Tis The Season to be Baking

Christmas isn't Christmas without lots of food and gathering of friends and families.
Cookies are staples for bringing up the holiday spirit. This past weekend I have made a 3D Christmas tree, with my favourite basic vanilla cookie dough and decorated with icing, silver candies and gum drops.

It is nice to find a basic cookie dough recipe and adapt it on your own. Cookie doughs are generally very versitile and can be frozen for at least a month. For this holiday season I have made a batch of vanilla and a batch of chocolate cookie dough to stock up for unexpected guests and visitors (or maybe for night snacks - such an evil thought). I have divided the doughs into small portions, wrapped them in plastic wraps and in freezer bags, so I can always defrost a small amount ready to be baked.

With the same batch of dough I have also made stained glass cookies for ornaments for my mini Christmas tree. These stained glass cookies are super easy to make; all you need is some hard candies. First, roll out your basic cookie dough into 1/8" thick and cut to desired shapes with your favourite cookie cutters. Par-bake them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or silicon mat. Using a cleaver, cut hard candies in half to about the size of peas. After the cookies have been in the oven for about 5 minutes, the cookies should be able to hold its shape. Drop the candies within the cut out and bake for the remaining time. Leave the cookies to cool before removing from the silicon mat.

Note: you do not have to cut the candies too small. In fact, cutting them too small will result in bubbles in the "glass". You can always add more candy if you see there are holes in your cookies.