Christmas time in the city

If you like being crammed against other people, there is no better place to be for the holidays than New York City. And apparently thousands of people do enjoy just that as there are more tourists than ever this year. I too wanted to partake in the holiday spirit of the city (well the free part anyway--not the paying $25 to ice skate or $75 to see the Rockettes do high kicks), so on Saturday I went to 5th Avenue to see the window displays and the tree at Rockefeller Center. More importantly I wanted to walk down to Bryant Park to get some delicious hot chocolate. These are the dreams that a secular Christmas is made of!

Of course, due to the aforementioned crowding, this journey of approximately 15 blocks took close to an hour of fighting tooth and nail with people people with Midwestern accents who use their strollers like tanks to push through the crowds. That said, there were lights and Christmas cheer and a nice December briskness in the air, so I didn't mind the crowds (and minded them even less once I had my $5 drinking chocolate). My boyfriend got a few shots on his iphone (somewhat reminiscent of the same outing we did this time last year), so I'll post them that you might enjoy the experience as well, although enviably more crowd-free.

The Bergdorf holiday windows are always a sight to see. They have sort of the reverse advertising affect on me because seeing how much money clearly goes into making the window displays just reenforces my realization that I should never actually enter the store as I clearly won't be able to afford anything. Then again, maybe this is exactly the kind of advertising they do intend as it keeps the hoi polloi like me out. At any rate, while looking at one of the windows I heard one tourist remark on how they were pretty but "not very Christmasy." If a life-sized polar bear in a chef's hat covered in silverly tasseling isn't Christmasy, than I really don't know what holiday I've been celebrating every December for the last 20 odd years.

This enormous Norway spruce is the tree lit in front of Rockefeller Center each year. As you can see there are hundreds of people crammed into the plaza to see the tree and the ice skating rink at its base. Some friends apparently went to see the tree last week when it was 30 degrees and pouring rain and said there was not soul there except for some poor security guard. I think it would be a really neat sight to see, but as I recall I spent most of that miserable night tucked happily indoors, so perhaps I'm not tough enough to endure the elements and beat the crowds.

This isn't from my 5th Avenue jaunt (I realized there weren't as many pictures as I thought), but from my friend's annual cookie making party (well annual in that she did it last year too). Those who saw my Halloween post might recognize the cookie in the center. I didn't make the beauty, but I admire the artistry nonetheless.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday spirit wherever you are. Or, if you're not into that, I hope you are enjoying the fact that Monday is nearly over.

What's better than a chocolate chip cookie? This is not a rhetorical question.

This will be a kind of short one, ironically about some very tall cookies. I took on more freelance writing projects this week (figuring if I'm going to be taxed this much on my freelance stuff, I may as well make enough to compensate for not getting a return. I miss the days when TurboTax seemed to really be in my corner.) So while I'm off working on writing a new book (this one on the scintillating subject of economic indicators), I'm leaving you with a recipe. I made these for a game night (specifically a party centered around playing board games, not to be confused in any way with a party centered around watching the football game--and especially not the Superbowl). These, I think, successfully encapsulate all the gluttony and excess of American culture in a single (if it can be described as such) delicious cookie.

Behold! The Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie!


My friend, who co-hosted the party with me, came across these on a baking blog and we had to try them. I just love that someone eating a chocolate chip cookie somewhere paused for a moment to think: "This isn't sweet enough. What would make this more excessive? Aha! I could put a second cookie inside it! Specifically, the second greatest commercially produced cookie of all time--the Oreo." It's Eureka moments like this one that make this country great. Naturally, we had no choice but to try them.

If you wind up with cookies slightly smaller than tennis balls, then you're doing it right.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips
1 pkg. Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

You should end up with about 2 dozen cookies the size of an average human fist.

Cookies filled with both love and transfat.

I hope you will all consider these for your next gathering. They were well-received by our slightly overwhelmed guests. My only advice would be to not attempt to make them when you're not having a party or get-together. Eating one of them is enough to last you quite some time, I found.