Anyone baking (or trying to) for the holidays?

[kama_s]

Date: 12/22/2009 2:08:14 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk

Date: 12/22/2009 2:05:26 PM
Author: KimberlyH

Date: 12/20/2009 10:59:09 PM

Author: kama_s

Date: 12/20/2009 10:50:52 PM

Author: KimberlyH

So far I''ve baked: chocolate chip cookies, pecan shortbread bars, and walnut biscotti. Tomorrow I''m baking chocolate nut bars and then I''m done. Everything I make tastes good, it just never looks very pretty, which bums me out. My husband says that what makes it obviously homemade.

That husband of yours is a very wise man

My hubby always tells me fancy restaurants intentionally put potato lumps (read: not perfect) in their mashed potatoes so people know it''s made from scratch. We''ve trained them well, haven''t we?!

Yes, kama, but when I see beautiful homemade treats like Equestrienne''s I feel lilke a baking failure!

DITTO

Hey now. If there''s a taste explosion in your mouth, nothing else matters. Mouth trumps eyes

 

[kama_s]

Date: 12/21/2009 10:59:23 PM
Author: pocahontas

Date: 12/21/2009 1:00:08 AM
Author: kama_s

Date: 12/20/2009 11:23:22 PM
Author: pocahontas
So far I''ve made peanut butter chocolate (white and milk) chunk cookies; cranberry, white chocolate, walnut cookies; and chocolate dipped almond brittle. I still have skor bars to make (left the easiest for last) and then I''ll be putting together tins of all four goodies for fam and friends. For the house, I''m also planning on baking some chocolate chip banana bread and apple crumb pies. Mmmm, I love the holidays

Oooh, Poca, your goodies sound absolutely delicious! I''d love to steal the recipes off you! About time you get FB, woman!!!!

I know, right?! I''m still holding out, but every so often I do get tempted. Maybe one day

It''s funny, despite the numerous cookbooks I have, all the recipes I used this year are available online and are super easy. Here you go, enjoy!

Chunky chocolate peanut butter cookies

Kris Kringle cookies (made with toasted walnuts instead of pecans. There are several versions of this recipe, but I like the consistency of this one the best)

Chocolate Almond Brittle (I swear this is the easiest nut brittle recipe ever! I love that you don''t need a candy thermometer since they rarely ever work for me and it''s done in the microwave - just be sure to use a large bowl because it will boil over if you don''t and will make a sticky mess)

Skor Squares (I usually omit the pecans. Also, some recipes call for 4 squares of melted baking chocolate to be drizzled over the squares - up to you. Also, I like to use more toffee bits than is called for and depending on my mood I will use actual score bars instead of the toffee bits to get the chocolatey goodness)

Thank you! You''re the best! The skor squares sound heavenly - I might try making them tomorrow as my turkey roasts.