Christmas Treat Recipe Blog Hop with Gina K!

Several members of the Center Stage Spotlight Team have joined together to share a special Christmas Treat Recipe Blog Hop event with everyone tonight! They have whipped up some treats in their kitchens and their stamp rooms over the past few weeks so we could compile our very first Recipe Book for StampTV!

Here is my recipe contribution - a Christmas tradition for several years now.  Mexican Shortbread cookies called Biscochitos.  The recipe is from my brother-in-law's grandmother, Mrs. Lujan (Gramma Honey).  Many many years ago, my own grandmother Sarita used to make these, they are light and flaky and have just a hint of black licorice in the form of anise seeds.  Now, I am not a fan of black licorice so it must be the combination of the sugar and cinnamon that make the hint of black licorice bearable for me.  They are delicious with some coffee or tea.  I wish that I had my grandmother's recipe but she died before I was able to get it.  I remember going over her house and having these yummy cookies and it wasn't even Christmas!  I think she used to make them on a regular basis because she knew us girls were coming to visit when my dad would go over several Saturdays a month to mow her lawn and take care of other things for her around the house.  My sister's ex used to bring these up for us that his grandmother used to make too and I also have a recipe from my other brother-in-law's grandmother who recently died - I guess this is a traditional mexican grandmother type cookie but I am breaking the mold since I'm neither a mother or grandmother - lol.  I just love the cookies!

I make these cookies every Christmas to share with neighbors, co-workers and leave a few to enjoy ourselves because they make a lot!  It helps to have a stand up mixer so you don't have to labor over mixing up the ingredients (I am so glad we made that purchase years ago!) I usually make these with a heart or star cookie cutter (favorite small shapes) but I broke my star one last year and I couldn't find my heart so I used my DMIL's tree shape - makes it more Christmasy, don't you think?  Plus, it matches the cute tree stamp in Melanie's Have a Cookie set which I used to make my recipe card that is tucked away inside the box for the recipient.  I decorated the outside of the box with a poinsettia from  A Year of Flowers I made my box with a window in the center and placed some acetate inside stamped with the greeting using StazOn ink.  I like how it turned out - in addition to the fact I figured out how to put the LARGE c/s in the cuttlebug embossing folder, I just love the richness of the Good as Gold c/s for the lid. 

Check out these designer's blogs for the sweet projects they've designed around their treats:

Carolina Buchting
Carla Suto
Deb Felts
Giovana Smith
Jennie Harper
Jessica Fick
Joy Hadden
Karen Knegten
Kay Simmons
Lee Murphy
Linda Payne
Lori McAree
Melissa Cash
Pam Imholz
Selma Stevenson
Sue Morris
Sue VanDeVusse
Sue Walsh
Vicki Dutcher

Then, stop by GinaK's blog for a super sweet give-away she has tonight in honor of the hop!

The Recipe Book will be available as a free download PDF on StampTV tonight as well. Look for it on the Freebie Tab link or click on the photo below.   ENJOY!!