So, I’m not a very good weight loser. I think I’m supposed to at least pretend that I don’t eat a bunch of junk … but I think it’s pretty well documented that I DO eat a bunch of junk on a limited basis. I think I’m not supposed to push junk on other people … but … not so good at that, either.

We (I) decided that I (we) would take cookies/candy to my family this year – and yesterday was the day to do it.

Jon tried to tell me that it would be an all day event, but I didn’t believe him until 9 last night when I realized we had started the whole shebang at 8AM and I was still going. Seriously. ALL DAY.

We made chocolate/walnut fudge, peppermint bark, gingerbread cookies, apricot and nut cookies w/amaretto icing and cookie dough truffles.

I think this would be a good time to say that I don’t get paid to advertise anything, in general – I’ve never received anything for free, either. I do this solely for fun – take pictures of whatever’s on my mind – nothing else – I’m sure that’s pretty obvious.

We made 10 dozen cookie dough truffles because … we’re crazy? Any guesses how long it takes to make 120 balls of cookie dough and then later dip them all in chocolate?

A LONG fucking time.

I am a huge fan of gingerbread – thick, soft and spicy only – which is exactly how ours turned out. I didn’t get around to icing them until fairly late into the night … which is when I discovered that the initial icing I chose would not dry enough to package these cookies.

Went to get more sugar and switched.

SO GOOD. I wait for gingerbread all year.

It was sometime after that I realized I couldn’t just throw this stuff into the tins and be done with it.

It was pretty late and there was no way in hell I was going BACK to the store, so I improvised and cut the zippers off of some ziplocs and found something to tie it all with.

The apricot and nut cookies turned out ok. Jon likes them a lot – I prefer everything else.

I have no pictures of the fudge because it was late by the time I got around to cutting it and packaging it and I was over it. We doubled that recipe, too, so I think it’s safe to say we’ll be eating fudge for several months.

We had a really good time doing this despite the fact that our kitchen is the size of most people’s bathrooms. And despite the fact that I am a FREAK about things being clean and organized and orderly. I think I swept the kitchen about 5 times yesterday.

We’re on our way to Memphis today. SO excited to see everyone and force them to eat my junk.