Sterling & Oats: The Christmas Cookie Box

It happens every year. At least 2 drafts are made before I have my final list of cookies and ingredients. I tackle the store bright and early & enjoy the one time of year when it's okay to load my cart with a ridiculous amount of butter. And after two days of solid baking, The Christmas Box is complete.

This is pretty much how it works. Every year I choose between 8-10 different cookies and make about 500+ total to distribute among 13-17 boxes. This year I went with 8 different cookies. I stuck with favorites that get the most requests and the only new baked good I added to the mix were the butterscotch blondies, which ended up being my favorite in the group. A new challenge this year was location. I originally started this holiday baking tradition back in Houston and passed the cookies out to my friends there. I was able to use my mom's roomy kitchen and she helped clean all the mixing bowls after each batch so I could dirty them back up again. This year I'll be staying in Austin for Christmas so there was a whole new list of recipients and it was just me and my tiny kitchen. I was a tiny bit nervous but I love making my Christmas cookie boxes so I was more excited than anything.

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself. Although Billy volunteered for dish-washing duty, I found my groove after the first batch and tackled everything on my own. I learned a lot from years before and had it not been for all that practice, I probably would have called it quits after the second recipe. I can honestly say that the only thing holding me back at this point is working with only one oven. A double oven is now a must for my future house.

Here is the 2013 Christmas Box...

Stained Glass Trees

Strawberry Hazelnut Thumbprints

Lime Flowers

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip

Butterscotch Blondies

Maple leaves and acorns

Ranger Cookies

Snickerdoodles

Sorry this isn't a recipe post. In the past, I was always so tired after baking nonstop (500 cookies people!) that I never properly documented any of it. Last year I made a tiny mention of it in a post so this year I wanted to at least get a picture of the finished product. Of course I forgot to get a picture of the actual finished box with it's cute tags and gold twine bow but that's to be expected when you stay up til 4:45am baking and wake up at 7am to get ready for work. Nonetheless, I'm happy I have pictures of the cookies all together. My goal for the 2014 box is to get progress shots.

Here are a few instagram shots from friends...