Seasonal Cheer - Buttered Rum Meltaways

Only two days until Christmas celebrations begin! As usual, December flew by. However, I’m reasonably on top of things, this year. For one thing, I’m neither travelling, nor having relatives visiting. On the one hand, it's rather sad, as it’s the first Christmas I’ll be spending without my parents: usually, I fly over, and they flew in a couple of years ago. But this year, no one seemed to be able to get away. On the other hand, when I looked at how chaotic the airport situation is in Europe right now, I think we’re all a little relieved that none of us had to go through that this year. Having known my share of delayed flights and missed connections, my heart goes out to all the people who are stranded at the airport.

For the rest, the tree is trimmed, and the gifts are bought, wrapped, and labelled. The big Christmas dinner will be hosted by Laurent’s parents, so all I have to take care of is baking or cooking for the odd pot luck or pre-Christmas party.

These little beauties are destined to a party tonight. Martha Stewart’s buttered rum meltaways. Just the name radiates Chrismas. With cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and a strong dose of dark rum (which, I discovered, is great for baking, but not for drinking), it’s the kind of cookie which I believe can only be appreciated around this time of year. Between the richness of the dough and the thick coating of confectioner’s sugar, these cookies really do melt in your mouth. I hope the people at tonight’s party will agree.

You can find the recipe here. A word to the wise: when the cookies are baking and you open the oven door to rotate the sheets, beware of the cloud of evaporated rum that will float out. I accidentally caught a good whiff – not something I was prepared for at ten in the morning!

Happy holidays, everyone!