I love cookies. Truly love them. And from the reaction I received on Instagram and Facebook when I posted this picture, clearly y'all love cookies too. On Thursday I'll share more cookie inspiration, but first, here are two amazing cookies I brought to a cookie party on Sunday. They're classically holiday (in the buttery goodness sense) and worked well as small bites for the sampling party. Many people asked for the recipes/sources, so here they are:

1. CHEWY CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

These chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies via Martha Stewart are simply perfect. There's fresh grated ginger in them but it's not overpowering and I love the marrying of flavors. My only deviation from the recipe is that I rolled the balls to 1-inch (smaller than in the recipe) so they would be bite sized.

2. COCONUT-LIME SNOWBALL COOKIES

This was my first time making these coconut-lime snowball cookies and they were AWESOME. This recipe comes from Baking Illustrated, with annotations below.

Cookie ingredients:

• 2.5 cups flour
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softed but still cool, cut into 16 pieces
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature

Glaze ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1.5 cups (6 oz) confectioners' sugar
• 1.5 cups sweetened shredded coconut, pulsed in food processor until finely chopped, about 15 1-second pulses

1. Mix flour, sugar, salt, and lime zest in an electric mixer to combine. With the mixer running on low, add butter, 1 piece at a time, until the mixture looks crumbly, about 1 minute longer. Add vanilla and cream cheese and mix on low until clumps begin to form.
2. Turn dough into a bowl and knead/press together until dough sticks together. Don't panic if there are some crumbly bits...just stick it all together. Split dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place on parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheets about 1.5 inches apart and bake about 12 minutes, until bottom edges very lightly browned. Cool completely.
4. To make glaze, whisk cream cheese, lime juice, and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Dip cookie tops in glaze and scrape away excess then dip in coconut. Let stand until glaze dries, about 20 minutes.

In both cases, it works great to prep these cookies ahead of time. Our cookie party was after the Girls on the Run 5K so I knew I didn't have time to do everything in one day. I made both doughs and rolled out the balls on Saturday (the dough balls need to be refrigerated anyway so it works perfectly). I baked the cookies Sunday morning and then after we got back from the run, I did the final icing/coconut step for coconut-lime snowball cookies.

If you have any left, these cookies also freeze well!

Image credits: Christine Koh

I'm all about food delegation, especially around the holidays, and I'm always looking for new inspiration. I asked a few of my favorite food blogger friends to share their go-to (culinary freak out inducing) holiday recipes, whether they're bringing a dish for potluck, making something for an open house, or want to serve a family favorite at home. I also included a couple of personal favorites. Happy cooking!

1. I love spinache artichoke dip. I love stuffed mushrooms. These spinach and artichoke dip stuffed mushrooms are my new everything.

2. I am a huge fan of appetizer spreads, especially ones with items that are easy little bitefuls like these smoked salmon pinwheels.

3. I can totally see myself cozied up with this cheesy ham and hashbrown breakfast casserole on Christmas morning.

4. One of my favorite things about the holidays is being able to take your time at breakfast. I love making pancakes from scratch (it's not hard!) and these apple pancakes offer a lovely way to add fruit to the carbs.

5. I cannot count the number of times I've made this magic Mexican casserole; it's a hit every single time and amenable to your favorite substitutions.

6. Carrie is totally right: baked lasagna with bechamel sauce is a completely different -- and sublime -- beast.

7. I made this slow cooker vegetarian chili a few weeks ago for a last minute dinner party and it was a huge hit. I was attracted to the recipe because hey, crockpots are sexy, and also because of the unusual inclusion of black bean soup and baked beans. I also offered a bowl of cooked ground beef for those who wanted to add meat to their chili.

8. My dear friend Paige says that people regularly go bonkers over this potato gratin with rosemary crust. Sign me up.

9. This simply artichoke casserole looks divine on its own, as a side, or as part of an appetizer sread. YUM.

10. I've been consuming lots of sweet potato these days; I'm excited to give this sweet potato souffle a whirl!

11. These gorgeous pickled grapes (who knew?) would be awesome in an appetizer spread or would make for a fantastic food gift.

12. Though I love making pie crust from scratch, I am that person who usually just scrapes and eats the filling and leaves the crust behind. So I'm especially excited to try this crustless Swedish apple pie recipe.

Image credits: all images per linked sources above, with the exception of #8, per Paige Lewin.

I am working, at the moment, with a big black cat who used to be an overly-long-yet-still-skinny black kitten asleep in my lap. He has utterly ruined me for the rest of the cat world.

I'm in love with black cats.

His fur is silky beyond compare and shines in lamplight. He has tiny tufts of white fur at the epicenter of his little ears. Even his nose is black, so when he closes his eyes and curls up on a black blanket, he disappears.

He has the power of invisibility.

We were at PetSmart buying ridiculously expensive prescription cat food for this little black cat who almost died last year of urinary blockage (remember that??), and they had four little black kittens of varying sizes in one of those stand-up adoption cages.

We swooned. Even Beloved, who says NO every time I ask if we can get Kizzy a friend. (And I don't really argue that hard, because there is peace in my home now and I'm not sure if peace would reign if we challenged Kizzy's ownership of Chateau Travolta.)

But the three of us stood for ten minutes before the four little black kittens and poked our fingers through the wire to touch their little furry black toes and fawned over their perfect black noses and noticed how when they curled up on top of each other and closed their eyes, they disappeared into a pillow of silky black fur.

I wanted THEM ALL.

How cool is it that while all cats are gray in the dark, black cats can actually disappear? Who else among us has such superpowers?

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! I am still recovering from the aftermath of an epic cookie party + my Girls on the Run team completing their 5K yesterday, and I'm seriously getting excited for holiday break. As much as I love work, I also love the holiday slowdown! But before we get there, how about a fun roundup of events for your week? So much great stuff going on -- enjoy!

December 15: Final day of Greenovate Boston’s used toy collection. (Boston)

December 15 - 21: Boston Children’s Theater presents The Velveteen Rabbit. (Boston)

December 15 - 28: The Christmas Revels; celebrating the Winter Solstice. (Cambridge)

December 15 - 23: Holiday lights trolley tour and sing along. (Boston)

December 15 - January 4: A Splendid book collection. (Chestnut Hill)

December 15 - January 4: The zoo becomes magical with thousands of twinkling lights. (Stoneham)

December 15 - January 1: Nantucket Noel, the quintessential yuletide experience. (Nantucket)

December 15 - January 1: The Whaling Museum turns into a festive winter wonderland. (Nantucket)

December 16: 241st Anniversary Boston Tea Party Reenactment. (Boston)

December 16: Winter wonderland crafts. (Easton)

December 16: Prepare a variety of sweet & savory homemade food gifts perfect for sharing with others. (Ipswich)

December 16: Assembly Row celebrates Hanukkah. (Somerville)

December 16: A wonderful evening of candlelight and holly. (Waltham)

December 16 + 19: Cookie decorating and holiday crafts. (North Andover)

December 17: Who needs overnight shipping when you can create a giftapult. (Acton)

December 17: Enjoy an evening of art and activities celebrating Hanukkah. (Boston)

December 17: Fill your day with art and play. (Lincoln)

December 17: Don your ugly sweater and go play with some Legos. (Somerville)

December 18: Slow down your sleigh with DIY parachute sleigh stoppers. (Acton)

December 18: Wander through Roslindale this holiday season. (Roslindale)

December 18: Celebrate the season with an evening dedicated to the art of mixology. (Salem)

December 18 - 21: Cinderella puppet show. (Brookline)

December 18 - 23: Harvard Square Holiday Faire. (Cambridge)

December 19: Up, up and away DIY flying reindeer. (Acton)

December 19: PlaySpace pajama party. (Boston)

December 19: Prepare a variety of sweet & savory homemade food gifts perfect for sharing with others. (Ipswich)

December 19: There's a Moose on the Christmas Caboose book-signing and moose-meeting. (Stoneham)

December 19 - 21: Find unique gifts and experiences at the Cultural Survival Gift Bazaar. (Boston)

December 19 - 21: Hop aboard the Polar Express. (Carver)  

December 19 - 21: Escape the frenzy of a modern Christmas and celebrate by candlelight. (Sturbridge)

Image credit: The Trustees of Reservations

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you're enjoying a great week! I'm super excited about this weekend; we have some fun social events on tap, my Girls on the Run team has its season-ending 5K, and the girls and I will be working on some of these easy DIY food gift projects! We'll also likely pop in to at least one of the events on this epic 42-event Weekend Roundup. Enjoy, and I'd love it if you could share the roundup with your friends!

1. Ben Rudnick and Friend’s holiday extravaganza. (Arlington)

2. Explore the deep sea at this family day. (Boston)

3. Greenovate Boston’s used toy collection. (Boston)

4. Breakfast with Santa and the animals.  (Boston)

5. Another opportunity for breakfast with Santa. (Boston)

6. Boston Children’s Theater presents The Velveteen Rabbit. (Boston)

7. Santa ditches his sleigh and arrives to this party by helicopter. (Boston)

8. Holiday story hours, musical performances and a FREE kids concert. (Boston)

9. FREE kids concert with Little Groove. (Boston)

10. A family Chanukah celebration. (Boston)

11. Holiday lights trolley tour and sing along. (Boston)

12. Downtown Boston’s holiday market. (Boston) 

13. Stories Alive interactive reading of Rudolph. (Boston)

14. Home for Little Wanderers toy and book drive. (Boston)

15. Holiday music at Faneuil Hall. (Boston)

16. Join magician and juggler Scott Jameson for an extraordinary morning. (Brookline)

17. The Velveteen Rabbit puppet show. (Brookline)

18. Your opportunity to buy handmade at this artist marketplace. (Brookline)

19. The Christmas Revels; celebrating the Winter Solstice. (Cambridge)

20. Festival of native arts and culture. (Cambridge)

21. It’s opening day for the ice rink at the Charles Hotel. (Cambridge)

22. Hop aboard the Polar Express or check out the Festival of Lights. (Carver)

23. The Concord Band holiday pops concert. (Concert)

24. Winter solstice lantern walk. (Ipswich)

25. A festival of trees. (Marlborough)

26. The Whaling Museum turns into a festive winter wonderland. (Nantucket)

27. Stroll on inn to Nantucket. (Nantucket)

28. A Christmas breakfast or brunch with your best girl. (North Andover)

29. Santa’s workshop is open for business. (North Andover)

30. Holiday tea with Mrs. Claus. (North Andover)

31. The Chandler Travis Philharmonic Christmas Cavalcade benefit. (Orleans)

32. Christmas in Rockport. (Rockport)

33. A nature hike with Santa! (Sheffield) 

34. FREE showing of Home Alone. (Somerville)

35. Holiday hot chocolate with the reindeer (and early entry to ZooLights). (Stoneham)

36. Photos with Santa. (Stoneham)

37. A good old-fashioned brunch with Santa. (Sturbridge)

38. Escape the frenzy of a modern Christmas and celebrate by candlelight. (Sturbridge)

39. Final weekend of Reagle Music Theatre’s ChristmasTime. (Waltham)

40. Have tea with Santa. (Waltham)

41. Cookie decorating at Panera Bread. (Various locations)

42. Christmas is everyone on The Cape. (Various locations)

Image credit: Panera Bread

One item on my minimalist holiday manifesto was about creating opportunities for together time projects. The girls and I had such an awesome time working on clutter-free kid-crafted gifts last weekend that I'm fired up for more this weekend! Following an earlier post on 10 easy DIY food gifts, I wanted to share 15 more easy DIY food gifts, spanning sweet to savory. Click through the links for recipes, more photos, and further creative inspiration!

1. All your gift recipient needs to know how to do is turn on their oven and they're on their way to fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies thanks to these adorable cookie dough gift packs.

2. I always feel more virtuous when I opt to snack on nuts (vs. truffles) during the holidays. Even if they are, uh, covered with sugar. I love that you only need four ingredients (one of them being water) to make these cinnamon sugar almonds.

3. I'm admittedly a little stunned by the (healthy) brilliance of this clementine wreath.

4. Bust out that sexy crockpot for this slow cooker apple butter. Oh how I love the "toss everything in the pot" gift prep!

5. Give the gift of an ice cream sundae pack. The site offers free printable tags but this would be equally adorable and appreciated without coordinated tags!

6. I love the idea of gifting savory with this marinated cheese and olives recipe.

7. These s'mores kits would be a huge hit with the kids. For inexpensive wrapping, package up in treat bags.

8. Homemade granola in cellophane bags will make for a happy holiday breakfast gift.

9. These cranberry pistachio energy bites offer a more healthy gift alternative.

10. Seriously: caramel dipped pears.

11. Another great caramel and pear alternative? This salted caramel pear butter.

12. I want to gift -- and consume -- copious amounts of this bacon salt. BACON SALT!

13. Save your loved ones some cafe bucks with this chai tea latte mix.

14. Roasted pumpkin seed brittle will be worth the extra teeth brushing.

15. A few years ago I shared about my obsession with this trifecta of appetizers. This trio of cheeseballs was AMAZING and the yield was larger than the recipe projected. I'm thinking it would be cute to make these as mini cheese balls to gift special, cheese loving friends.

Image credits: all images sourced via links above.

Hooray, it's Local Gems time! Today's Natick recommendations come from my friend Jodi Grundig, mom of two and editor of Mom's Favorite Stuff and Family Travel Magazine. Thanks for sharing these 10 local gems in Natick, Jodi! And be sure to check out the Arlington Center, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Coolidge Corner, Huron Village, Easton, Jamaica Plain, Lexington, Medford, Watertown, and Wellesley features!

From Jodi:

Although it’s commonly referenced as the home of the largest mall in New England, this town 15 miles west of Boston is home to a thriving community as well as many hidden gems. From locally owned shops and restaurants to several outdoor attractions, Natick has so much to offer. Here are 10 of my favorite local gems:

1. Tilly and Salvy’s Bacon Street Farm. This small grocery shop maintains an old-fashioned, small-town vibe while offering local produce, meats, baked goods, and traditional grocery items. Seasonal offerings include Christmas trees, pumpkins, and outdoor plants.

2. Casey’s Diner. This 10-stool diner located on the fringes of downtown Natick is on the National Register of Historic Places. It still offers the same delicious steamed hot dogs that made it a Natick institution.

3. Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary. Broadmoor, one of the Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuaries, is a great place for a family hike. Marked trails are easy to follow. The sanctuary also offers educational programs and workshops.

4. The Natick Community Organic Farm. The Natick Community Organic Farm is truly one of the hidden gems in Natick. This nonprofit, certified organic farm is home to many farm animals and offers complimentary admission during daylight hours.

5. The Center for Arts in Natick. Housed in a former firehouse, this nonprofit arts organization presents kid-friendly and adult shows throughout the year.

6. Oga’s Japanese Cuisine. Don’t let the strip-mall location fool you. This Japanese restaurant is easily one of the best in the state.

7. Five Crows. Located in Natick Center, Five Crows offers a selection of handmade gifts from a variety of artists in the area.

8. Uni-T. Local artist Eujin Kim Neilan owns this independent shop, one of the few located in the Natick Mall. Along with Eujin’s work, the shop also features products from about 50 local artists.

9. Lola's Italian Groceria. This locally owned shop offers delicious pasta and sandwiches as well as Italian grocery items and an impressive gluten-free selection.

10. Park Street Ice Cream. Tucked away alongside Natick Common is the Park Street Ice Cream Shoppe, a shop that’s been in business for more than 30 years

Thanks for sharing, Jodi! If you have other Natick favorites, feel free to share in the comments below. If you'd like to pen a Local Gems guest post, contact Christine at editor@bostonmamas.com to check on availability.

Image credits: all images via linked websites or associated Facebook pages.

Well, Southwest Airlines has sent me three very nice emails telling me they are thurching and thurching for my writing notebook, but alas, I fear it's gone. Gone, gone, gone, along with all those lovely ideas for chapter beginnings for my new novel. I remember what the device was, just not the embodiments of the device. Going to have to go eavesdrop again.

Twenty years ago, this would've been my worst nightmare.

Twenty years ago. Before I'd lost entire computers and phones full of information. Before I'd lost jobs. Before I'd lost people.

Man, twenty years ago I didn't know shit.

Now I'm a little sad but mostly annoyed because there were some good chapter heading ideas in there that took a good three hours to conjure in the car on the way home from Thanksgiving in Iowa.

When I got home, I went to my stash of hard-covered, spiral-bound, lined notebooks and picked another one. Then I printed out the brain dump I'd vomited into a Word document in the hotel the night I realized the notebook was gone. Then I pulled out the last notebook from THE BIRTHRIGHT OF PARKER CLEAVES, because there were some notes on the new idea in there, too. I'm still new enough to this novel-writing gig that I don't have a real set process yet. It does seem to be one notebook per book, though. Even if it's not, I may make it so, because it seems clean, and everything else about writing is messy.

But I still couldn't start again. I decided I needed a different music line-up, so I made one, and in doing so I realized we've only downloaded about 1/6 of our music collection onto the Mac. It's so tedious, the downloading. Beloved used to be a DJ and has like 600 CDs, and I brought a significant amount of chic-rocker singer/songwriters into the marriage, and also the two-disc set of Piano By Candlelight (purchased off late-night television, natch). There wasn't nearly enough to make the perfect new-novel playlist, but there was enough of the soul-searchy and NIN teeth-grindy to get me in the proper mood to remember the first twenty years of my life. 

I'd like to make a playlist to go with this new project when it's done. I didn't do that for PARKER CLEAVES. I missed it. Maybe that is part of my process. Who knows?

So the working title for this new book is THE NIGHTMARE DRESS. It's going to be young adult. I'm going back to high school, yearning and reconsidered relationships. This is the sentence I wrote down to set the stage for myself:

"Don't you know," she said, her pupils dilated in the falling light, "hell is other people not caring."

ONWARD.

As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend we got into the holiday spirit by getting our tree and working on some holiday projects. And while I do like making things festive, I also want (and need!) it to be relatively quick and not break the bank! I still love and think about the post my friend Gabrielle Blair shared about creating instant holiday mojo via smell, sound, and light and wanted to share my favorite ideas for easy and affordable holiday decor today.

1. Evaluate (and rearrange) what you have. It's easy to fall into a pattern with how you decorate. And sometimes, all you need to do to freshen up decor is to rearrange your existing holiday decor items. For example, instead of decorating by category (e.g., Nutcrackers, birds), try grouping items by color.

2. Incorporate items from nature. Sometimes the best decor elements are right in your backyard. Send your kids foraging for fallen branches! Branches in a vase cost zero dollars and can look amazing.

3. Incorporate inexpensive grocery store items. Our backyard is tiny and rather bare (so, not much in the way of foraging opportunity per #2)) so over the weekend, I bought a bundle of greenery and berries at Whole Foods for $12 and arranged them in three vases of different heights (see image at bottom of post). Another awesome grocery-store idea? For a lightning fast, affordable centerpiece, toss clementines and pinecones in a bowl and DONE.

4. Keep to a simple color palette. Decorating is way easier -- and more harmonious -- when you limit the color palette. Other than the ornaments on the Christmas tree, I'm keeping things simple with green and white, nature-inspired. I haven't purchased holiday decor in ages, and over the weekend bought gorgeous white LED branches (both garland and standing branches) + white pierced candle holders (that I can use year round) from West Elm. They were on sale and look amazing.

5. Leverage the sense of smell. As Gabby shared, the sense of smell is powerful! In my Eat Seasonal feature on cranberries, I included this cranberry infused simmering stove top potpourri. Add these items to your grocery list (#2 above)!

Our home redesign included a built-in bookcase near the entryway to better define the space in our open concept first floor. I arranged greens and berries in vases, along with the LED standing branches and pierced vases. So easy and pretty!

Image credits: all images via linked sites above, with the exception of the final image by Christine Koh