So far, tightly wrapped chocolate chip cookies, date bars, decorated sugar cookies (sans precision) and peppermint cookies. I tuck them away until the company comes. Have one “kid” with a tree nut allergy; so tend to omit nuts. The date bars would be better with them.
Do very little baking apart from holidays and events. Happy baking!
My MIL used to make date bars. I LOVED them! I don’t know if any of my family would eat them - but boy, one sure sounds good!
@doschicos It helps that I like to bake and I am home every morning. I probably should be going to the gym instead of entering my kitchen because I taste way too much. 
It also helps that I have many neighbors on the “elderly” side so they actually like fruitcakes. lol
You caught me at the right time, exhausted on the couch after a day of baking.
Twenty years or more ago, 3 friends and I started baking together one afternoon close to Xmas. We usually make 2 or 3 batches each, which translates to a lot of cookies! We chat, catch up, eat snacks, have tea or eggnog and bake away. My contributions this year include krumkake, chocolate pinwheels, and coconut macroons. But the others made cutout cookies, lemon bars, nanaimo bars, frosted date bars, kolache, and some other sorts of bars. We are a nut free baking due to peanut allergies in two families, and all nut allergies in one of those. I love nuts however, so at home make some brandy balls similar to the recipe above, and we make almond butter buckeyes at times as well.
Most of this will go to neighbors, friends and those who have helped me out this past year, but will take some to London where I’ll meet my daughter next week.
The creme de cacao balls we always make in our family are similar to the rum balls mentioned above, with oreos instead of vanilla wafers and creme de cacao instead of rum. So yummy, but probably sweeter than the rum balls.
I had a hankering to bake yesterday & made a lot of cookies. Okay … how do I keep them fresh the next couple weeks? I used to bake a lot of Christmas cookies when I was a teenager, but my brothers ate them as fast as I baked them!
Freeze them.
Mine go directly from the cooling rack to the freezer. Each variety in a different container. Maybe that’s why I can leave them alone - they are out of sight out of mind. When I need some for us or an event, I take a plate down to the freezer and load it up.
I baked all day yesterday and made a ton of cookies and some gingerbread. Chocololate-orange almond biscotti is my gift-giving treat for co-workers and neighbors. Because we moved recently and I now work from home, it was nice to just make a single batch for us and not have all those boxes to pack and distribute. Grinchy, I know. 
I started baking yesterday and will probably be at it, at least for part of each day, until Thursday when the family starts to arrive. This is what I’m making this year which includes everyone’s favorites and a few newer additions.
Ritz/Skor squares
Chocolate Graham squares
Crunchy Peanut Butter cookies
Peanut Butter fudge
Italian Cream Cheese poundcake
Blueberry Buckle
Snickerdoodle Blondies
Chocolate Chip Pie
Christmas S’Mores
Peanut Butter Crackle cookies
Christmas Crack Candy
Nanaimo Bars
I buy a bunch of inexpensive holiday cookie tins at the dollar store early in the season and make up tins for friends, neighbours, the man who delivers our newspapers at 5 a.m. everyday and always gets it right at our front door, the girls at the salon where I have gone for 25 years, the vet and her staff who have looked after our dogs for almost three decades, the tireless staff at the theatre company that I’m involved with, and, of course, there is lots left over for the family. There goes the timer, have to run! I love this time of year.
I have never heard of Nanaimo bars, but after looking at Wikipedia, I’ve eaten them before without knowing the name.
Snickerdoodle blondies sound delicious.
@Madison85 - I’ve made what we call “Almond Roca” for over 40 years, which looks very similar to your toffee recipe. My recipe is slightly different, but it is amazing and it’s the one thing my friends and family request I make every year.
I typically make it just at Christmas time, but D’s bf requested it for his late July birthday.
@Madison85 If you’d like the Blondie recipe, let me know and I can PM it to you.
@alwaysamom - I would love the snickerdoodle blondies receipe, snickerdoodles are my favorite! :x
@alwaysamom If you would be kind enough to send me that recipe as well, I would appreciate it.
Okey dokey! Sent. If anyone else wants it, just let me know.
I’d love the Almond Roca recipe now that I am the proud owner of a candy thermometer, or any other family favorites (caramels?) that call for a candy thermometer.
Here’s my Almond Roca recipe:
1 lb butter
2 cups + 1 heaping tablespoon granulated white sugar
1 cup almonds, skin on - these will be inside the candy. You can use whole, or cut large, or sliced
2 cups almonds, skin on, finely chopped and toasted (for outside coating)
Approximately 8 oz milk chocolate for the outside coating (can you use dark or white chocolate if preferred) - I use chocolate bars
Butter a 12 x 14 jelly roll style pan. (larger pans will make thinner candy; smaller pans will result in thicker)
Melt butter in heavy saucepan (about 2 ½ - 3 quart size). Add sugar. Cook about 5 minutes over medium to medium low heat, stirring constantly. Then add 1 cup almonds (larger size). Cook stirring constantly until it reaches 295º on candy thermometer. This will take quite a long time. When it reaches the correct temperature, pour into buttered pan. Let set for a few minutes to begin to harden, but while still hot spread with ½ of the chocolate. If using a candy bar, break into smaller pieces and place on surface of candy to let heat of the candy melt the chocolate and spread. Sprinkle 1 cup finely chopped toasted almonds on top of the chocolate.
Let candy/chocolate coating cool/harden. Loosen edges with a spatula, turn over candy out of pan (can use a cutting board covered in wax paper). Melt the remaining chocolate, spread on other side, sprinkle with 1 cup remaining finely chopped toasted almonds.
To serve: after chocolate on second side cools/hardens, break candy into pieces. Or, to store, can wrap large pieces and freeze.
Notes:
To toast almonds for outside coating: after chopping/grinding; spread in baking pan and toast for 7-10 minutes at 325, or until lightly browned.
When cooking butter/sugar mixture, if butter separates out, can add one teaspoon of water at a time and stir to bring mixture back together. Do not use too high of heat – will cause mixture to separate.
I started amassing all the ingredients for Christmas dinner (really, it’s lunch here, but dinner-sized) earlier this week, so I have a bourbon maple ham in the fridge, and a 14 lb turkey that is slowly thawing.
Turkey still needs the bottle of white wine and the lb of butter to cook it in, and I’ll pick up the rest of the dinner ingredients later this week.
This weekend I tried a new (healthier) cookie-cranberry white chocolate chip oatmeal. It was a HUGE success and they were all gone in a day. H keeps asking me to make another batch, but I’m going to wait until the weekend because I will eat them all week. On the upside, they have a lot less sugar than the traditional chocolate chip cookies I’ve made in the past, and the dough seems to be amenable to using different ingredients like nuts instead of chips.
It is on the back of the craisins bag, if anyone wants to try it