Vanilkové rohlíčky (Vanilla Crescents)

Last time we visited Britain and that's why now I think it's time for "homecoming" :D Christmas is all about traditions and even though I love trying new exotic recipes I usually stick to the old good stuff during this holiday. I can't imagine not celebrating Christmas on 24th December. I love looking forward for the evening, decorating Christmas tree, one minute fasting (= you don't eat for a minute, then you do, then you fast for another minute :D) and useless waiting for the golden pig that never comes. Well, and at the end of the evening when you can see only pieces of wrapping paper everywhere, that's the time for Christmas cookies. In the Czech Republic there it is extremely traditional to bake many kinds of the cookies and one of the most popular ones are vanilla crescents. Mine have been in our family for more than 20 years - quite old, don't you think?

Mince Pies

The magic number for today is 24. Asking why? No, don't worry, this IS a foodblog, no oracle or something :D The number reffers to the days left to Christmas. I think you all have to be bored by my constant talking about it but I simply love Christmas time. And I want to share my Christmas mood with you :) Here you have my first official Christmas cookie recipe (at least in this year and only when you don't count blondies as a Christmas cookie alternative) but these are not cookies in fact...

White Chocolate Blondies

Well, here we are :D Two days ago I woke up in the morning and realized that only two months were left to Christmas. Two weeks ago I would say that it was too soon to think of Christmas. Right now I'm scared that I won't have enough time to buy the gifts and what's even worse - I have no idea what to buy :D Yesterday I went window-shopping and to be honest the Christmas atmosphere cought me. I cannot concentrate on my school stuff and I think about different kinds of Christmas cookies which I am going to bake and how many kinds it should be and so on. In my sidebar there is a survey connected to Christmas cookies and I'd love if you could participate, so don't be afraid to answer, it's 100% anonymous :) And when we are talking about cookies and sweets, it reminds me that I've decided to bring this Christmas atmosphere into my home, too, by making something small and sweet.

Truffes au Chocolat (Chocolate Truffles)

Last week there was the DB challenge. Its task was making at least two different kinds of candies. Since I've showed only one kind, the second one is just about to come. These "candies" were much easier to make and the result was great. Well, that's how I see it. The rest of my family would pretty much disagree. Yep, sometimes not everything turns out great for everyone. We all are different with different taste buds so it means that when I like something the others don't have to share that opinion. It's always tough to overcome the feeling because when you try to make a cake or any other sweets you hope that everyone will love it. However, this time it didn't happen and I know it only is my mistake.

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Milk Chocolate Pralines with Spiced White Choc Mousse and Honey Roasted Macadamias

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Here we are again :) The end of the month means revealing the big secret coming out from the DB kitchen. This time it REALLY freaked me out because on of our main tasks was tempering chocolate. As I read through the page more and more recipes, directions, tips, notes and links popped out. I was pretty confused and it took a while for me to recuperate :D Well, and my head started creating and mixing up new ideas of creams, fillings and other stuff. Now you're about to find out what my head finally created.

Apricot Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Can you feel summer in the air? I definitely can. Well, I guess it's more spring than summer but nevermind. They both mean the end of winter! It's not like I hate winter but it's been here for quite a while now and I think that's just enough :) Yes, you can hear me shouting around in summer "I want winter! The weather is too hot!" and when winter comes I just want summer. Too much is simply too much. The ideal temperature would be around 25C all the time (and sometimes snowing without being cold at all). Of course, that's not possible and maybe it's good. Life's a change and without hot summer days there wouldn't be any fresh juicy fruit in my garden. Last year there were almost no apricots and the small amount of them was made into a delicious homemade apricot preserve. I'm the kinda girl who can eat preserve/jam/jelly as it is - I don't need any bread - but sometimes it's much better with a cookie and because summer season is almost here and I have this great apricot preserve why should I wait for summer to arrive when I can make my own little summer rigth now? And so can you!

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Marzipanstollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Okay, we had to use the recipe provided...here's the thing, I did not. Now, I don't know whether I can say I completed the challenge. I used my own German recipe for Marzipanstollen, but I think the point is I was daring enough to make a stollen, right? I had made it two weeks ago and we ate it the day before yesterday. Now it's quite late to make it but hey, next Christmas is almost here :)

Bourbon Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookies

Christmas is all about traditions. I love them all and I really enjoy finding other old ones. Tradition goes in hand with classic. And what's more classic than delicious fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies? You're right! Nothing :) However, have you ever tried adding real vanilla pod into the dough? It makes wonders, believe me! Vanilla makes everything better and although you can use extract or vanilin instead, you never get the very same result as with real vanilla pods (or seeds). Christmas baking season has started, so let's make some cookies to fill the air with wonderful aromas :)

Speculaas

It's already December, Christmas is almost here and people all over the world are looking forward to it. When I look out of the window I can see the winter. Cold, freezing, cool, chilling and icy. These words describe it perfectly. I wish it was snowing, too, but it's not from some unknown reason. You know, I don't know about better feeling than this one: I'm sitting in an armchair covered with warm blanket, christmas carols are being singed by my family, I'm holding a cup of hot tea and it's snowing outside. Pretty shiny small snowflakes are slowly falling down to the ground. I feel happy and comfortable and I want a cookie. The cookie, in fact. Speculaas.

Orange Almond Cookies with Dark Chocolate

40, 39, 38, 37...No! 35 days to Christmas Eve :) Isn't it great? Imagine you sitting in front of your fireplace, seeing those beautiful orange dancing flames, listening to christmas carols and eating christmas cookies, of course! You know, Christmas isn't about giving and receiving gifts. It's all about love, family and friendship and traditions. And the best gifts are the homemade ones. How about a small box of these wonderful orange almond cookies?