Grab some tea or coffee (or champagne!) peeps, and read to the very end for a very special offer in celebration of the new year.

The 2025 Season of The Project is now available for listening and is a vibrant compilation of conversations with leaders in their fields, split evenly this year between topics On Love and Relationships® and leadership, with two veterans of The Project returning to discuss very different, personal aspects of their journeys.  Glen Tullman shares his momentous decision to join The Giving Pledge, and Brad Wilson discusses how he prepared for and planned life after corporate.  (Hint: This episode is essential listening for anyone even thinking about their Second Act.)

As always, I am incredibly grateful to spend time with — and learn from — these exemplars, and I hope that you’ll find our conversations meaningful for your own life.  Jessica Baum’s newest book, which she was still writing when we taped, was recently released and is now available.

—-

More goodies:

Chocolate Tequila Truffles! 

I’ve been baking up a storm over the holidays for gift giving, and two recipes are standouts, both are perfect for serving New Year’s Eve.

I was gifted two different bottles of tequila within a few weeks and started wondering about tequila truffles for the holidays.  After looking at a Rick Bayless recipe and using this one from Ina for proportions, the truffles came together beautifully and were a huge hit.

Notes from my first attempt:

  • Omitted the coffee, subbed 3 T of tequila for the Grand marnier (I think I might try 4 next time but need to be careful with liquid proportions)
  • Rolled them in a combo of equal parts cocoa power and chipotle powder (spicy!) and then rolled them again in confectioner’s sugar. You can play around with this, using only cocoa or confectioner’s sugar or…  I also added ¼ tsp of chipotle powder to the chocolate
  • Zested half an orange and whisked that into the chocolate mixture along with the tequila and vanilla.
  • It’s important that the cream heat thoroughly as that’s what melts the chocolate, but be careful not to scorch it
  • As much as I love dark chocolate, I took Ina’s guidance and did half bittersweet and half semisweet, and it was just right. I used Guittard for both, since chocolate is the star of the show here.

 

Standout #2 from holiday baking: Gertie’s Rugelach.

I am repeatedly astonished at how incredibly swoonworthy these are.  I promised you my grandmother’s recipe for rugelach a while ago, and now that I’ve just made them for the holidays, I’ve got fresh notes and directions that I can share.  Please forgive any gaps, Gertie dictated the recipe to me, and my scrap of paper has the ingredients for the dough and how to work with it but not much else!  I use Julia Child’s cinnamon sugar proportions for the filling.

These flaky, pastry-like little gems will make you and anyone who tastes them think that you should make them far more often than once a year.  I like to fill them with cinnamon and sugar and walnuts, because that’s how Gertie made them, but you can throw in some chocolate and/or jam.  For a festive new year’s celebration, you might consider using apricot jam for some and raspberry for others.

Gertie’s Rugelach

Ingredients:

Dough:

½ pound of unsalted butter at room temp

½ pound cream cheese at room temp (she always used Philly so that’s what I stick to)

1 T of sugar

1 ½ C Flour

Filling:

½ C sugar

½ C light brown sugar

1 T cinnamon

1 C walnuts, chopped (I like to buy walnut halves and chop them by hand)

Possible additions: chocolate, jam

Directions:

Day 1: Cream the butter on medium speed in stand mixer.  Then add sugar and cream cheese, beating until fully incorporated.  Slowly add flour and mix until dough forms a ball.  Remove dough from bowl, and with floured hands, quickly shaped it into a ball on a lightly floured wooden pastry board.  Using a knife, score dough in half, cutting half way deep into the ball of dough.  This is to make cutting it after refrigeration easier.  Cover dough with plastic wrap (you can leave it in the same bowl or wrap it on its own) and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2: Preheat oven to 375 degrees, put parchment paper on two cookie sheets.

Mix the cinnamon sugar filling in a small bowl and set aside.

Lightly flour a wooden pastry board and remove dough from refrigerator, place on board.  Using a sharp knife, carefully cut dough (it will be quite hard) into 4 quarters.  Working with one section of dough at a time, refrigerate remaining quarters.  Roll the dough into a rough circle approximately 8-10” in diameter.  You want to roll the dough quite thinly.  Sprinkle the circle of dough with cinnamon sugar mixture.  (If using jam, spread a thin layer of jam over the circle first and then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly across the circle.)  Add chopped chocolate if using.  Or you can also do just jam, or jam and chocolate, or… You get the idea.  I use a heavy hand with the cinnamon mixture and usually have about 1/3 c left over.

After sprinkling the filling, use a sharp knife to carefully cut the dough as you would cut a pizza, starting by making 4 quadrants and then cutting those into three “slices” each so that you have roughly 12 “slices” in your circle.

Roll each rugel starting from the outside/wide side of each “slice” toward its point into a crescent shape.  Place each on baking sheet; you can comfortably get 12 on a sheet.  Bake as soon as they’re assembled, and while one tray is baking, pull another section of dough from the refrigerator and repeat rolling and assembling.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown.  (Some of the filling might seep out of the ends a just a tad, which I don’t worry about.)  When the rugelach are done, remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the cookies from the baking sheet to another rack to cool completely.

These are best eaten within 2 days.  Store in an airtight container if you have any left to store.

—

And, last but not least, in celebration of the new year, a very special offer for you, readers of this blog: For the first time ever, and only through 8pm ET on January 5th, you can take 20% off registration for The Big Work Retreat on February 26+27.  If you are thinking about your life and Second Act after corporate, this unique, curated, live program is designed for just you.  To learn more and grab your spot, go here.  This New Year’s Eve offer expires on January 5th at 8pm ET.  When the last seat is gone, this special New Year’s offer is not transferable to the next Big Work Private Retreat or any other offering.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year and a bright, healthy, and bountiful 2026!