bakes and bakes and bakes
I had leaned in on prioritizing bakes to give us things to do. I stand by this strategy; however, we could end up with a significant amount of desserts for only three people. It is what it is.
I’ll start with the random one: on Christmas Eve Eve, Luke and I decided we needed a cake-like dessert for us to eat because we are not going to eat the one Lil Momma was making (a favorite of her and my mom, but too sugary and cool whip-y for me and too peppermint for Luke. We have been watching the Christmas Masterclass episodes of the Great British Bake Off with Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry And randomly decided that I should make Mary Berry’s Tunis cake because all three of us love lemon, LM loves chocolate, and it was just the perfect amount of random.
As has been our tradition in recent years since we gave up making French toast casseroles for Christmas morning breakfast, I made cinnamon rolls. One change I made this year that I will do forever is starting them on Christmas Eve Eve. Then, I baked them off for Christmas Eve 2nd breakfast we reheated them for Christmas morning breakfast. This way, I had more time to enjoy Christmas morning and we had a bonus fun breakfast the day before.
The cake itself was delicious, and I was really excited to finally have made a chocolate ganache that was not grainy. I do wonder, though, if it just wasn’t needed. We made a significant amount of cookies that seemed more in line with the holiday we were having. Also, texturally, I think it would’ve been better if I made it on the day and not refrigerated it overnight.
LM is really into baking right now and took the lead on making both snickerdoodles and sugar cookies (along with the buttercream cream, we decorated the sugar cookies with). We use small batch recipes, so we only ended up with about 12 of each which was perfect for the holiday itself and dessert throughout this vacation week. She also made Luke his favorite peanut butter cookies. Which we have been enjoying more than we thought we would!
A finally bake-related anecdote:
As I had said earlier, LM wanted to make a dessert she and my mom loved for Christmas and I spent the whole week before the holiday looking for the specific recipe box I somehow knew it was in among all the recipe boxes and bags I have from my mom and grandmother (which is a lot). After days of Luke and I searching, I was wrecked that I lost it.
Christmas Eve morning, I glanced at the corner of the kitchen while having my coffee and, of course, THE recipe box was just sitting there on the floor in the corner. I leapt up and grabbed it and found the recipe card in it (although, like many of their recipes, it had no measurements for half the ingredients!) So, LM’s dessert was saved and it’s nice to know my mom is still not-so-subtly reminding me to clean my house 💙🪽
I hope you and yours had a lovely holiday if you celebrate and are heading into a lovely New Year’s weekend!
Oh, I love it- a whole post about Christmas baking. We have cinnamon rolls Christmas morning as well. I make them the night of Christmas Eve, up until the point of filling, rolling and cutting the dough into rolls and putting them in the pan- then they sit overnight in the fridge and all I have to do Christmas Day is put them in the oven. But I like your method of having a bonus fun breakfast on Christmas Eve (I guess we have a bonus fun breakfast on Boxing Day.)
ReplyDeleteSo you use buttercream frosting for the sugar cookies because it tastes better? I might try that next time. Our cookies always get enthusiastically decorated, but not a lot of them get eaten.
I love how LM is so into baking! I wish I could get my daughter interested. And yes... your mom was definitely looking out for you- whether or not she was reminding you to clean the house, she definitely wanted you to have that recipe!
We do use buttercream to decorate cookies! Luke and I have a long history of messing up royal icing and LM does not love the flavor of it (and we will always lean towards flavor over looks haha!). LM's New Year's Eve bake is small-batch cupcakes in which we are hiding chocolate centers in half of them - she was inspired by a King Cake but really wanted cupcakes haha! Have the best entry into 2024, Jenny!
DeleteMom is keeping her eye on you. Many blessings. Your baking sounds amazing- have you ever considered opening a shop or doing make-to-order style business? Just curious. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteThat was too kind, Daria! I haven't had a side gig since I quit teaching at night before I had LM; before that, I had 2-3 jobs at all times and wanted to see who I was if I wasn't working all the time. Baking will definitely be on the list of hobbies I do more in 2024, but I don't think I'm mentally ready to monetize (even though I'm immensely flattered you suggested it!). I hope you have a wonderful New Year's!
DeleteAwww, the idea that your mom is gently teasing you about cleaning your house makes me well up. So lovely to have these little nudges and reminders.
ReplyDeleteI am all for medicinal baking and it sounds like you all really hit it out of the park. That cake looks SO scrumptious.
Glad that your holiday was overall so nice, with lots of room for feelings. xxoo
Thanks so much <3 now if I can get into medicinal movement and/or hydration, I might just be on the path to a healthier 2024 for myself haha!
DeleteSo much baking! I ended up not doing as much as I thought I would and now I have quite a few bags of chocolate chips and a lot of extra flour in my house. Oh, well! I'll use it all eventually.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, Luke and I both bought cookie-making supplies and ended up with oh so much flour and chocolate chips - it was slightly horrifying for our small family. That, though, was the year we embarked on finding our ideal chocolate chip cookie recipe just to use up the supplies which has paid off in dividends. I'm sure you'll find ways to use it all, too!
DeleteLots of baking! Us too! I have been having cookies for breakfast and OH MY GOODNESS I NEED TO EAT VEGETABLES AGAIN.
ReplyDeleteThis so perfectly sums up a Christmas after loss: We felt our feels and had some laughs and memories and had a lovely day together, which was the best part.
Sending holiday love from afar. That cake and those cookies look AMAZING. And now I'm hungry for more sweet things.
I truly said "remember vegetables?" when discussing lunch and dinner plans for the week earlier. Our all-cookies-all-the-time household needs to stop with 2023, I think -- but, somehow I'm making more cookies this afternoon. Hopefully, they'll be a nice treat for tea time vs. a lifestyle! Happy New Year to you and yours, Elisabeth!!
DeleteAhhh this is so wonderful! I love baking, baked goods, and finding a recipe you thought you lost. All such great things!
ReplyDeleteYou are an amazing baker, Lindsay! Clearly an inherited trait passed down to LM, too. I am dying to know what the Christmas recipe LM and your mom loved; peppermint, cool whip, and sugar?? (Just glad your mom rescued you by subtly pointing out where you could find the recipe. ;>)
ReplyDeleteOh thank you so much! I didn't try baking or cooking really until the last couple of years so I am still a newbie. The recipe for my family's Whatchamalcallit is wild - my mom used Cool Whip with a bag of crushed soft peppermints mixed in. Then, you take chocolate biscuit cookies (or Oreo thin since they are discontinued) withput some of the CW mixture on them and create a rectangle on a platter. Then, you just build up layers in a and frost the thing with the rest of the CW mix. It sits in the fridge for a day and then it's like a sliceable icebox cake! I am not a whipped cream/Cool Whip person, but we do different versions of it (peanut butter, for example) throughout the year. It's a nice alternative to ice cream cake!
DeleteIf you can't justifying to bake ALL THE THINGS between the years, then I don't know when :)
ReplyDeleteI am putting this on a t-shirt HAHA!
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