Christmas goodies

Our family has a tradition every year of baking butter cookies and making candies. Last weekend we spent the whole day Sunday making toffee, raspberry truffles, and cookies. Dad started this tradition with friends when we were little and had no interest in helping but the past few years we have joined in on the fun. We put on Christmas movies and or music and make a huge mess of the kitchen. I think the most time consuming things that we make are the raspberry truffles but it is all well worth it. The trickiest thing is the toffee because you have to time it just right or the toffee comes out burned, we were right on the edge of that this year it was just a smidge past where we wanted it to be but still tasty!

Dad, Michaela, and Connor getting ready to bake in the kitchen

This year things were a little more complicated since Mom and I (Michaela) can’t have dairy or gluten and need things to be as low sugar as possible. We had to tweak all our beloved recipes to make them work for our dietary needs but it was worth it and we still got to enjoy the festivities and snack on some treats!

Connor’s delicious raspberry chocolate truffles.

The cookies came out much blander than we were hoping for but that is due to them having gluten free flour. We personally have found that gluten free alternatives tend to soak up a lot of the flavors you want them to have and make them disappear. Which is a challenge Connor is particular enjoys overcoming. In this instance it will be easily solved with some frosting on top of the cookies! (P.S. The frosting we made to put on them was awesome and made them much better!)

Do you have any Holiday recipes that you look forward to making every year? Let us know!