As the semester is ending, I am focusing on all the things that will come after my last day ever at school. The day after my last presentation I will be going to a spa for the first time and experience what stress free feels like for the first time in 21 years. I am going to get my hair cut, and new glasses that day as well to leave the old college me behind. I will have to clean my room in its entirety since it has not even been vacuumed in close to a year, and go Christmas shopping for my friends and family as well as make cookies with my mom.
We have 6 different types of cookies we make each year. We make Christmas nuggets which are almond based dry cookies with colored sprinkles on top. Spritz which we make in the shape of poinsettias and are a cream cheese and vanilla base. Rugelach, which is my favorite and a cookie my great grandmother used to make. They are crescent shaped cookie filled with walnuts, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar and then baked and sprinkled with powder sugar. Christmas balls which are peanut butter and rice crispy treats formed into a ball and then dipped in dark chocolate. Rum balls, mom moms favorite, and are dark cocoa powder and rum, and finally shortbread cookies we make in the shape of rhombuses and coat them in dark chocolate.
The best part about making all of these cookies is eating the batter, and then spending time with my family while we make them. The worst part of making these cookies is the preparation and the stress the Spritz cookies give my mom, as everything has to be perfect for the cookies to come out in their perfect poinsettia shape. The best part about making any of these cookies is eating the batter or licking the spoon or bowl, oh and family time. For my 21 years on this earth, we have never once tried to make a new Christmas cookie because everything we do make has a deep personal connection to all of us. The Spritz cookies, Christmas nuggets, rum balls and Christmas balls were something my grandmother used to make with my mom, and the Rugelach was my great grandmother’s recipe. I have never made cookies with a cookie cutter and decorated them, it sounds like fun but also stressful. My mother is a cook, not a baker so there is a lot of preparation and anxiety and sweat that goes into making the obscene amount of cookies we make.
Even though my time with Red Door is now over, and the Christmas season has many stressed and busy, it is also time for family and for engagements. If you and your new fiancé are looking to buy your first home together, consider working with Red Door Real Estate, whose agents make you feel like you are celebrated all year round. Call 716-768-1177 or stop in and talk to one of the agents at 982 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY 14222.
Written by Rachel Brogan
