And they're all made out of ticky tacky...

Although Christmas is long past, in my family we are still trying to squeeze a little more celebration in. So with a trip to visit some more family just around the corner, I have just finished round two of cookie baking and gift tin packing.


It seems that 2008 is the Christmas of the paper (and wax paper) box. So using my new found paper box making skills I made these wax paper boxes to hold cookies instead of buying more candy or muffin cups. They worked pretty well, despite being no where near as precise as its scrapbook paper relative.

I tried some new cookie recipes this year in addition to some of my regulars. The tins (purchased around this time last year for a dramatically discounted price at Walmart) include:

• Peanut butter blossoms
• Snickerdoodles
• Ginger cookies
• Cinnamon peanut brittle
• Chocolate crinkles

I thought I would share some of these recipes because I think they are delicious and super easy. The peanut brittle (which is in its third year of Christmas gifting) is a great recipe from Gale Gand.

I normally make a double recipe (one recipe at a time), resulting in 2 cookie sheets full of brittle. I also like mine very heavy on peanuts so instead of using two cups of peanuts as the recipe states, I use about three cups (one and a half jars) of peanuts per recipe.

The ginger cookies are on year two and seem to be a hit. I only bake them for about 12 minutes resulting in a chewier cookie than the recipe would create.

Last recipe - the chocolate crinkles. This is the first year I tried these and they are absolutely delicious! I made these just as the recipe is written and they turned out wonderful.

The crinkles would also be great for Valentines Day!