T’was the Friday before Christmas

I made these Gingerbread men earlier this week. I love how festive these guys are, and even though it was my first time making cut out cookies, they turned out pretty good! The only problem was rolling out the dough- it kept sticking to my rolling pin, something that could have easily been solved by flouring my rolling pin more- oh well, lesson learned!. I bought my cookie cutter from Amazon right after Thanksgiving, and when I dug it out this week, I didn’t realize how big it was! The cookies turned out nice and chewy- just how I like them, but I think I would prefer a smaller cookie cutter next time.

My decorations consisted of M&M’s for eyes and store bought cookie icing to outline the men and give them faces.Next time, I will definitely make my own royal icing and try to pipe them myself.So remember that snow storm that I was so excited about? Well, it never came! My mom was my own weather woman, sending me warning texts that a severe snow storm was headed our way. I went to bed expecting to see a blanket of snow, and was hugely disappointed this morning when I saw nothing! Sad…

At least the snow didn’t interrupt my dinner plans last night with good friends

I love that we’ve been friends for the past 18 years and although we don’t get to see enough of each other, whenever I do catch up with these girls, it feels as if no time has passed. We bonded over good drinks, bbq from Lillie’s, and great conversation- what a fun night!

I made these blondies this morning to give as a token of my appreciation to our dog walkers. The followed the recipe pretty much exactly as stated but instead of using regular sprinkles, I used festive Christmas ones and also didn’t add the full 1/2 cup of each chocolate chip since I knew the batter would be plenty sweet. I ate a small square after my workout and boy, am I glad I did because they are so moist, buttery and have a spot on cake batter flavor- yum!! I made sure to save two for the hubs, as I’m sure he’ll appreciate.

Now that the little boy is sleeping, it’s time to unwind with some dinner and Homeland. we’re already on the second season and it’s only been about a week or so since we first started-it is so freaking good. Happy Holidays!