Homemade Christmas Cookies - December 4, 2008

Good morning!

Don't forget to check out the "Grocery Shopping on a Budget" e-course! It is available at the introductory price with all of the bonus items until Tuesday, Dec.9th. Learn about it here. Several readers asked if it was available in print form but, unfortunately, we only have them as e-books.

We are adding new Christmas money saving and organizing tips every day the blog. Through Christmas, we'll be including them every day on top of our regular recipes and tips. If you have a Christmas Tip or recipe to share, please send it our way and we'll post it on the blog.

So far we are moving along on our Christmas shopping. I was able to get several things for free using gift cards from my SwagBucks. For a tightwad, free is the best way to buy Christmas gifts! LOL To try it yourself, check it out here.

If you are wondering what SwagBucks are, you can read my blog post about it here.

One last thing: I am looking for a good gazpacho recipe or something similar. I haven't been feeling all that great so veggies are the last thing I want to eat. I was thinking if I could drink them in a soup or V-8 type concoction then that might help. So far the recipes I have tried haven't been that great. If you have any you could send my way I would be most grateful!

Have a great day and enjoy mom's wonderful cookie tips!

-Tawra
www.LivingOnADime.com

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Homemade Christmas Cookies

Start Now

If you haven't already started baking your holiday cookies you need to do it now. At the very least you can get a head start on things with a little planning.

• List what cookies you want to bake for the holidays.
  


• Divide the list into cookies you will give away, cookies for parties, cookies for school activities, etc. and also list the ones you will be serving for your own family closer to Christmas.
  


• Make the list of ingredients you will need and then go buy them so you will have them on hand. Stock your pantry.
  

Get as much as you can done ahead of time (now).

• Most cookie dough can be refrigerated or frozen so mix as many batches as you can. Some great doughs for this are basic chocolate chip or sugar cookie dough. You can take these two and add almost anything to them: chips, dried fruit, candy etc.
  


• Freeze the dough in small batches. If you only want to bake one or two cookie sheets at a time you don't have to thaw the whole batch. I do this all year around. I keep small rolls of dough in my freezer. When I hear the grandkids are on their way, I pull out the dough and have a hot pan of cookies when they get here. It makes the house smell good for them, too.
  


• If you will be using colored sugar or coconut, mix it up now. To make either one, place the sugar or coconut into jars with a couple of drops of food coloring and shake. Store it in there until ready to use.
  


• If you love shortbread and like to give it as gifts, do it now and store in an airtight container. Shortbread cookies are one of those cookies which are better if they are aged for at least a couple of weeks.
  

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Baking

• Be sure to use what the recipe calls for, whether it is butter, shortening or margarine and never use margarine that is whipped, soft spread or reduced fat. Your cookies will spread everywhere if you do.
  


• Pre-heat your oven
  


• It is best to bake only one sheet of cookies at a time but if you must do more, leave a couple of inches around the sheets for air circulation.
  


• Let the baking sheet cool between batches because placing dough on a hot sheet can make the cookies spread too much.
  


• If your recipe calls for oatmeal or nuts, toast them before using them.
  


• Fill a container that has large holes (like a sugar shaker) with flour to sprinkle your board before rolling out cookies.
  


• Make sure when you roll out cookies to cut that they are all the same thickness. Each individual cookie must not have thin or thick spots either or they will bake unevenly. You can buy rubber bands to put on your rolling pin to get an exact thickness, but they are expensive.
  
  I have always used 2 strips of cardboard (the thickness that I need) covered in foil and just lay them on each side of the dough with each edge of the rolling pin laying on a strip.
  


• If you don't have cookie cutters or enough time to use them, just roll out your cookies and cut in squares or diamond shapes with a pastry cutter or pizza cutter. Sprinkle with colored sugar and bake.
  


• Use a wire cheese cutter to slice chilled refrigerator cookie dough.
  


• If you are making huge batches of cookies and do a lot of baking, you might try using old oven racks to cool them on. Just place something under each corner to make sure it is raised up slightly off of the table.
  

Storing and Shipping

• Cookies keep very well for a very long time without freezing. Most cookies don't have ingredients the health department calls "toxic" (their words not mine) and are very safe to keep for long periods.
  


• Always completely cool cookies before storing and never store crisp cookies and soft cookies together. Store soft cookies in an air tight container and crisp cookies in a container with a loose lid.
  


• I find that tins work best for storing cookies because sometimes the cookies pick up the flavor of plastic ware if it was previously used to store something like spaghetti with garlic. This is especially true if the cookies have a lot of butter.
  


• If you have cookies that have ingredients like cream cheese, they will need to be stored in the fridge, but the recipe will usually tell you if you need to do this.
  


• You can freeze cookies up to 3 months.
  


• When shipping cookies, be sure to give them plenty of time to get there and always mark "perishable" on the package.
  


• Soft moist cookies, cookie bars and drop cookies ship the best.
  


• Metal tins are really the best shipping container for cookies, but if you don't have one then a sturdy cardboard box will work. Line the box with plastic wrap or foil then place the cookies in it. Crumble up wax paper to place on top sides or anywhere you need cushioning. I then slip the whole thing into 1 or 2 plastic bags.
  
  I wrap that box in bubble wrap and place inside another box. You could also use newspaper, peanuts or even popcorn for cushioning at this point.
  

Misc. Tips

• Cookie ingredients can be very expensive, especially for Christmas cookies. If you need to save money, choose your family's favorites that have the least expensive ingredients.
  
  For example, my family loves sugar cookies about the same as chocolate chip cookies. The sugar cookies cost much less because they don't have things like chocolate chips and nuts in them, so I would bake the sugar cookies.
  


• Another way to save on ingredients is to use less of things like nuts and baking chips. You really can get by with putting half a bag of chips instead of a whole one into chocolate chip cookies. The same goes for nuts. If that same recipe calls for 1 cup of nuts, use just 1/2 cup.
  


• When giving cookies as a gift, make them look more attractive by putting them in cellophane bags and tying with a ribbon.
  


• Instead of just slapping cookies on a platter for your Christmas dinner or party, add a couple of votives or one large candle in the center of the platter for a more festive look.
  


• Save those dried out cookies or that handful of leftover cookies. Freeze them and use them in place of any recipe or dessert that calls for a graham cracker crust.
  
  

Holiday "To Do" List - November 25, 2008

Good morning!

I hope that you are all ready for Thanksgiving! My grandparents are coning to town and we'll all be having Thanksgiving at our house this year.

We aren't having a Sale of the Week today because we are planning to have our Grocery Shopping On A Budget e-course done for you on Friday. We rarely spend more than $5.00 for a dinner for our entire family of five and this e-course explains how we do it. This has been one of our most requested e-books and we're pretty excited to finally be able to bring it to you!

With Christmas approaching, I wanted to give you a free "Gifts In A Jar" e-book. It's full of nifty gifties that you can make for your friends and family! Get it at http://www.livingonadime.com/ebooks/gifts-in-a-jar-promo.html

I also wanted to tell you about a great way to earn gift cards. It's called Swagbucks and you can earn points for just doing searches on the Internet. After you get so many points you can then turn those in for gift cards for places like Starbucks, Amazon and Target. It's not a huge amount, but it's fun to get a gift card now and then to give yourself a free treat. You can check it out here.

Don't forget to check the blog for all of our new updates!

Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving!

-Tawra
www.LivingOnADime.com

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Holiday "To Do" List
by Jill Cooper

The best way to relieve stress at the Holidays is not with a bubble bath (although they are fun) but by being organized. Even though I'm not normally a big list person, at Christmas I not only write a list but I write enough lists to fill a book (making up for my lack of lists the rest of the year ;-).

We wanted to create a cute calendar for readers that would list what you should do on each day, but every household is so different it was hard to put together something that would tell everyone when to do what and we didn't want to make anyone feel locked into a particular plan. It can almost be more stressful trying to follow someone else's plan than to have no plan at all.

So we came up with a compromise. It's a list of some general things that need to be done at Christmas. If you are attached to the calendar idea, take a calendar or day planner and, using this list, write down the day you want to get something done. For example on December 1, "Put up inside decorations."

If it is easier, simply hang the list by the calendar and then just mark things off as you do them. This is just a guide with our own hints and ideas. You can add to or take away from it as necessary.

The key to a low stress holiday season is to remember that the more you spread things out, the easier it will be. Doing just a few things each day is much easier than waiting for the last minute "Holiday Squeeze" (and it won't make you look like you accidentally fell into the clothes dryer.)

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Order by December 4th to make sure it gets there before Christmas!

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• Make your list of all of the people who you plan to buy gifts, including their sizes, things they would like and how much you can spend.
  


• Make your list of the people you are sending Christmas cards to and write the cards or at least get the envelopes addressed. You can then keep a few cards with you to write in during those "waiting minutes" when you're at the doctor, picking the kids up from school or on your break at work.
  


• Get those sewing and craft projects done now! Don't wait until Christmas Eve.
  


• Decide on what cookies and candies you want to make. Pull out the recipes now.
  


• Decide on what you are going to have for holiday dinners. Pull out the recipes.
  


• Many types of cookies freeze well. Mix up the dough several weeks ahead and freeze. That way all you have to do later is bake them.
  


• For cookies that you can't freeze, measure all the dry ingredients and put them in a plastic bag. I often do this three months early. Be sure to label the bag so you remember what is in it.
  


• If you make your own pie crust, make them ahead of time and freeze until you need them.
  


• Several months ahead of time, put a bag or container in the freezer and throw in those unused heels of bread or slices of dry bread to use for dressing.
  


• If you make cornbread dressing, make up you dressing in early November and freeze.
  


• Deep clean the house.
  


• Set up a wrapping table or collect your wrapping things all together in one area so you can quickly and easily pull everything out to use. Wrap gifts as you buy them, not all at once at the last minute.
  


• Make a list of linens and dishes that you will need for meals.
  


• Put up outside decorations.