12 Days of Christmas Cookie 7 & 8 - Apple Butterscotch Bar & Gingersnap Cookie

The snow just would not stop. It dumps another 3 inches last night and will continue to snow another 3 to 5 inches today. All the snow shuffling and work almost leave me no time to bake and post. No need to go to the gym for a while thanks to all the snow shuffling. I actually have completed the baking of all 12 Christmas cookies but could not find time to post them. Anyway, here is the apple butterscotch bars.
This is a very moisture cookie. The crust is made of butter, graham cracker crumbles. Then, sweet condensed milk, chopped apples, butterscotch chips, coconut flakes, and chopped pecans are put layer by layer on the top of the crust. Very interesting flavors! The next one is the gingersnap cookie. The name says it all! The dark molasses combined with ground ginger and crystallized ginger! Now it is time to go back to work so I can go home earlier to clean the snow of driveway again!

12 Days of Christmas Cookie 5 & 6- Seven layer Cookie and Anise Cookie

At the end of the big snow we got yesterday, there was at almost 15 inches (38cm) snow on the ground, I just could help but jump on the snow and make a snow angel! That was just one the few fun we could get besides the hours of backbreaking snow shuffling. And the weather forecast says that the next snow storm will get to here again tonight and dump another 6-9 inches (15 cm to 23 cm) snow tonight to tomorrow morning. With the snow we just got yesterday, we would not be able to see the cars from the other directions on any intersections. Bad bad winter.

Continued the holiday cookie feast, here is the popular 7-layer cookie. What are the 7 layers? They are butter, graham cracker crumbles, sweet condensed milk, semi-sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut flakes, and chopped pecans! Again, I replace the graham crackers crumble with gluten-free flour substitute mixture + brown sugar + salt + baking powder so even the gluten-free diet friends can enjoy it. It made the crust more soft and moisture but still very tasty.

Next is the anise cookie based on the recipe from one friend's grandmother. I have made it several years. It is a complicated cookie to make since it requires a long cold storage process to get a glaze on the cookie.

12 Inches Snow And 12 Days of Christmas Cookie 4 - Mint Chocolate Rice Crackers

Have I mentioned that I am so tired of snow already? It's the biggest snow storm so far this year. It drops 12 inches (30cm) of the snow since midnight last night and still comes down more. You cannot even see the road on this picture anymore. It causes a mess on the roads and all local schools are closed. The police department asks people to stay at home and off the road if possible. Guess it will be another day to work from home.

Here is another batch of cookies I made. They are the rice crackers covered by mint chocolate and sprinkled with ground mint candies. So even the gluten-free diet friends can enjoy them.

Christmas Time Is Office Indulging Time!

Finally, we got the first Christmas gift from the vendors. It is a big 60oz glass jar of mixed-nuts. There are walnuts, pecans, almonds, and macadamia, all roasted with salt. Half of the jar has been gone in less 30 minutes!Talking about getting yourself some winter fat!

12 Days of Christmas Cookie 3 - Raspberry Chocolate Bars

This is my favorite cookie bar this year. The crust is made of brown sugar, vanilla extract, flour and oats. It is covered with a layer of semi-sweet chocolate chips then another layer of raspberry jam. Finally, the streusel made of the same ingredients as the crust on top. Yummy!

And it snowed another 5 inches (13 cm) last night and caused the usual traffic problem again this morning. The usual 30-minute commuting time became 1 hour. And the weather forecasts says that there will be another even bigger one tomorrow afternoon to Friay morning. It predicts up to 1 foot (31 cm) snow accumulation. If you like white Christmas, this will be your chance to visit mid-west!

12 Days of Christmas Cookie 2 - Lemon Heaven Dessert Squares

It is finally Friday! It is extremely cold today. The highest temperture is only 10'F (-12'C) outside. The clear sky just makes it even colder and the sun really does not help that much.

Here is the second cookie I made last night, lemon heaven dessert squares. Nice pastry crust made of flour, oats and lemon zests. The filling is made of condensed milk and lemon juice. It's the nice combination of sweet and sour. Happy weekend and no more snow!