I just finished flipping through the Restoration Hardware catalog; anyone who has me on their gift list this holiday, this is a good place to start 😉  Love that place!

The last 2 weeks have been a hectic shit show and I am ready for a loooong break…whatever that looks like.  Luckily Mairead had a day off from school today so we had a quiet day inside and I soaked up every minute of this easy day.  But it’s Christmastime and we are weeks away from slowing down just yet.

We got our Christmas tree this weekend; it is a real tree, it smells amazing and it is ridiculously short!  I think they cut too much off the stump after I selected it at the tree farm because for the first time in my life I didn’t need a chair to put the angel on top.  Anyone who knows me is laughing at this, anyone who doesn’t know me can laugh now because I’m only 5 feet tall.  Seriously, it’s so short.  I’m going to have to put a taller angel on top or something to make up for its small stature.

In other news, the Christmas baking has commenced!  Baking is my favorite way to spread holiday cheer.  I haven’t decided exactly what treats I will be handing out this year but these Gingerbread Whoopie Pies will likely be in the mix.  I love ginger and have a few great gingerbread recipes already, but this one is blog-worthy as well.  I didn’t have ground cloves on hand, so I ground up a few cloves in my pestle and mortar which left a bold clove taste in the cookie, but I love that and I don’t think you can do a gingerbread without it.  The icing was a little heavy on the cream cheese for my taste, but I remedied that with adding additional icing sugar.  You do what suits your tastes.

Check back soon for some more holiday recipes.  Enjoy folks!

Gingerbread Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

Cookies:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar + 2 tbsp for rolling
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Using a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

Mix in molasses, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves.

Add eggs and beat well.

Using a wooden spoon, mix in the flour in three parts and mix well in between additions until no flour can be seen.

Scoop spoonfuls of batter about 1-2 inch in size and roll into balls between your hands.  Next, sprinkle remaining 2 tbsp of sugar on a plate and roll cookie balls gently in the sugar, then place them on the prepared cookie sheet.  Press down gently before placing them in the oven.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the top no longer looks moist and the edges are lightly browned.

Allow to cool for a minute on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack.

While cookies are cooling, prepare the filling.  Using a hand mixer, beat cream cheese, icing sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Pipe or spoon icing on the bottom of a cookie then sandwich together with another.  Enjoy!

By Three Happy Folk

Adapted from Pinterest (if you know the original creator, please let me know!)