Snow and Sunshine

In continuing the "12 Days of Cookies", I found out that I only had two eggs left and not enough butter. So I had to search for easier recipes that didn't require or much of the two above. Lo and behold, snowball cookies!

But I also didn't have the right oil nor the right cake mix it required so I had to be creative. In the process of "tweaking", I made my own recipe, "Snow and Sunshine" cookies. You'll see... (or rather, read...) The glow is from the candlelights we light up every night.
But boy, oh boy! Were they delish! Just enough crunch on the outside and oh so soft and buttery on the inside! Wow!

Ok, here's MY recipe. I had to tweak the Crisco recipe I found on Food Network.

Snow & Sunshine Cookies
1/4 C canola oil
1/4 C olive oil
1 1/4 C quick rolled oats
1/2 C walnuts, finely chopped (leave out for allergies)
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
2 lg eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C powdered sugar; in a sandwich bag

Preheat oven to 350 F
Combine olive and canola oils with oats and let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir in cake mix, eggs & vanilla until well mixed.
Fold in nuts (leave out for allergies)
Form into balls and place 2-inches apart on baking sheet

Bake 8-10 minutes; cool for 1 minute before rolling into bagged powdered sugar.

While I finished up the cookies, J-Pony decided to try her hand at making a card house. Kila and L-Infinity had a rather lousy and scary concert (3 members fainted during the performance, dehydration was suspect) and couldn't wait to eat the cookies and brownies while I-Dude had his hands full of his artwork and Legos.

We also learned about the Christmas traditions of the Philippines and how Filipinos focus on the star on that fateful night. Filipina Soul dot com had this beautiful example of what "Pinoys" normally display on their homes at Christmas time. I remember watching my dad put up one these lanterns at the front of our home in Manila. Of course, we've never been able to hold on to one, so we had a different one every year.
These below are our "parols" or star lanterns the last four christmases. I still can't afford an authentic one of my own yet, but I'm working on it. :-)

"Pinoys" also focus on family, food and togetherness at Christmastime. Trees and gift giving are often optional for those with modest means and is actually more of the European and American influence.

What are your "Pinoy" like traditions?