Lots of Christmas Cookies

Pin It now! I went home to NJ this wekeend and my mom and I made lots and lots of Christmas cookies.  When we first started, we were excited and thought we should do this all the time and could even start a business.  Yeah right!  By the sixth hour, we had rolled, chilled, and baked so many balls of cookie dough (and then rolled and chilled some more dough) that the idea of starting a cookie business was completely gone.  It was fun though!  We made Chestnut cookies (smitten kitchen's recipe here), Vanilla Sugar Cookies (foodnetwork recipe here) and Gingerbread cookies (the Neely's foodnetwork recipe here).  Even with all the labor-intesive work, the cookies came out really good and perfectly pretty.  Some notes on the cookie recipes... Chestnut cookies: Use more than 1 cup of chopped chestnuts.  I put in 1 1/4 cups and it still wasn't chestnutty enough.  I think 2 cups+ would make it taste stronger.  If you make munchin-sized cookie balls like we did, you need to bake them at least 25 minutes.  I suggest making the balls smaller and the 14-17 minute cooking time would work.  Gingerbread cookies:  Lots more ground ginger!  The recipe says 1 Tb, but I think 1-2 extra tablespoons would make it more ginger-y.  Also, use royal icing for the cookie decoration.  We used some gel pack from the supermarket for a few cookies and the icing never tried.  I used the royal icing at the end of the cookie recipe and piped it with a pastry piping bag and (after practicing on a few cookies), the decorating came out perfectly.

My First Fruit Tart

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my first fruit tart. i've been feeling really domestic lately and i made my first fruit tart using paula deen's recipe. i wanted to "test run" it on my co-workers before i made one for the family on christmas and it was a success. my co-workers loved it and it was really yummy. i guess you can't go wrong with a paula deen receipe!

Crust:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and sliced
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
Fresh strawberries, kiwi slices, blueberries, raspberries
Glaze:
1 (6-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Whipped cream, for garnish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust: In a food processor, combine the confectioners' sugar, flour, and butter, and process until the mixture forms a ball. With your fingers, press the dough into a 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, taking care to push the crust into the indentations in the sides. Pat until the crust is even. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until very lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
For the filling and topping: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Spread over the cooled crust. Cut the strawberries into 1/4-inch slices and arrange around the edge of the crust. For the next circle, use kiwi slices. Add another circle of strawberries, filling in any spaces with blueberries. Cluster the raspberries in the center of the tart.
For the glaze: Combine the limeade, cornstarch, lime juice, and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until clear and thick, about 2 minutes. Let cool. With a pastry brush, glaze the entire tart. You will not use all of the glaze. Keep the tart in the refrigerator. Remove about 15 minutes before serving. Slice into 8 wedges and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.