I have to admit that baking for the holidays was never my thing. When I was a kid, baking Christmas cookies was an all day (or two) affair. My mother was not only a fabulous cook, but she knocked it out of the park with her holiday treats. Her cookies were meticulous – every spritz was perfectly portioned, every fruit-filled cookie had the same amount of jelly, and every butterball was precisely the same size. And, if you’re Italian, you know cookies include pastries, and my mother’s … [Read more...] about Ode to the Christmas Cookie