Photo Share 12/18 and Chinese Chews by Spaniards

Hi friends! How are you all? Please bear with me because I promise this post will be all over the place! I know this is a little out of the ordinary that I am posting a photo share in the middle of the week, but I realized I never got around to one of my favorite weekly Monday posts, and better late than never, right?! Plus, part of my weekend included baking up a storm with my Abuela, and I wanted to share one of my favorite Christmas cookies with you guys. They are called Chinese Chews, and my Abuela has been making them since she learned the recipe in Home Ec. class she took in college almost 70 years ago. Yes, she has been making these cookies for SEVENTY YEARS – so you know they’re delish!

Chinese Chews

Ingredients

1 c dates

1 c walnuts

2 eggs

1 c sugar

¾ c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 stick of butter

Directions

In a large bowl, mix dates, walnuts, and a well-beaten egg. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to first mixture. Melt butter and add to the combined mixture.

Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake at 350 degrees until brown (about 15-20 minutes for my oven). Remove from oven, let cool a bit (but not completely) for several minutes, and form into balls. Roll balls in sugar or powdered sugar.

Pack them up and pass them out to your favorite friends and family 😉

Rewinding a little further back from our afternoon in Abuela’s kitchen.. I spent the entire weekend with my parents and it was awesome! Derek was out of town for the weekend to attend his sister Davis’ graduation in Auburn (yay DAVIS!!!), so it gave me several days to catch up with my family.

The picture below basically sums up my weekend. Shopping with Mom and Dad – I begged them to bring Lou since we were shopping in Hyde Park (a very dog friendly environment!!!)

Dad got stuck with the awesome job of holding Louie while Mom and I shopped. At least Pottery Barn was considerate enough to provide him with a place to sit back and relax!

Some delicious (if I do say so myself) butternut squash and black bean enchiladas. BOY OH BOY did these HIT. THE. SPOT. as enjoyed them while we watched our man, Jameis Winston, win the Heisman on Saturday night! I can’t wait to share this recipe with you later this week!

A Christmas Mani. Because how else do you expect me to look at my fingers at work every day before Christmas unless said fingers are festive?!

A treat I have been enjoying recently out of Santa’s head is almond milk dark hot chocolate! I have a hot mug of this almost every night – and it’s even (somewhat) healthy!

And one of my FAVORITE pictures from the last week….Derek and I have a Christmas tradition of an ornament exchange every year. We typically have the exchange 1-2 weeks before Christmas, sitting by the tree, with a mug of hot chocolate.. This year was a special year, as we got our first house and I got Louie! Derek and I both surprised each other with custom made ornaments – I got him one modeled after our first home, and Derek got me Louie’s face painted on an acorn 🙂 This year’s ornaments are definitely my favorite!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week  – only 7 days left until Christmas, let’s enjoy this joyous season while it’s right in front of us!