MISTLETOE MAKE AND BAKE BLOG HOP Day 1

How exciting is this, 6 days of hopping around the blog world, meeting new friends, learning new things and all in the comforts of your pj's...so grab a cup of coffee...

and let the hop begin!!!
Up First...

Sherri Falls – This & That

Let me take you back to Christmas 1966, my father was in the United States Marine Corps and we were stationed at Camp Lejeune NC, all was right with the world.  I have two older brothers, at the time Jimmy was 12, Karl was 11 and I was 6, we lived in a mobile home that had no storage, at the time a mobile home made sense to those families in the military, get orders to a new duty station and just pick up your home and move.

That Christmas morning we woke up to our biggest load from Santa ever, there was a guitar, drum, bugle, keyboard (I'm pretty sure my parents thought we'd be the next Beetles), and I'm pretty sure there was more stuff but what sticks out in my mind is how in the world did Santa make it in, we didn't even have a fireplace.  If you've ever lived in the south you would know that the weather on Christmas day could be freezing or so warm that all those new sweaters you got for presents would need to wait till January, well this Christmas was one of those very warm days...so once the presents were opened and had ample time to be played with outside we went and what do we discover when we walk out the door...boxes, yes boxes that "Santa" brought our toys in.  Now, and this is were the story has changed over the years, I remember the boxes having Sears & Roebuck printed all over them, my brother and mother both say, no they were just plain boxes but I'm stickin' to my story.  It was then and there that Santa was revealed, but so as not to make anyone mad I kept that to myself, who was I to tempt fate, in case there was a real Santa I didn't want to make him made.  So to this day I still "believe" in Santa..and if Santa wants to leave his boxes outside to be recycled I'd be happy to help him out.  

Now...your reward for reading my Santa story I have a yummo recipe for you to try...

Macaroon Kiss Cookies

1/3  cup butter

1 3oz package cream cheese (softened)

3/4  cup white sugar

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 cups sweetened coconut flakes

1 bag Hershey’s kisses (any flavor)

Beat butter, cream cheese and white sugar until well blended, the creamer the better.  Add egg yolk, almond extract and orange juice,  beat until well blended.  In separate bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating till well blended; stir in 3 cups coconut.   Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.  Remove wrappers from kisses’.  Heat over to 350 F. shape dough into 1 inch balls; rolls balls in remaining 2 cups of coconut.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (my preferred method).  Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from oven; immediately press kiss on top of each cookie.  Cool 1 minute; carefully removed from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool completely.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Tip:  You can change out the almond extract for orange and use dark chocolate kisses’ for a nice rich flavor.   Use mint extract and juice with a mint kiss, with the variety of flavors Hershey’s has for kisses the possibility for fun flavors are almost limitless.

*To make it easy for you to save my recipes click on the name of the cookie and download the pdf file.

Don't forget to keep stopping by, we'll have lots of links and lots of goodies for you to try...

until tomorrow...

Happy Blog Hopping...

Kelly Ann