Lauren Loves Good Food

Christmas Truths

December 26, 2011

tags: baking, Beanie, Bread, Chocolate, Dad, dessert, family, holiday, Huni, Joey, Mom

1. The iPhone makes my life 100x better.

And by that I mean it makes me 100x more inclined to make my daily happenings public on Twitter.

I predict my tweet frequency will increase by at least 80%. Feel free to unfollow me now before things get out of control.

2. And speaking of the iPhone, a family that iPhones together, stays together.

3. It doesn’t matter how many times you show your dad how to use wrapping paper, every year all the presents your mom opens from him, you will have wrapped.

I helped free of charge this year.

And don’t even bother trying to tell him how to fold the tissue paper that sticks out of the top of the bag over the phone.

4. The baby always steals the show.

And rightly so.

5. If the “lil sister” is stealing the show, you can bet the big brother is trying to cause trouble somewhere else.

No, please, help yourself to the entire bowl of fruit.

6. Mom’s cooking is the best.

She thought up an idea for a breakfast burrito casserole with a green chili sauce and it was absolutely fantastic.

And her french toast casserole never fails to please.

7. If there’s a baby in the room, breakfast has to be eaten in shifts.

Your turn.

8. Post Christmas brunch lounging is a must.

This is also known as the part of the morning when Joey spreads himself across all three bar stools and plays with the baby’s toys.

9. No Christmas is complete without weird face photos.

I smell a Christmas card picture.

10. And while we’re on that note, Photobooth might be the world’s most entertaining program.

Do not leave your new iPad in the hands of the Dorseys. You’ll be standing at the door trying to leave for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, we’ll be in tears laughing at how we’d look if we were all obese or had extremely pointy chins and noses. And we won’t even notice that you’re trying to escape.

Did you think I was going to share a picture? Fat chance. I do have some self respect.

11. Family is the absolute best.

12. It is entirely possible to fit 3 large meals, plus pie and an unhealthy number of truffles in your body in one day.

But it’s not recommended.

Except I would totally do it again. Just give me a year to recover.

13. Drinking 3 glasses of wine will have you and your sister convinced that you should probably both quit your jobs and go backpacking in Europe.

You just need to win the lottery first.

14. “It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas” is actually the song that accompanies the moment when you wake up on December 26th to an living room covered in gift wrap and boxes of presents.

Help me.

15. Getting presents is nice. Giving presents is better. Laughing, eating, drinking and making memories with family and friends is better than any present will ever be.

Except maybe the iPhone. Just kidding.

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What was the best part of your Christmas?

What was your favorite gift that you gave/received?

Best Christmas dish?

One Last Cookie and 12 Cookie Baking Lessons

December 23, 2011

You didn’t think I could go through 12 cookies in December without including the sugar cookie did you?

Come on, it’s a holiday classic!

And if you’re in extreme need of a no-fail basic sugar cookie recipe, try this one. It results in the fluffiest sugar cookie ever. Seriously, it was like a small biscuit.

But word to the wise, it has to chill for 2 hours, so plan ahead.

Told you. Small biscuit.

Sugar cookies aren’t the most sophisticated. But they’re just plain fun.

And because it’s the last cookie post (in this series, at least :P), here are 12 things I’ve learned. One for each cookie.

P.S. If you click on the picture it will send you to the original post!

1. Plan ahead, especially if you need softened butter.

Don’t even think about touching that microwave.

2. Don’t use a whisk to mix dough.

You’re probably saying duh right now. I am too now that I’ve seen what happens when you use a whisk.

3. If your dough doesn’t come together right away, don’t jump to add more flour or liquid.

Give it some time, and I bet it will come together.

4. Don’t judge a cookie by it’s cover.

Vegan doesn’t always mean healthy and whole wheat doesn’t always mean boring.

5. Cookies made with love, will taste like love.

6. Family cookie recipes never disappoint.

7. Crack your eggs in a separate bowl.

If you happen to get shells in the bowl, at least it won’t be in the same one as the one with the rest of your cookie ingredients and you won’t have to go digging through white chocolate chips or graham cracker crumbles to find it.

8. Some cookies are worth the extra trouble.

9. Don’t over refrigerate your dough.

2 days is over refrigerating.

10. Butter, white flour and sugar are not to be feared.

They’re to be eaten. Duh.

In all seriousness, I have eaten at least one cookie every day for the past 23 days and guess what. I’m not obese. Imagine that.

11 . Successful baking, like anything else, requires confidence.

If you believe you can do it, you can.

12. Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are still my favorite.

Happy Friday and a very Merry Christmas, my friends.

Joey’s Favorite Cookie

December 22, 2011

tags: 12 days of cookies, baking, Cookies, dessert, holiday, Joey

We’re in the home stretch, friends.

After this post, I will have one single cookie post left. And good thing, because I have cookies piling up in my kitchen and something tells me cookies won’t make good leftovers in place of real food.

Anyways, when I started this whole “12 Days of Cookies” thing, I asked Joey what his favorite cookie was. His answer: white chocolate chip macadamia. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Joey eat a white chocolate macadamia cookie. But he insisted it was indeed his favorite so I just shut my mouth. And started looking for the perfect recipe.

I went with this one.

I swear the macadamia nuts fell out of the bag in that shape.

Okay, it was almost that shape.

Do you want to hear my opinion on white chocolate chip macadamia cookies?

White chocolate macadamia cookies? The ones that you always think are just white chocolate and then get pissed off when you bite into a macadamia nut?

Yeah, I totally love those ones…