Possibilities

Wheat Montana Flour

Possibilities in the Pantry

New Find

Home is the Heart of the Holidays

Flour dust floating in the air as Christmas cookies are crafted with care. Fantasy fudge for my college son flying in from Wisconsin, and Grinch cookies for my husband. The flour bag is yet full, newly purchased along with the season's assortment of specialty items.

Chocolate chips. Andes Mints chips. Almond Bark. Pure vanilla. Peppermint extract. Candy canes. Hazelnuts. Chopped dates. Sliced almonds. Peanut butter chips. Pretzels. Roasted peanuts. Cherry filling. Molasses. Powdered sugar. Brown sugar. Moonshine sugar.

The possibilities are endless, including moonshine. But I think I'll skip the moonshine and stick with platefuls of cookies, bars and candies. Maybe I'll make pull-taffy. Maybe I'll try one of those many recipes I've hoarded for years but never made before. Maybe I'll just stick to the classics, the family favorites.

That's the wonder of holiday baking. So many possibilities, so many new and old recipes to try or remake. One cookie make-over this year is the Russian Tea Cake recipe. Years ago, I tried a version that added dried tart cherries and pistachios to the basic recipe. This year those two ingredients were expensive, so I bought dried cranberries and hazelnuts instead.

A new ingredient find is Ghiradelli's Peppermint Bark. That sparks the creative cookie mind! And all three of my grown children will be home with plenty of days for us to all don aprons, dust our hair with flour and discover the possibilities waiting to be baked.