Cookie Wreaths

This month was jammed packed with lots of different holiday activities at work, plus the usual Champagne & Cookies prep! Here’s what was going on:

  • Our foundation-wide holiday party this year was at Assembly Chef’s Hall which was such a great venue for a Christmas party! This place is like a very fancy, hip food court, with a bunch of Toronto’s top restaurants as the vendors. We had food from so many of them: guac & chips from Colibrí, pulled pork sliders from Cherry Street BBQ, pizza from The Good Son, deep-fried Brussels sprouts (don’t know where those were from) and so many more things that we tried to grab as waiters walked through the crowds.
  • My new cubicle neighbour asked me to make some cupcakes as a prize for a employee program she was running, so I made Turtles Cupcakes (thanks for the suggestion Dani!): Chocolate Cupcakes (recipe from Smitten Kitchen Everyday) with Salted Caramel Buttercream, sprinkled with chopped toasted pecans, and drizzled with more Salted Caramel. Huge hit!
  • Nicole & Francis came over to decorate Christmas cookies, and I have a few tips to pass on for doing this with a toddler! First of all, I had all the cookies baked in advance, which was key (plain sugar cookies in Christmas shapes). Second, I put the icing in squeeze bottles! This is genius! Francis (who is about two and a half) was a pro using these in no time. Third, I lined a cupcake pan with liners, and poured a little bit of different sprinkle mixes in each liner; this made it super easy for Francis to grab the sprinkles he wanted, and very easy for me to clean up. Finally, I laid out all the cookies on rimmed baking sheets, so any icing or sprinkle overflow was caught by the baking sheet and didn’t end up on the floor. It went so well and Nicole said he talked about it non-stop for the rest of the day. Only note for next year is to invest in more Christmas cookie cutters!
  • Our team had a Christmas Potluck, and I actually went savoury instead of sweet! I made mini butternut squash and caramelized onion tarts! I made the filling from this galette, and then spooned it into little tart shells (pre-made…I was going easy on myself). They turned out so well, and I thought were something a little different that everyone might like.
  • I had to work throughout the holidays this year, so I came to work on Christmas Eve morning armed with hot chocolate mix, marshmallows and a batch of these Gingerbread Doughnut Muffins. A perfect treat for those of us who had to come into the office.
  • My Mom made a small turkey dinner for Christmas Day this year, and then we ate leftovers on Boxing Day (with a few other additions) when my brothers and their families joined us. In fact, the only thing requested of me was Mashed Potatoes! On the dessert side, I made this Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart so the birthday girls (my Mom & niece) could blow out some candles, plus a few cookies: the sugar cookie wreaths pictured above, these Bourbon Molasses Cookies (you could NOT taste the bourbon at all, which was kind of annoying) and then these Cherry Almond Snowball Cookies which were amazing. I’ll be making/blogging about those soon for sure!

Other non-foodie things I was obsessed with this month, YEAR END EDITION:

  • My favourite books of the year, in order: The Immortalists, Ayesha At Last, This Is How It Always Is, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, The Wedding Date & The Kiss Quotient (those last two are tied)
  • My favourite movies of the year, in order: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, A Star is Born, Crazy Rich Asians, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War (Honourable mention: Love, Simon // Biggest Disappointment: Ocean’s Eight)
  • My favourite TV of the year, not in order because once again, I just watched too many things that I liked: Queer Eye reboot, Insecure Season 3, the final season of The Americans, Atlanta: Robbin’ Season, This Is Us, Collateral, American Vandal, GLOW Season 2, Better Call Saul Seasons 3 & 4 (Show I hated that I watched only because Chris & Andy loved it: Succession).

Flashback!