Open (Mouth) Sesmeeee

It's gettin' down to the wire, and I've been doin' tons of cooking and baking this week in prep for Christmas Eve and day. I'm takin' a break from that while my dough starter rises for a crusty Italian bread I'm making called Pugliese. And no, I don't take the cop out route with one of those damn bread machines. I'm ol' school, baby. I like to get my hands gooey.

Anyway, I finally uploaded a shot of the date filled cookies I made last week, along with a pic of another Italian cookie that's long been a favorite of mine; I've always just called them sesame cookies. I did 'em all fancy like this year, studding some with white and some with black sesame seeds. I also added about a tablespoon of tahini to my dough for an extra rich sesame flavor. They came out beautifully. YUM.

Here are the shots. Check out my nifty mirrored platter I used for the sesame cookies. I pull out all the stops.

Date Me

Well, after partyin' with my work buddies last night till the wee hours I'm not going to beat myself up too much about being lame and curling up on the couch tonight. I did manage to get my ass up at a decent hour this morning, hit the Met Foods and pick up stuff to make cookies and muffins with.

I cranked out a huge batch (96 cookies!) of these amazing date filled goodies I make 'round Christmas. (I figured I'd make some things early and freeze them, otherwise I'd be scrambling to make things or just give up and have to narrow down my list, which ain't very kwishmashey.) They're my adaptation of a traditional Italian fig filled cookie my family makes. They go over pretty big, so I figured I'd make lots so I can give a lot away, bring some to work and still have a bunch for Christmas. I'll try to remember to take a pic and post it soon. In fact, maybe I'll be nice and post the recipe, which, as part of my adaptation, actually incorporates The Punk Rock Kitchen's signature Rock-Out Cut-Out recipe.

I also whipped up a batch of orange date walnut muffins for my man to take to work for breakfast. Of course, half the time he forgets to eat the damn things and he'll find a stray muffin lurking in some dank corner of his bag at the end of the week. He doesn't forget Quiznos or White Castle or any of the other vile crap they dish out near his office though! Bitter? Not really. Well, maybe a tad.