confessional corner

i have a sweet tooth. yes, it's true. if you know me very well you may have already known that. sure everybody likes their sweets, but certainly some more than others. i blame my dad, who passed on this genetic moler that plagues me many times throughout the day and year. on the day, yeah it's dessert after mealtimes--but that certainly isn't the only time. in speaking in terms of the year, well, hands down christmas season is the worst. what very little self-control i have other times (and that is very little) is just shot to hell because of one specific thing: christmas cookies.

now i'm not just talking any kind of christmas cookie. no no. i'm talking about the pure good ole fashion american sugar cookie with icing on top. you think "american" is out of place? well let me tell you that they don't make them like we do over here. as christmas season approached when i was over in europe, i was really excited about the cities' decorations and christmas music and especially the christmas markets. these little collections of stands pop up all over cities across europe, selling little goods and food and such, mostly handmade and local. so fun. i searched every christmas market all over vienna and throughout switzerland and ne'er a christmas cookie could be found. sure there were tins of various collected types of cookies, which i would scour through for even the smallest bit (cause they all are so small) of true sugar cookie. but alas, nothing. needless to say when i got back home a week before christmas i got plenty of my previously elusive christmas cookies.

back when the famous Christmas Party was going, the founders would get together the day of and make an obscene amount of homemade christmas sugar cookies. we would cut them out and bake them and ice them ourselves with homemade icing. it would take forever, but well worth it. now, we also encouraged people to bring food to the party, so most years we would hide our batch of 120+ christmas cookies in a drawer for emergencies--just in case not many people brought food or came. as if that were ever going to happen. so we would have our leftover cookies all to ourselves. this precious secret and devious action was a tradition i have to admit. so i confess my christmas cookie greed. christmas is the time of giving! what was i thinking?!?! i mean, i guess i was thinking that other people came and gave us tons of great food and other cookies, so at least someone was still doing the giving, right?

hey can i be blamed for my sweet tooth? what can i do?

well i've found that rather than trying to gain self-control through abstaining or limiting my sweet tooth, it is better to just find more (semi)healthy options to fill in for dessert. at least healthier than massive amounts of sugar cookies and icing. let's look at a few.

fruit snacks. chazoo! fruit snacks to be exact. i stopped eating them for awhile, mostly because you can only find them at aldi, which is way across town. but i was in the neighborhood not long ago so i picked up a couple boxes. sure they aren't healthy, but they're not as bad for you. right? i tend to feel that way about all fruit-type variety desserts and candy. like mike and ikes, that's another. there is a box by my desk right now, in case i just need a little sugar from time to time. i like to combine two colors for a good flavor taste. in fact, i'm going to have two right now. mmm green and orange. good combo. word of advice: yellow and orange, not good together. never combine red. red gets saved and eaten alone--the taste is just too pure and good. fruit snacks have 100 calories per pouch, and just 1 gram of fat. sure there is the sugar--13g but i have strong teeth. mike and ike's have no fat and 150 calories for 23 pieces. not horrible either, especially as far as "desserts" go.

that's my general strategy, but does that work at christmas at all? sadly no. i am completely powerless before a plate of deliciously decorated christmas cookies, like the one above. mmmm it makes me want one right now!

so is my confession doing me any good? well, all that depends. we'll see how many of you get it in your head to bake some christmas cookies that may or may not mysteriously (or obviously) appear at my door or in my hands! merry christmas!