Holiday Baking Logs

I was going through my cookbooks today and I found my Christmas baking logs from the past 18 years. I bake lots of different cookies each Christmas and being my usual hyper-organized self, I keep lists!
I thought it was time to get those lists onto my computer so I just typed it all out and decided I might as well blog it. These lists are an interesting artifact, to see how much or how little I made each year, what flavors were exciting me the most, etc.
In 2002 I made a lot more breads, muffins and scones because my ex-bf preferred them to cookies. It's also interesting to see which cookies keep making repeat appearances year after year, and which recipes are tried once and then dropped.

So without further ado...

Christmas Baking Log

1991
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Reverse chippers aka pearls and chocolate (chocolate cookie, white chocolate chip)
3. Bright Eyed Susans
4. Lemon Spritz
5. Crisp Almond Slices
6. Mint-chocolate trees (green mint spritz, dipped in chocolate)
7. Buttermint kisses

1992
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Reverse chippers / Rocky Road (chocolate cookie, white chocolate chip, nuts, marshmallow on top, covered in chocolate)
3. Lemon Spritz
4. Mint-chocolate trees (spritz)
5. Chocolate Spritz
6. Almond Spritz
7. Cuban Wedding Cakes (aka Mexican wedding cookies)
8. Chinese Almond Cookies
9. Sugar Cream Sandwiches
10. Chocolate Pretzels
11. Chocolate-orange bars


1993
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Lemon Spritz
3. Mint-chocolate trees (spritz)
4. Reverse chippers / Rocky Road
5. Bright Eyed Susans
6. Sugar Cream Sandwiches
7. Chinese Almond Cookies


1994
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Lemon Spritz
3. Mint-chocolate trees (spritz)
4. Bright Eyed Susans
5. Chinese Almond Cookies
6. Cuban Wedding Cakes


1995 (no records)
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Lemon Spritz
3. Cuban Wedding Cakes
4. Glazed nuts
5. Spiced nuts


1996
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Cuban Wedding Cakes
3. Lemon bonbons
4. Orange butter cookies
5. Butterscotch balls
6. Orange chocolate chip
7. Rose’s butter crescents
8. Brown sugar thins
9. English shortbread
10. Chocolate rolled cookies, dipped in white chocolate
11. Glazed almonds
12. Cinnamon pecans
13. Maple glazed walnuts


1997
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. English shortbread
3. Cuban Wedding Cakes (with hazelnut instead of pecan meal)
4. Cinnamon chip
5. Lemon chip
6. Chocolate-mint chip
7. Chocolate with white choc/raspberry chips
8. Orange-lemon Pandoro
9. Cocoa-cabernet pound cake
10. Glazed almonds


1998
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Bright Eyed Susans (multicolor non-pareils)
3. Lemon cream cheese cookies frosted & lime jimmies
4. Chocolate-caramel chip
5. Chocolate-mint chip
6. Chocolate almond Biscotti
7. Storebought gingersnaps received as gift- I dipped them in chocolate and decorated
8. Orange Pandoro
9. Peppermint Bark
10. Pralines
11. Glazed almonds
12. Nephew’s B-day cake: scratch white cake, scratch lemon curd filling, scratch vanilla buttercream frosting
13. Thumbprint jam cookies
14. Cuban Wedding Cakes (with hazelnut instead of pecan meal)
15. Simply Perfect dinner rolls (yeast)
16. Cinnamon rolls


1999
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Cuban Wedding Cakes
3. Lemon meltaways, frosted & lime jimmies
4. Caramel chip Toll House
5. Crisp sugar cookies, fiori di sicilia flavor
6. Rainbow chip brownies
7. Orange-currant mini-muffins
8. Glazed almonds (3 batches- vanilla, butter toffee, cinnamon)
9. Glazed sunflower seeds
10. Chocolate hazelnut Biscotti, dipped in white chocolate
11. Rolled spice cookies (second batch, painted ornaments)
12. Lemon bars
13. Lemon Pandoro
14. Lemon bread pudding
15. Crispy Buttercream chocolates (candy)


2000
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Cuban Wedding Cakes
3. Lemon meltaways with lemon chips, pink frosted
4. English Shortbread
5. Chocolate chocolate chip cookies with pecans, dipped in white chocolate, with dark chocolate jimmies
6. Glazed almonds- English toffee flavor
7. Glazed sunflower seeds
8. Pandoro
9. Cocoa-cabernet pound cake

2001 (living with my ex)
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Lemon bars
3. Chocolate chocolate chunk cookies
4. Cheese wafers
5. Cuban Wedding Cakes
6. Millionaire’s Shortbread
7. Lemon loaf cake with candied lemon peel
8. Glazed almonds- (cinnamon, vanilla)
9. Sunflower seed brittle


2002 (living with my ex)
1. Glazed almonds
2. Chocolate hazelnut Biscotti
3. Cuban Wedding Cakes
4. Chocolate chip cookies
5. Cheese Pennies
6. Butterscotch-pecan cookies
7. Beer Bread
8. Apple-whole wheat muffins
9. Pumpkin muffins
10. Pecan muffins
11. Currant muffins
12. Peach-spice scones
13. Blueberry scones
14. Cappuccino chip scones
15. Cinnamon pecan rolls


2003 (no records)

2004 (no records other than photo of Christmas day)
1. Cream puffs
2. Peach upside-down cake (using frozen home-grown peaches)
3. Bright-eyed susans
4. Pink peppermint meltaways
5. Glazed almonds

2005
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Marshmallow crispy treats
3. Chocolate graham crackers with peppermint bark
4. Glazed almonds
5. Cherry-almond cookies (red sugar)
6. Pine nut cookies (green sugar)
7. Beautiful leaf-crust apple pie for Thanksgiving

2006
1. Rolled spice cookies
2. Cuban Wedding Cakes
3. Lemon bars
4. Toll house- with white chocolate chips & toffee bits
5. Marshmallow crispy treats
6. Pandoro
7. Cinnamon rolls in star-shaped pans
8. Mint Meltaways
9. Pink peppermint bark stars (in candy molds)


2007
1. Rolled spice cookies- polar bears (recipe in this blog)
2. Bright-eyed susans (recipe in this blog)
3. Cuban Wedding Cakes (recipe in this blog)
4. Mint Meltaways (recipe in this blog)
5. Millionaire’s shortbread (recipe in this blog)
6. Chocolate Rugelach (recipe in this blog)
7. Chocolate graham crackers with peppermint bark (recipe in this blog)
8. Glazed pecans (recipe in this blog)
9. Lemon loaf cake with candied lemon peel (recipe in this blog)
10. Black chocolate cake with nutella, Kahlua pastry cream, and chocolate buttercream frosting)
11. Cream puffs with key lime filling


2008
1. Rolled spice cookies (recipe in this blog)
2. Chocolate Pecan Pie, Thanksgiving (recipe in this blog)
3. Apple Tart
4. Banana Pecan Bread
5. Orange-cranberry-pecan scones (recipe in this blog)
6. Apple-pecan-cinnamon bread
7. Cinnamon glazed almonds
8. Dark chocolate-cherry-pecan clusters
9. Orange toffee glazed almonds
10. White chocolate, pecans, and dried cherries (candy)
11. Crunchy turtles: Pecans, caramel, marshmallow, chocolate, mini-rice crispies
12. Chocolate-mint rice crispy treats (recipe in this blog)
13. Bright-eyed susans (recipe in this blog)
14. Jam thumbprints
15. Rocky road brownies (recipe in this blog)

2009, so far
1. Thanksgiving: Chocolate Pecan Pie (recipe in this blog)
2. Thanksgiving: Pumpkin Pie
3. Banana-pecan bread
4. Cranberry bread
5. Apple-pecan bread
6. English shortbread, dipped in chocolate
7. Rolled spice cookies
8. Cuban Wedding Cakes aka Mexican wedding cookies
9. Key Lime Pie
10. Dark chocolate spritz cookies
11. pink peppermint meltaways
12. chocolate rugelach

Etsy mini test 3

the javascript version
there is no way to remove my name at the bottom of this one, but it doesn't have the flashing popup box

etsy mini test 2

flash version with some code removed
I removed the extra links at the bottom and the "movie" parameter but it did not get rid of that flashing popup box.

eek

testing etsy mini for favorites

Flash version iwith the text and links at the bottom edited

eclipse Buy handmade eclipse

Milestones

Last week, I realized I had just missed my 3 year Etsyversary. I was looking in my shop for another reason on Monday, and I realized that the previous day was the date I joined Etsy . September 20, 2006.
Last year on my second Etsyversary, I made some special commemorative ACEO's and this year the whole thing just slipped my mind.
Then on Tuesday, a friend reminded me that the traditional gift for a 3rd anniversary is leather!
This was all the rationalization I needed to buy myself these fabulous vintage boots as an Etsyversary present!


Then I got looking at more and more vintage shoes and boots. Oh how I love fall weather (aka BOOT WEATHER) and how I love leather and SUEDE!
These are all shoes and boots on Etsy that I am currently lusting after. Click to see full size.


Item listings:
29988582, 31398666, 31160298, 31546116
28854817, 31480078, 31192839, 28266976
25026078, 31160332, 30633522, 30985709

I cannot really justify 12 new pairs of shoes, though. The two black pairs in the second row are to DIE for, but I currently have about 30 pairs of black shoes. What's a girl to do?? Post a comment and vote for your favorite pair.


Last week was also my mother's 80'th birthday! Now THAT'S a milestone!
I made her a lemon meringue pie instead of a birthday cake.

White chocolate, fruit & nut clusters

Today I had a craving for something sweet, so I made up a recipe for some candy just using ingredients I happened to have in my pantry.
I had a handful of almonds, about 1/4 of a bag of white chocolate chips, just leftovers from other baking adventures.
So I sort of threw in everything but the kitchen sink! They came out pretty tasty.



First I decided to candy the almonds, although you could use plain roasted nuts or even raw nuts. That's the beauty of this recipe, just use whatever you have on hand.
---------------------------------------------------------
Candied almonds INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole raw almonds
1/2 cup granulated pure cane sugar
2 tablespoons butter
Combine nuts, sugar and butter in heavy skillet. I use a cast iron skillet. Do not use a teflon-coated pan. Some candy-makers believe that sugar melts better in a copper pot, but I've never cooked with copper pots!
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until nuts are toasted and sugar is golden brown and the consistency of a thick syrup. (about 15 minutes)Sugar should not be grainy.
If you want to test with a water glass, the syrup should be in the hard crack stage.
Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
Spray a piece of aluminum foil with non-stick spray (like Pam).
Spread the nuts onto the foil in an even layer.
Let the candy cool, then break into 1 or 2 nut clusters.

BE CAREFUL AND USE OVEN MITTS, and wear long sleeves. This molten sugar syrup is HOT and sticky so if some gets on you it is like napalm. It will burn you and take some skin off with it when you peel it off.
---------------------------------------

Then I melted about 1/4 of a bag of white chocolate chips in the microwave, in a medium size pyrex bowl. I had a few pink candy melts left from Valentines day baking, so I threw them in there too, just to use them up. That's why the color is sort of off-whitish.
To melt chocolate, use a low power setting like 30%. Do it one or two minutes at a time, take out and stir, then nuke it another minute. (at low power)
repeat until the chocolate is melted.

Stir into the melted chocolate:
the chopped-up candied almonds
a couple handfuls of craisins (dried cranberries)
a handful of of Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal (brown sugar flavor)

Stir it all together until everything is coated in chocolate.
Spread it out on a plate that you sprayed with Pam. (or rub some butter on the plate)
Put the plate in the fridge until the chocolate hardens.
Remove plate from fridge and chop up the candy into chunks.

Yummy!

You can use milk chocolate or dark chocolate instead of white.
You can use any kind of nuts.
You can use raisins, dried cherries, banana chips, any kind of dried fruit.
You can use almost any kinds of breakfast cereal, to add crunch.

This would be good with milk chocolate, peanuts, cheerios and banana chips.
Just look around your pantry for leftover stuff you can mix in!

WATERMELON GRANITE

Today was hot so tonight I made some Watermelon Granite.

Granite (pronounced Granita and sometimes spelled Granita) is an easy frozen treat you can make without an ice cream maker!
I have also made this in lemon and in red wine flavors.


WATERMELON GRANITE

5 cups peeled and seeded watermelon chunks (from about a 3-pound slice of watermelon)
½ cup sugar (or sugar to taste depending on how sweet the melon is)
Juice of one lemon or lime


Place the watermelon chunks in a blender or food processor and blend on high speed until very smooth.

Strain the watermelon puree in a mesh strainer, Push on the pulp with the back of a large spoon to squeeze out all the juice.
discard pulp.

Transfer the watermelon juice to a mixing bowl and add the sugar and lemon/lime juice. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Not all watermelons are the same sweetness so I don't really measure the sugar, I sweeten to taste. Note that sweetness gets weaker when it's frozen so you want to over-sweeten it a bit in the juice stage.

Pour the juice into a metal baking pan that will fit into your freezer. I use a 9"x9" square brownie pan. Put that on a freezer shelf for about 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the freezer and use a fork to scrape any ice crystals from the sides of the bowl. Break up any solid chunks. Stir to incorporate the crystals. Return to the freezer.

Repeat the scraping procedure every 15-20 minutes, rake the fork through the pan to break up the crystals, then return the pan to the freezer.
Keep doing this until the consistency is fluffy and “snowy” when scraped with a fork or spoon, at least 4 hours.

Then scoop into bowls or dessert glasses and serve.
It's very good with a crisp nutty cookie such as these
http://chezlatina.com/I/chezlatina_1702_12056958.jpg