The Vonda Racchini Bake Shop

About a week and a half ago, I spent a Saturday at Aunt Vonda's house.  We spent the day baking cookies for the holidays.  Many of the cookies that we made were to be taken to the shut-ins from Aunt Vonda's church.  We had a good time (and a long day) baking.  I arrived around 10:00 AM.  We began baking twenty minutes later, and we did not stop until about 11:00 PM that night.  We did break for dinner.

The kitchen and dining room looked like the beginnings of a cookie factory.  We made the typical Christmas cookies such as close-pin cookies (mini horns) and white chocolate, peppermint bark.  We also experimented and tried a few new recipes that we found interesting.

These are Chocolate-Mint Layered Cookie Slices.  The recipe was very intriguing, and we just had to try them.  They turned out very tasty too!  I made these a few days ago for the Sisterson Holiday Social, and they were a hit.  They may look complicated to produce, but they are fairly easy to make!

If you are a member of my family, you LOOOOOOOVE these cookies.  Aunt Vonda calls them Close-Pin Cookies.  I call them Mini Horn.  Don't worry Rachel and Hilary, I have eaten plenty for all of us!  These cookies have made appearances at both of my sisters' weddings.  I think the five us of Wood girls camped out around the cookie table stuffing them all in.  These are FANTASTIC!

This was another experiment this holiday season.  We tested out Cookies and Cream Fudge.  It turned out alright.  I don't think that this will be a yearly recipe.  The fudge came out kind of dry, and it is very sweet.  However, it was different and something new.

New recipe #3.  Raspberry Pinwheels.  Again, this was an easy recipe.  The cookies turned out to be delicious.  Aunt Vonda made a second batch to have some more be included in the shut-ins cookie bundles.

I was shopping with my sister, Adrienne, a few weeks ago.  We were in Target, floating through the holiday isles when she became fixated on the White Chocolate Peppermint Bark.  It is not hard to make, so I picked up the ingredients, and Adrienne will have plenty of peppermint bark over the holiday at Jennifer's house.  I may even make extra for her to take home!