Work has been very busy, but it hasn't prevented me from baking up a storm. Although I haven't been posting I have been documenting all of my creations with the hope that I will one day start posting again. And here I am!
Some big news has happened between my last post (December 9th!) and now and that is that I'm engaged :) This Christmas was our first year staying in the same city (I usually go home to my parents and sister, while Josh stays here with his). I knew it would be ultra special for that reason alone, but in the middle of prepping for our big family dinner (everyone was to come to our place) we went out on Christmas Eve to enjoy the Christmas lights and whoala! We're engaged. A few details missing but that's the gist. We are very excited and are planning for the summer of next year.
It was a great way to start the official holiday season.
We had a lovely Christmas morning together filled with yummy food, presents, my favourite drink (see photo below) and preparing for our family dinner.
One of the best presents that I received was from Josh. For any occasion his gifts are always the best, but I always give him a list of what I am hoping for - sooooo they are always good because it's always what I want... For one of my Christmas gifts though, this year he thought to get a personalized apron made for me with Wilma: Loft Living on it with a cupcake - So Sweet! Best present! And very fitting for my blog with all of my baking (and cooking).
In the evening, we had a house full of family and enjoyed a nice turkey dinner.
We prepared three sets of goodies to give to the family. Baking and putting together these items really helped the house feel like Christmas leading up to the actual holidays. Home-made gifts are always the best when you can eat them!! I decided to include four types of goodies:
1) Toasted, Sugar-Cinnamon Walnuts
2) Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows
3) Chocolate Vanilla Spiral Cookies (previously posted here)
4) Soft Caramels
Toasted Sugar-Cinnamon Walnuts
2 cups whole or halved walnuts
2 tbsp butter
6 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Melt sugar on stove top
Spread walnuts thinly on pan
Pour melted butter over walnuts
Combine sugar and cinnamon
Sprinkle over walnuts and mix
Bake for 15-20 minutes
Half way through, mix and add more sugar/cinnamon mixture
Let cool. Try not to eat them all. And package them up.
Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup mini marshmallows
Sift all ingredients together except for the marshmallows
Package and add mini marshmallows to the top
Add an instruction to say add 3 tbsp to 1 cup of water (or milk), stir well, and drink up.
Chocolate Vanilla Spiral Cookies
For ingredients and instructions see one of my previous posts here.
Soft Caramels
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup corn syrup
Heat all ingredients to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly
Boil uncovered, stirring frequently until it reaches 245 degrees - takes around 35 minutes (don't let it go higher or else it will become harder)
Pour into a greased baking dish
Cool completely
Cut into pieces (I use a pizza cutter, works so much better than a knife or scissors)
Individually wrap in wax paper
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And there you go! You can make your own baked goods and candies for anyone you want...maybe for next Christmas.
So now that I went back 4 months, I will come back to the present - I just wanted to fill in the blanks a bit.
It was a great way to start the official holiday season.
We had a lovely Christmas morning together filled with yummy food, presents, my favourite drink (see photo below) and preparing for our family dinner.
Orange Juice & Gingerale
In the evening, we had a house full of family and enjoyed a nice turkey dinner.
Table Settings
We prepared three sets of goodies to give to the family. Baking and putting together these items really helped the house feel like Christmas leading up to the actual holidays. Home-made gifts are always the best when you can eat them!! I decided to include four types of goodies:
1) Toasted, Sugar-Cinnamon Walnuts
2) Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows
3) Chocolate Vanilla Spiral Cookies (previously posted here)
4) Soft Caramels
Christmas Gift Treats
Toasted Sugar-Cinnamon Walnuts
2 cups whole or halved walnuts
2 tbsp butter
6 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Melt sugar on stove top
Spread walnuts thinly on pan
Pour melted butter over walnuts
Combine sugar and cinnamon
Sprinkle over walnuts and mix
Bake for 15-20 minutes
Half way through, mix and add more sugar/cinnamon mixture
Let cool. Try not to eat them all. And package them up.
Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup mini marshmallows
Sift all ingredients together except for the marshmallows
Package and add mini marshmallows to the top
Add an instruction to say add 3 tbsp to 1 cup of water (or milk), stir well, and drink up.
Chocolate Vanilla Spiral Cookies
For ingredients and instructions see one of my previous posts here.
Soft Caramels
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup corn syrup
Heat all ingredients to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly
Boil uncovered, stirring frequently until it reaches 245 degrees - takes around 35 minutes (don't let it go higher or else it will become harder)
Pour into a greased baking dish
Cool completely
Cut into pieces (I use a pizza cutter, works so much better than a knife or scissors)
Individually wrap in wax paper
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And there you go! You can make your own baked goods and candies for anyone you want...maybe for next Christmas.
So now that I went back 4 months, I will come back to the present - I just wanted to fill in the blanks a bit.
