The Kittchen is a Holiday Cookie Factory

T and I have both been getting home really late this week, so the Kittchen's output is at an all-time low, except for the lunches I've been packing us (not thrilling, trust me). But wait! I have some pretty pictures of the thumbprint cookies I made that I'm going to post in order to trick you into thinking that I'm a prolific chef.

I rolled some of the cookies in crushed almonds. See?

Because the exactness of baking intimidates me, I got about as un-creative as possible and followed a Martha Stewart recipe for one cookie dough, four ways in order to make vanilla and chocolate cookie dough for the gazillion thumbprint cookies we gave as gifts to T's platoon.

Then, I rolled some of the cookies in Turbinado sugar.

It's funny how something as simple as rolling cookie dough in sugar or crushed almonds can make the end-product look so much more professional. I also like the way the crushed almonds hide the fact that quite a few of my cookies cracked open on one side.

The empty spots represent cookies that I sampled...for quality control.

I got so stressed out trying to fill the cookies with raspberry preserves and chocolate ganache without making a giant mess that I kind of forgot to take pictures until this morning. As a result, I have no pictures of the mind-numbingly good cookies that I double-filled with both raspberry preserves and peanut butter chocolate ganache.

Dear Kitt, please remember to take food pictures during the day. Love, Kitt

Our wedding guests will recognize the &$#*^%# York Pieces we gave away as favors in little mason jars (our color scheme was blue and white)...we ended up with about ten bags too many, so I've been sprinkling them into every baked gift I give.

Probably the best thing about doing this (or the worst, depending on how you look at it) was that I discovered how simple it is to make homemade ganache. And I'm slowly coming around to baking, because it's such a fantastic source of holiday gifts that people actually want.

After all, which would you rather eat? A tie? Or a homemade cookie? Unless you're a goat or a rogue paper shredder, I bet you chose the cookie.