Once there was a crappy cookie maker...but not anymore!

Growing up I loved watching my mom cook various things like bread, casseroles and of course cookies. I remember attempting to make a long tedious bread cake from one of her recipe books with a friend when we were 10 years old. We slaved in the kitchen, asking my mom for help when we needed it. The end result wasn't as tasty as I'd hoped, so I didn't know if it was us that sucked or if the recipe sucked. But it was still a neat remarkable thing that we accomplished. And so as I've grown up I've always loved trying and making new things, but for some reason I was always annoyed with making cookies. I made them a couple times, but would get bored with the list of ingredients and hated the taste of the end result. I hated crunchy hard cookies, such as hard gingerbread or chocolate chip cookies, which were how some of my moms cookies were, I wanted them soft. And believe it or not, I'm not a huge chocoholic like most women in the world, another reason why I didn't like chocolate chip cookies very much. But hey! I'm not dissing all of my sweet mothers cookies! She made some of the most amazing Christmas cookies EVER! And since I've been married, I've mastered most of my mother's wonderful family casseroles and dinners, (I've also invented some of my own dishes and discovered our own family favorite recipes). Like I said, I love to make new recipes ALL the time! Anyhow, I haven't tried making her cookies yet, and ever since I've become a mother, I've wanted to try various cookie recipes and find ones that I will make throughout the year and make every year for Christmas. I want my children to love my cookies and love making them with me. We all know that food are tied with memories. We all have a favorite dessert or cookie that makes us flashback to great times with our families.

My husband will ask me often, "What's for dessert?" (and they say women have the bigger sweet tooth, Humph! ~rolls eyes~) He knows we can't have dessert all the time. But of course, the hard working man that he is, deserves a treat! ;) So I've made brownies for him often. And he loves cookies, so I had to get over not wanting to make them. All year I tried several chocolate chip cookie recipes, until he told me he loved them (and I had to love them too!) So I will tell you, I now can Love a chocolate chip cookie. Why? because this recipe keeps them soft, the way I like it. And I had to change something else in order for me to like them... my little secret, (which my neighbor now loves) is using milk chocolate (Belgian especially) instead of semi-sweet chocolate! (am I the only one that thinks semi-sweet chocolate gets old and nasty after one or two bites?!?) So I conquered the chocolate chip cookie search! finally!

So I knew I could embark on the tougher cookie recipes....Christmas cookies! I have a ton of recipes so I went through them. I had to find something with cranberry. To me, Cranberry anything screams Christmas! I love the smell, the taste, the look, everything about it. They are beautiful & delicious in every way. I decorate with it, so I have to cook with it! :) So, I made Betty Crocker's Cranberry Orange Pinwheels. They were excellent! My mom and friends adored them! (my mom made a similar recipe to these that I'd forgotten about.) Even Taylor liked them, and he's not fond of most cranberry foods, I was surprised he even tried it, haha! And the other cookie I made are called Walnut Balls, but I call them Walnut Snowballs. They are so yummy, they melt in your mouth. So I'm thrilled that I've gone from crappy cookie-maker to cookie crackerjack...(so far! and I'm forever grateful to my mother-in-law for giving me a Kitchen Aid mixer, it makes it more easy & fun!) Because when it comes down to it, either I just suck at making the cookie or the cookie recipe simply just sucks!