Baking and Decorating in Chincoteague!

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Oatmeal and apricot cookies!

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Mantle piece in dining room.

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Christmas tree!

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The tree is decorated JUST for Meredith!  The camel, elephants, and kangaroo

all represent her travels-  (Iraq, Thailand, Australia).  The mermaids, lighthouses,

firetrucks,seahorses and keys represent her house on Chincoteague.  The teapot and

cups on a tray- her preferred hot drink- and it all speaks of the sailor and places she has

been and hopes to go.  The pink flamingo is just to remind her how she needs to

have a sense of humor- (she hates pink, hates flamingoes, and hates the big picture

of a huge pink flamingo that graced the hallway of her house when she bought it!)

And, just in case you thought that one picture of cookies doesn’t count for much

baking…..

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-here’s a loaf of Italian bread I made yesterday!

Recipe for cookies-

1 stick butter

3/4 cup of white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 heaping cup AP flour

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

apricot and pecan paste*

Mix together the first five ingredients until smooth and creamy.

Measure all the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir, then add to

butter and sugar mixture.  Take a pinch of the apricot and pecan paste

and wrap cookie dough around it and place on parchment papered

baking pan, about 3 inches apart.

Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.

Apricot and pecan paste

1 1/2 cups dried apricots

1 cup chopped pecans

2 to 3 TBS white pear basalmic vinegar

1/2 cup honey

Put all ingredients into food processor and

run until everything is a paste.  Place in loaf pan lined with

parchment paper and cover top with another sheet of paper,

weigh down top to compress.

(See how Celia at Fig jam and Lime Cordial, makes a variation of

this in a fig and walnut paste- or an almond and apricot version. )

16 thoughts on “Baking and Decorating in Chincoteague!

  1. Mmmmm! Wish I could be there when Meredith sees the tree! Laurel is decorating a small tree with just elephants this year. It should be cool! Miss you all!

    • Elizabeth- I’ll try to take a picture to share!
      I am so happy with the tree- and it is early but very warming somehow to decorate and have it ready for the holidays- from November to January.
      Also- may I say, that these cookies are so very good. The texture is marvelous- maybe because I baked them in a convection oven- but they taste bakery good- like the recipe they won’t give me from the Bake Shop in Ghent!

  2. Love the Christmas tree and how it was decorated. It truly is decorated for my travels – though the pink flamingo must go!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to come down and see it

    • Brydie- The funniest story of this tree is that we bought it last year on a bargain day after Christmas for $6.
      The ornaments, however, have cost a small fortune! And there are many travel stories behind them all !

    • Celia- thank you so much for the recipe for the paste- I have made them both- and just switched up the apricot because I had pecans rather than almonds down here. I made the recipe out of my head (you know if you’ve made enough cookies and breads that you carry a basic recipe around in your head!) but these are really, really good. Better than ever before kind of good- and I think it is the convection oven that made the difference.
      I think pink flamingos are the universal joke gift!

  3. Thanks Chopin!
    I’m almost as early as the merchants!
    But I love the music and the atmosphere- and I won’t be back until the week before- So having the decorations up seems to be the best solution!
    And the cookies are a hit with all the grandchildren and children!

    • I can imagine Christmas to be such a happy time in your home with 3 generations within your beautiful family. In contrast my immediate family are dispersed in 3 different locations over 2 countries and it’s rare that all of us are together at the same time.

      • I am blessed and quite thankful to have my children all within 10 hours- except my niece- who is heading out to Canberra after Christmas as a representative with your Navy for a couple of years!
        Holidays are hard when you can’t be with those you love. 🙁

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