A Day in the Kitchen

Literally!  I spent a whole day in my kitchen!  Thursday was a wild day.  Because I got the bug on Wednesday, I decided there was no point in procrastinating on Thursday.  I got up and by 9am I had baked all the cookies for my homemade Oreos.  After that I made some killer Peanut Butter Butterscotch sqares and followed those up with a batch of my husbands Grandpa's homemade granola (yum!).  When the granola came out of the oven I decided I needed one more thing...Banana Chocolate Chip Bread.  By the time the banana bread came out of the oven, it was 3 o'clock and school was out.  I couldn't believe it...I'd truly spent the day in my kitchen...and there were plenty of dishes to show for it.  Yesterday I tried a modified recipe for Orange Cranberry muffins.  I wasn't really thrilled with the result of those...they were a little dry.  I threw them in the freezer and have decided to work out some kind of orange glaze to put on them.  We'll see if that works or not.  It was too bad they were dry because they smelled fabulous!!

Christmas is Coming

I had a horrible realization this morning as I was doing my daughter's hair before school...one month until Christmas Eve!!!  Where has the time gone and why is my baking not done.  (Surely typing on my computer isn't going to help my baking get done but here I sit anyways).  I think the tricky part for me about Christmas baking is how much to bake and what will I be left with when the kids go back to school.  This year I plan on my regular recipes with a few new ones as well.  I made an attempt at Wellington Squares yesterday.  They look delish...I've never made them before but have always enjoyed them when I've tasted them elsewhere.  Let's be real, with shortbread, caramel and chocolate, what could go wrong?!?!!?

There will be the usual nuts and bolts along with lots of different cookies.  My m-i-l and I will work on Gingerbread Houses with the kids--I wonder if they'll finish eating them this year or not?  With Christmas comes company and I like to have some things to pull out at the last minute (or make it look like I can do that).  The Greek Bread will be made as we will go through a loaf of that a day (probably need to make a double batch of it) and likely sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.  How I love the smells that come from the kitchen during the Christmas Season.  To me, it makes everything a little merrier and a little brighter.