It's the most wonderful time of the year... for gingerbread men and women to be decorating their houses!

Home made mince pies and the 'jewels' of the chocolate box!

Granny's Christmas cookies smell so good, when they are baking in the oven...my granny bakes these every year...From left to right (Husarenkrapfen, Terassen-Plätzchen, Nougat-Walnuss-Plätzchen, Buttergebäck and Rumkugeln).

A selection of my favorite christmas cookies.

Iced sugar cookie cutouts, gingerbread men, pink and green leaf and rainbow cookies are classic favorites of any holiday cookie tray.

Cookies for the holiday season!

Yum!

Open your eyes, deliciously Christmassy.

Inspired by my childhood Christmas holidays in 1960's. Every year was the same. My Italian grandmother came up from the Bronx to stay for 2 weeks. She made her famous Honeyballs.It was my job to add the sprinkles. My mom made Butter cookies, and experimented with food coloring and maraschino cherries for decorations. My dad had colorful hard candy (that only he liked) in various key locations. All three have passed, but these memories live on, and my daughter now has the original butter cookie press.

Spending the Holidays with our family this year after a decade abroad, means that we can indulge in traditional baking and cooking again - lots of Beigli (swirls with poppy seeds and grated walnuts), Linzer (soft, buttery cookies with a star or heart shape centre filled with home made jam) and endless variations of Truffles (with coconut, pistachios, caramel, peanut butter, rum - my favourite).
Wishing everyone a relaxed festive period and Happy (Hungarian) Holidays ahead xx Ivy

A little addition to the holiday list for 2020 is making arrangements to safely deliver your beautiful cookies.

A playfully illustrated “Alphabet” that spells out the words Holiday Sweets and highlights a few tasty foods we might associate with celebrating and of course everything is held together by Sugar! I’m ready for the Wassail and a slice of the Yule Log, while I make some Clove studded Oranges!

Holiday birds chirp away sweet tweets as they build their super-sweet gingerbread birdhouses.

Ice skating animals, dressed in festive plaid, carrying a variety of holiday treats.

Fun illustrated sugar cookies!