Cookies, Cookies, and more Cookies (and Lobster)

Don't worry there are no Lobster cookies!!

Well my unexpected day off Friday was VERY productive...I got SO much Christmas shopping done!! Yay! I also met a friend for lunch while I was out, got a manicure, and returned to my apt and got back to work on my Gingerbread cookies.

All I had to do was get together the wet ingredients, and then add the dry ingredients that I assembled that morning.

I love whenever I can use my Kitchen Aid Mixer :) It was an engagement gift from my grandmother!

Then the dough went into the fridge for the evening.

Saturday morning I got up early (well early for a weekend) and headed to the gym to have another go with running :) I love that 5k map on the treadmill. I did another 5k worth plus a little extra, but it took me about 1min longer than last week...I had more walk breaks (a couple cramps) and just overall not feeling as great with it as last time. I still felt like I had an amazing workout though!!

I came back, ate some fruit, and took out my cookie dough and cookie cutters.

This part is definitely the simplest. Rolled it out nice and thick, made little gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and snow men!
Ready to go into the oven:

The aftermath!Fresh hot cookies

I also made some with my mini cookie cutters because I love bite size things!

Then they sat and cooled while I got my frosting ready!When it comes to nice soft gingerbread cookies, I just cannot justify using the plaster-like "stuff" that sometimes ends up on cookies because it's easy to decorate with. It may look pretty but I'm all about TASTE!!

That's why I go for straight up butter cream!I basically use the recipe on the box of Domino Confectioners Sugar that consists of 4 things: Butter, Confectioners Sugar, Vanilla, and Milk! This stuff is Incredible!!

I made some green for my trees

I did make a little decorating icing (confect. sugar and water) to add a little detail to my cookies, but the main flavor is the delicious butter cream.
I made a tray to take to my mom's for the annual Cookie Swap on Sunday. Every year my mom and her sisters, sisters-in law, and my grandmother get together for the cookie swap. No kids allowed, but seeing as this year my mom is hosting I was able to help out.

Pretty cookies, and olives on the coffee table.

Cookies!Cookies!More CookiesHoly Cookies! And they are all SO good :) I made myself a nice plate (or two) to take home with a sampling of them all.

They set up the cookie swap like afternoon tea. My grandmother has a large collection of tea cups and she gives away 1 to each aunt every year....this years selectionsThe one my mom took isn't in the picture, she grabbed it before anyone else got there hehe.
The table...We made little finger sandwiches...chicken salad, egg salad (gross), and lobster salad (!!!).

My mom saved all the lobster shells, and I took them home. I figured I have a go at making Lobster Bisque, so last night I started with a stock.

I'm sure there are way better versions but I wanted something EASY...so I just put all the shells, some celery, carrots, onion and a bay leaf into a stock pot and simmered for 3.5 hours.
So tonight I need to figure out how to make the actual soup from my stock. We'll see how that goes...it smelt SO good though (well if you LOVE lobster I like do)

Roomie and I also decorated our tree last night!
We had bought it Friday but let it hang out for a while, and did some pruning. It's still pretty wide haha!

I'm also SUPER excited for my lunch...my mom got me an extra lobster, so I am having a big lobster salad pita really soon