Christmas Cookies - Again!

Saturday morning the girls came to decorate their Christmas cookies. We had such a good time!

Audrey's favorite color is STILL yellow, so every year she mixes the yellow frosting.

Isabel. As an aside, there was an open mike at her school on Friday during lunchtime and she got up to sing "Jingle Bells" in front of the entire school! Way to go, Isabel! Would she sing it for us??? NO!!

Brett and Esther came to join in the fun. It was a sugary, sprinkley, wonderland of sweet!

Moira, little Miss Perfectionist! She really got creative in decorating her cookies. She's always been a girl who loves patterns. She spelled out her nickname "Mo" in red hots on one cookie.

I've been on a peppermint bark kick! Found a recipe for Peppermint Bark Popcorn that sounded yummy! Love it.

Here's the recipe from www.ourbestbites.com.

Peppermint Bark Popcorn
16-20 cups popped popcorn (fresh popped is best, NOT microwave which has that funky yellow color)
1 lb. almond bark
1 6-ounce box of candy canes (Bob's is best), crushed
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (I used 1 cup)

Crush the candy canes in a ziploc bag. Pop the corn. I put in 200 degree oven to keep warm.

Melt almond bark in a double boiler. Stir until completely melted. Quickly add peppermint extract. This is where is gets tricky - it will seize very fast so quickly stir and pour over popcorn. Blend. (I used my hands - it was hot). Add crushed candy canes. Stir, stir, to blend all. Pour out on wax paper- or foil-lined baking sheets.

Melt chocolate chips in double boiler. I added 1/4 teaspoon vegetable oil. Drizzle over popcorn mixture. Let set. When hardened, package in bags or gift boxes. Yum!