Gingerbread Cookies

Alternate title: Too many cookies, too little time.

It was this past Sunday when time officially began running away from me. Maybe I took on too many projects or maybe I've started moving in super slow motion and everything is taking three times longer than normal... whatever it is, I'm starting to feel the pressure.

This, of course, didn't stop me from making gingerbread cookies. Halloween and Thanksgiving were all about The Pumpkin. I couldn't get enough pumpkin flavored goodness into my diet. Now Christmas? Christmas is all about the peppermint and gingerbread.

These cookies are one of the "projects" I took on on Sunday. My sister, J, and I made a recipe that I saw while watching the Food Network (which I plan on marrying at the first chance I get). (Seriously. You want me to shut up and leave you alone for a few minutes or A YEAR? Sit me down in front of the the TV and flip on the Food Network.)

We used half the batch to make cutouts, which we later ate (hey, I'm just being honest). The other half stayed in the fridge until last night when I got the crazy harebrained idea to bake and frost them at 9:30pm. Who cares if they'll take two hours to bake, pipe and decorate? I've got time!

Oh, wait. No I don't. I have to go to bed. So I can get up for work in the morning and not be late again due to the rain that has decided to make up for lost time and send southern California UNDER WATER. (Mother Nature, you seem to have a nasty case of PMS lately. Take some Midol for cryin' out loud!)

Speaking of Christmas (I know, we weren't), did you know it's only a week away (give or take a few 24 hours)? A WEEK AWAY. Internet, I'm not ready. Sure, most of the shopping is done, but I'm just. not. ready. Other than the unnecessary amounts of wreaths hanging in our hotel lobby and the ridiculous Christmas country music they insist on playing on my radio station, it doesn't even feel like Christmas. I haven't watched any of my favorite movies. We haven't strolled through houses admiring Christmas lights while sipping hot chocolate Starbucks. And the really sad fact? We haven't gotten our tree yet.

That's right. No tree. A week before Christmas.

Actually, this kind of reminds me of The Husband's and my first Christmas together, when we moved up to Monterey and into our apartment just four days before Christmas. Getting a tree probably wasn't the smartest decision to make as we stood amidst all the boxes and yet-to-be-put-away furniture, but I couldn't see going through the holiday without one. We picked out an enormous tree that only cost twenty dollars (because it was already dead) and nearly all the needles fell off before we got it through the door. Memories.

Now, If I could just squeeze a few more hours out of each day, I'd be golden. You can bet that when my vacation starts this Saturday, I'll be cramming in more than my fair share of holiday activities.

In case you're wondering why all my cookies are egg-shaped, it's because I cannot stand rolling out dough. I'm sorry, I just don't want to do that ever again for the rest of my life so there.

I rolled the chilled dough into a log and cut slices from it, only the dough gave a little too much under the pressure of the knife and, well... egg shapes.

I piped on the icing because I'm a horrible perfectionist and applying it with a knife would have left too many imperfections. (Somebody please save me from myself.)

Now, these cookies came out soft and chewy, which I love. And, apparently, so do my co-workers as they've been inhaling them since I got here. I'm honestly not sure if they were supposed to come out crunchy or crispy, like most gingerbread cookies I've tried. It's possible (although highly unlikely) that I screwed something up in the doubling of the batch (math? so not my thing), but if it was an error, well, I hope I continue to make it in the future 'cause these cookies were really delicious.

You can find the complete recipe here.