Chanukah or Hanukkah & Christmas Too!

I love the holidays and this whole season.  The number of cookies that are made and exchanged simply make everyone happy.  And while most people have voted chocolate chip cookies as their favorite on my blog, this season is best represented by gingerbread and sugar cookies.  But fear not, I have taken your votes seriously and am planning a week dedicated to the chocolate chip, if not next week then the week after (and I'm thinking from traditional to ones full of brownies and chocolate dipped blueberries, so please stay tuned).

But lately I have been thinking about making a Chanukah Menorah out of cookies.  I could not find a great candle cookie cutter (but am determined to do so next year) -- so I made one myself by cutting rectangles in two sizes -- one shorter for the regular candles and one taller for the shamash.  I added in a dreidle, gelt and a Star of David (Jacob, thanks for the great idea).  Is this not the yummiest Chanukia you have ever seen?

But I still think Christmas cookies are the most fun to make.  Snowmen are just so cute.  I used orange royal icing and a little orange chocolate sprinkle for the nose.   Snowflakes are probably my favorite because they can all be different and unique as they always look so beautiful and sparkling.

But I could not resist making some melted snowmen too -- the face is a marshmallow cut in half and the eyes are a Wilton food writer.  The buttons are tiny chocolate covered sprinkles and the arms are royal icing.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season with gifts galore -- but real presents full of love and peace.