Christmas Tree Sandwich Cookies

It's finally here! My LAST day at my day job! ........it doesn't feel real.

It feels like I'll be back here on Monday or come back after my Christmas vacation. My desk is bare, my computer wiped, 401k roll-over paperwork submitted......but on Monday I'll go into auto-pilot and show up at nine!

I've been at this job for seven and a half years! I started this blog at this very desk!

Almost everything I've ever posted.....I posted it while at work. HA!

Luckily my boss is rather a troglodyte and can't seem to figure out how to even send an email! :)

I'm getting oddly nostalgic but it's about everything else I did while I was here!

It's the end of an era!

I planned my wedding, organized trips to twelve or more countries, I remodeled a condo and a rowhouse. I started investing, paid off student loans, found family members I'd lost, and adopted the world's cutest dog!

So many great things happened during these years!

So many baked goods happened.

This is my 286th post as far as I can tell! And it's a cutie!

What's not to love about chocolate shortbread spritz cookies filled with green vanilla buttercream and sprinkles!

I actually put the buttercream IN the cookie press and pressed the buttercream onto the cookies! You can tell on that bottom cookie! It was SO much easier than trying to frost them with knife! I LOVE it. I'll be doing that again!

I can't think of a cuter treat to mark the end of this era! Happy little trees for a happy "retiree!" 

Christmas Tree Sandwich Cookies
makes roughly 48 cookies and 24 sandwich cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tbs. dutch cocoa

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
green food coloring
sprinkles

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add dry ingredients and mix well.

Put tree disc and dough into cookie press and press onto the prepared baking sheets. Place baking sheets in refrigerator for half an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

Remove from fridge and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack.

Allow to cool before icing.

Whip butter, salt, vanilla and green food coloring till creamy then whip in powdered sugar in a stand mixer. Beat on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Gently add in the sprinkles and mix a few times.

Fill the cookie press (still with the tree disc) with buttercream frosting. Place one cookie face down. Hover a bit over the cookie when pressing buttercream on the cookie. One press will do.

Gently set another cookie on top.

Allow to set for one hour.

Chocolate Cherry Blossoms

Like chocolate? Like maraschino cherries? YES! Then there's no way you won't love these Chocolate Cherry Blossoms!

Today is my last Monday at day job! Just four more days to freedom! 

I'm sure you just grumbled. Probably cursed me a little in your mind. Or out loud. It's Monday. Why?! Why does she get to retire?! 

We call it retirement. It is and it isn't. I'll be doing more baking (I KNOW. STOP HATING) but I'll also be putting in the rest of my time on restoring our 1920s rowhouse. I'll be stripping paint off nearly every surface in the house, sanding, endlessly filling in one hundred year old nail holes in the window molding, priming, painting, installing crown molding. Glamorous, I know. 

I'm planning to put in a good 40 hours a week on home repairs. That's my "retirement." 

Add caption

I'm beyond thrilled by it. I love Nichole Curtis. She is my spirit animal. I watch Rehab Addict and think "Man. That's me! That's what I want to do!" 

And now I will. I really truly will. It's the cherry on the sundae!  

It'll be exhausting, but rewarding. 

But I'm not completely crazy. I will take a month off before I start in. A month of warmth in sunny Arizona. Lots of sleep and recuperation for the holidays!

My mother and I will actually start putting together a new project: our family cookbook! 

I've volunteered to cook and photograph all the recipes that are added to it. Can you say DAUNTING?! Do you know how many family members I have?!? 

And then my mom says "Oh, and be sure to pick out some of your favorites too!" 

Ummmmm....that could be a book by itself! 

But until then, I leave you with a new cookies I made over the weekend: Chocolate Cherry Blossoms!

I hope you love them!


Chocolate Cherry Blossoms

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tbs. dutch cocoa

3 cubes chocolate bark
40 maraschino cherries

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Drain maraschino cherries and set aside to dry.

Cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add dry ingredients and mix well.

Put dough into cookie press and press onto the prepared baking sheets. Place baking sheets in refrigerator for half an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

Remove from fridge and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack.

Allow to cool before icing.

Microwave chocolate bark for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted.

Dab a small bit of chocolate into the middle of the cookie. Dip a maraschino cherry into the chocolate and then place on the chocolate dab on the cookie.

Repeat for remaining cookies and cherries.

Allow to set for one hour.

Toffee Chocolate Chip Shortbread

One. More. Week. 

That is exactly how long there is until my "retirement." Well......7 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes and 35 seconds........but who's counting? ME. I am. Very much. 

Quitting my job is genuinely frightening. As much as I loathe don't like my day job it has this annoying habit of providing a sense of security....and pays bills. 

As excited as I am to be moving on to a new adventure, there are two parts of my personality battling it out in the back of my head. 

Me: FREEDOM! 

Me: OMG, money! I need money! 

Me: You'll be so much happier! 

Me: I'll be broke! Poor! What if I fail and lose it all?! 

Me: But you can sleep in everyday! 

Me: Oooooh....sleeeeeep.....

The side that gets the most sleep always wins...big part of why I don't have kids yet, either. Hmmm. 

I find my retirement nerves are only truly satisfied with Pinterest and baked goods. Probably why I've already made spritz cookies and cinnamon slowflakes already this week! The closer I get to the big day the more I find myself in the kitchen!...and pouting in bed that I still have to wake up! lol. 

The latest batch I made is your basic log, cut and bake shortbread. To jazz it up I through in some mini chocolate chips and toffee chunks. By some I mean a ton.  Some people medicate with pills, some with toffee bits! You don't blog this much without a healthy appreciation for eating your feelings! :) 

I hope you enjoy! 

Toffee & Chocolate Chip Shortbread

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

2/3 cup toffee pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add flours and mix well. Add chocolate chips and toffee pieces and mix again.

Shape dough into a log, wrap in wax paper and allow to rest in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into 1/8th inch thick slices. Place cookies onto a lined baking sheet. Chill in refrigerator for another half hour.

Remove from fridge and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack.