll try baking some cookies that can handle having the dough prefrozen just to cut down on the amount of insane chilling/resting time I had to deal with this year!
Deborah - Thanks hon Best wishes for the season to you and your family too!
Merry Christmas Ellie, may 2008 be a delicious year for you!