I finally caught the Christmas bug and have been baking up a storm. For some reason, treats and goodies are what I associate with the holidays. That and Christmas cards. Unfortunately, Brad is going to associate doing the dishes with Christmas baking. He has been kind enough to clean up after my messes and only complains about it when he thinks I'm not listening. :) Just kidding, honey!
2 weekends ago, I started the baking extravaganza with some caramel apple cinnamon rolls. Delightful, if I do say so myself. I have always shied away from bread. It just seems tricky but it's all about the Bosch mixer. Next up was the annual gingerbread men. The secret is a little lemon zest in the dough. Strange, I know but it just gives it this bright hint. And don't overbake them, for heaven's sake! In my humble opinion, gingerbread men are soft. Gingersnaps are crunchy. (Geez, someone is passionate about her gingerbread cookies!)
And then, for the crowning event that weekend, I made this pear tart....in 2 attempts--funny story now, but I wasn't laughing then. The first crust attempt was tossed high in the air when I forgot the tart pan had a removable bottom. As I was taking it out of the oven, holding it underneath, my hand punched right through the pan, sending the crust 3 feet in the air. Ironically enough, I made a conscientious decision to hold the bottom of the pan so that I wouldn't break the sides of the crust. Burned myself in the process and literally had crumbles of dough from floor to ceiling. (Thank you again, Brad, for cleaning up this one. I was busy having a break-down and trying to remember why I had started all three desserts at the same time.)
You'd think I would have learned my lesson but the next weekend, I was back at it again. I decided to try my hand at my mom's homemade wheat bread; first time I've ever attempted it. Must be a pretty fail-safe recipe because it turned out surprisingly well! So much that I made another batch a couple of days later.
And then thought, "hell! might as well make some fig jam to go along with it". I just found a recipe on the internet and it was sooooo good. Crazy-Brad wanted to do dishes for the 14th time that day and made a request for his favorite holiday treat, eggnog pound cake. Oh, you have no idea! It is truly worth the 1562 calories per slice.
And after all this, I still wanted to bake something for the neighbors. (You are wondering what we did with all the previous baked goods. Brad and I took them to work so we can spread the weight gain among more people!) A couple of friends came over and we became a caramel-apple-factory-making-machine. 60 gourmet apples in 3 hours, baby! (Brad likes to claim that it actually took 15 hours, including clean-up.) We must have come up with 10 different designs and toppings. This one is a caramel, white chocolate toffee apple: 
and a red chocolate, caramel one:
And a white chocolate, caramel apple one just for the kids:
Brad gets credit for sprucing up this one. He added the hat, arms and scarf ties. That man is more creative that he ever lets on.
Now that I've run out of the crack I musta been smoking, I think I've had my fill of holiday baking. I'll be moving on to homemade soups. Goodness gracious, I'm going to be the size of a house by New Years!
