Hi, friends!
A shout-out to two of my fabulous sisters today: Dar and Cookie (yep, it's a nickname!).
Dar smuggled several jars of homemade raspberry jam into Australia. It's probably illegal but she is a superior jam-maker. Think luscious Canadian raspberries, very little sugar, packed to the brim in a mason jar. And Cookie (of course!) gave me this recipe.
We use Almond Raspberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies for one of our favourite Christmas traditions.
I made it up. And it's hilarious.
CHRISTMAS NINJAS.
On Christmas Eve, the four of us dress up in embarrassing matching outfits. The first year was Onesies. One year was Aussie flag boxer shorts, t-shirts and Christmas hats. And this year....well, this year is a surprise, in this package.
The boys open the ninja gift on Christmas Eve, then out we go in matching outfits to "ninja deliver" cookies.
The mission? Drop off cookies, ring the bell and run like...crazy. And never, ever get caught.
We've had to scale walls, deal with dogs, commando-crawl across front gardens. And best of all, our Christmas Ninja tradition gave us the most hilarious dinner party story EVER. (But it's got lots of swear words in it, so I can't tell you unless you come over.)
You can see why kids love it. Right?
Feel free to steal the idea, moms-with-little-kids. I think it's the best holiday tradition I've ever created.
Almond Raspberry Shortbread Cookies
- 1 cup butter
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons plain flour
- raspberry jam
- white chocolate
Cream butter and sugar. Mix in almond extract and flour. Roll into (1 inch / 2 cm) balls and place on cookie sheet. Make an indentation and fill with jam. Bake at 170 C fan-forced for 14 mins (Australia) or 350F for 12-16 mins (North America). Cool. Drizzle with melted white chocolate.
Then package up and be Ninjas. But only if you want to!
Sending you big hugs this Christmas.
Love, Catherine x
PS. We celebrated a major milestone this week...Ls to Ps. I love teenagers. I truly do. Can you see that big grin on Luke's face that spells FREEDOM? Ha! (And just for you, more fun recipes... best chocolate cake and best salad ever ...or take a peek at what I've been up to on Instagram.)
