Cookie party

The Saturday before Christmas we headed down to NC for the annual Christmas cookie party.  My Mom and two of her closest friends from her teaching days, Marge and Vicky, have been having this party every year for as long as I can remember.  We think it has been at least 20 years.  It is always a fun time, with a lot of changes over the years.  We've invited friends to come along, tried out new recipes, and added a lot of babies over the years!  We even found out that there will be another baby there next Christmas!!  Marge's oldest daughter Valerie is expecting a baby girl in March!  This year we had Valerie's son Caleb (19 months?), My Maddox (almost 16 months), Emily's kids Taylor (6) and Anderson (2.5).  We joked around saying that we will need a babysitter next year in order to get any cooking done- but I think we'd probably need TWO babysitters!

Mom, Anderson, and Emily working hard.

Mdx loved walking around with Grammy's cellphone- I NEVER give her mine, so it was a treat!  Hopefully she didn't call Andrea in Germany- I guess Mom will find out when she gets the bill.

We brought toys, which Anderson and Taylor enjoyed playing with.

The end result- this isn't even all the cookies!

The best new recipe of the year was:

Mocha Toffee Truffles- recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies Special Edition from 2001.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup semisweet choc. pieces

1 T. instant coffee crystals

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 -4.5 oz. package English toffee pieces

4 oz. milk choc., melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the butter and choc. pieces in a large saucepan over low heat.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in coffee crystals; cool for 5 min.  Stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Stir into coffee mixture.  Stir in the toffee pieces.  Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 min.  Let cool for 1 min on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.  If desired, drizzle with melted milk choc.