Twenty-Four Days of Baking Madness....A Sweet a Day til Christmas!!

With the passing of Thanksgiving, the holiday season is in full swing.  There was barely time for a second helping of turkey and pumpkin pie before the frenzy of activity and festivity began.  It's only November 30, and any number of homes in my 'hood are already outfitted with twinkle lights, Christmas wreaths and bobbing reindeer, and the tv, newspapers and internet are crammed with ads for "great deals" just about everywhere on just about everything. 

Some people get into the spirit of the season by decorating.  Some get into the spirit of the season by shopping.  And some people, like me, prefer to get into the spirit of the season by baking.  A lot.  So while my friends and neighbors were wrestling with Christmas lights and untangling yards of garland, or making lists of toys and stocking stuffers, I was ticking off my own list of essentials - ten pounds of flour and sugar?  Check.  Nine pounds of butter?  Check.  (Which, by the way, was recently $1.50 a pound at both Publix and Walmart - woo woo!!).  Shortening, chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, cranberries, coconut, brown sugar, confectioners sugar, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream?  Check, check, checkity check!

Every year I jokingly say that my unofficial personal motto during the holiday season is "a cookie a day til Christmas".  Most years (okay, every year to date) I lose my mojo a few weeks into December, mostly because I start the month fueled by a little too much holiday cheer, whipping out 3 or 4 different cookies a day, then burning out when my supplies or my sugar rush run out.  This year, however, will be different.  This year I have a well-stocked pantry.  This year I have a plan.  And it's a good one.  I'm going make one and only one cookie a day (it actually will be more like a sweet a day, because it really wouldn't be fair to ignore some of the fabulous recipes for cakes and other confections that are out there) til Christmas.  So, for those of you who are following, that's 24 different treats in 24 days.  And to make it a little more difficult, I'm not going to fall back on some of my favorite holiday recipes that I've already posted (like ginger cookies, fudge, and peanut butter incredibles), and I'm going to blog about it every day until Christmas.

For those of you who are wondering what I have in mind, here's my list...

1. Rum Balls
2. Laird's Larder Millionaire Shortbread
3. Pretzel-Rolo-Pecan "Turtles"
4. Popcorn Brittle
5. Chinese Chews
6. Angel Wings
7. Coconut Sandwich Cookies
8. Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies
9. Surprise Cookies
10. Pecan Tartlets
11. Peppermint Bark
12. Shortbread
13. Sour Cream Pound Cake
14. Cookie Dough Truffles
15. 7 Layer Bars
16. Rugelach
17. Chocolate Thumbprints
18. Peanut Butter Bon Bons
19. Spritz
20. Oreo Truffles
21. Almond Crescents
22. Nutella Sandwiches
23. Linzer Cookies
24. Buche de Noel

 Let the baking commence!