*Sigh* it’s my last day in the mountains. I am not really sure I am ready to go home. Although I miss the Internet access, everything else is wonderful. As it turns out, mountain air is quite agreeable to royal icing. After a bit of reading about high altitude baking, I learned that the humidity levels are lower here. This is probably why my icing dried so quickly and beautifully. Nanny’s poor mixer, however, did not fare so well. I probably worked it harder in four days than she did in six years. I could smell burning rubber on the last batch of cookies. I am sure I won’t have any trouble convincing Bernie to bring my trusty old KA, Smokey, on the next trip =)
While I was here I baked two types of chocolate cookies. One was flavored with Abuelita, a Mexican version of hot chocolate that is VERY popular in my little corner of the world. Basically, it’s hot chocolate with a hint of cinnamon. It is wonderful. At my house we call it “Nanny Hot Chocolate” because Evan has always thought the lady on the front looked like my Nanny.
Mom and I REALLY liked these cookies, which I learned about from my sweet friend Bea, another cookier. Ironically, the very day I made them, I also saw a segment on Martha Stewart featuring Mexican hot chocolate cookies. I assumed they would be the same, but they are actually VERY different. One short trip to Walmart later, I was the proud owner of Martha’s seasonal cookie magazine, and my to-do list grew longer. If I have some free time in the next few weeks I am going to tinker with both recipes a little and make another batch of rollout cookies using my favorite flavors from each recipe. I think I’ll call them Bea meets Martha =)

I also made batch #2 of chocolate cutout cookies. I am trying to develop the PERFECT recipe. According to my taste panel, Hubby and Mom, (dad doesn’t count because he doesn’t like anything that’s not covered with hot sauce) batch #1 was better than #2, so that leaves me with three more versions to try before I make a decision. I sure hope I can find something to do with all those chocolate cookies! I will post pictures soon.

For today, I am going to post another cuppie cookie. I have gone a little crazy with this theme, but I cannot help myself. I am actually torn between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Instead of making Thanksgiving cookies all through November, I made Christmas cookies, so I guess, that’s why I feel like making Thanksgiving cookies now that it’s Christmas countdown. Just another day in the life of SweetSugarBelle!

I made this little platter for my good friend Lori's son Jaycen, He is turning two, which blows my mind. That FLEW by!!!