Baking Christmas

A week from now, Christmas will be over. Even though I've been watching Christmas movies and listening to carols and shopping and wrapping and baking, I still don't know if I've been holly jolly enough.

There's a feeling stored in my mind that I think I'm always trying to recapture, although I'm not entirely sure it was ever captured in the first place. Maybe it's just an amalgamation of all of the things I've ever loved at Christmastime that, when combined, cast a glow over my memories of the season.

In my mind, there's an anonymous snowy windowsill, the only light coming from the colorful, twinkling bulbs strung along the the window frame, and I am sipping hot chocolate while Christmas songs fill the air. And the scene is pink and sweet, like a candy cane. And that's what I think of when I think of Christmas.

But if you want to be more tangible about it, here are a few holly jolly recipes I've compliled for the occasion, which I think you might want to try:

Peppermint Meltaways

Yes, Land O'Lakes is trying to sell you butter with this recipe, but you need butter when baking these delicious bits of Christmas, so it's all good.

Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm thinking about giving these as gifts. Even the most cynical teenager would welcome the gift of bacon cookies, right?

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes

Only Paula Deen would suggest that you use cake mix for the crust. I made these recently for our office potluck and I am now very popular at work.

Salted Caramel Popcorn

This isn't just a great recipe for caramel corn, it's from my favorite momoir author-turned-recipe queen, Catherine Newman.

Rich Chocolate Cupcakes Filled With Chocolate-Mint Ganache Topped With Mint Buttercream

Truthfully, I've only used the mint buttercream part of this recipe so far (it's great with brownies), but perhaps you are feeling ambitious? There's just no way these cupcakes could be anything less than awesome.

So Merry Christmas Week. Stay sane, bake lots and remember that gifts are not actually the point of all this.

With Sprinkles on Top

I've been busily trying out recipes for the home-baked (hand-baked?) gifts I intend to give out this year. So far the cranberry-white-chocolate-oatmeal cookies were too bland and the first batch of mint brownies were a disaster (although the second recipe I tried shows much promise)...next up are the pumpkin pie bars, or maybe I'll just default to my old stand-by, cracker toffee, which never disappoints.

But, I've said too much. What I really wanted to share was this photo of this perfectly festive cupcake because it is, well, perfect and festive.
So if you happen to be in Seattle, heading back to Minneapolis, with time to stop at Cupcake Royale and you feel like bringing me one of these puppies, I'd be mighty grateful. Every baker needs a little inspiration. And every girl needs a cupcake. Just sayin'.

La La Land

I am back from the Golden State and operating on roughly 3 hours of sleep. Here's a tip on how to make flying the red-eye back from LA even less enjoyable: sunburn your back. Like, really fry it, so the skin actually seems to be attempting to jump off your body, trying to disassociate itself with you and your stupidity.

Yes, well anyway, given my surly, blurry, swirly state-of-mind, perhaps I should keep this short. LA was sunny. I watched an embarrassing amount of television, but at least a large percentage of it was the Olympics...that's my patriotic duty, right? I spent the whole trip hanging out with one of my oldest and dearest friends, who was nice enough to let me crash on her couch for three nights. (Incidentally, I am now declaring myself too old to crash on anyone's couch for more than one night.) 

We went to a beautiful beach, where we had the misfortune to witness a girl break her nose on her surfboard, stagger back to the shore and then throw herself at the mercy of the barely-trained lifeguard team...seriously, the poor girl could have dragged herself up the cliff and walked to the hospital in less time than it took the EMTs to arrive. I blame this lengthy distraction for my sunburn. 

I also ate cupcakes...6 of them in all. I fell in love with Big Sugar Bakeshop.
Their icebox cupcake should actually be called the Closest You're Gonna Get to Heaven cupcake. There's filling, you see, and that filling is like eating happiness. 

BFF + sunshine + cupcakes = good trip. But next time there will be no red-eye.