Shake it off, shake it off

Yesterday I spent a lot of time, effort, and money making a batch of caramel covered Lorna Doones and pretzels, then dipping them in chocolate, just as I did last year. I used my Chocolate- Dipped Caramels recipe that I've made since 2006 but I was lazy and didn't use my candy thermometer. The caramel got too hard. I had to throw it all in the trash. Ouch. I don't have the time or money to do it over so I won't (although, it's likely I might - I'm sick that way).

It really put a damper on my baking spirit. I took a break, went to the gym, and came home and made a new cookie recipe that was pretty delicious but I'm still not over it.

It's weird but I really want to bake and I have a long list of things I want to make this year but I often find myself wondering why I am doing this. It's always hard when Christmas falls at the end of the week since I don't like to bake too far ahead and I have to work all week. At least I have Christmas Eve off this year and I can relax a little that day, I hope.

I have mixed feeling about the holiday. I am really looking forward to Christmas morning. I love shopping for my boys and I think they will be thrilled.

I'm not sure how the rest of the holiday will be though. Between the divorce, losing my mother two weeks ago, and now the threat of snow on Christmas (snow ruined my Thanksgiving - please don't let it ruin my Christmas!), I'm not sure what Christmas Eve and the rest of Christmas Day will hold but at least there will be Christmas morning to enjoy.

I lost my momentum

You thought I might be making a full-fledged blogging comeback? It doesn't look like it, not right now. My Thanksgiving holiday didn't quite turn out like I had planned (first year I didn't get even a taste of turkey or stuffing). I had high hopes for cooking something over my 4 days off but it never happened. This past week felt like a recovery operation. I can tell you that this December is probably not going to be a good month for blogging.

It's that time of the year again!

Time to start thinking about holiday baking and candy making.

This was last year's round up (which links back to previous years).

A few things to add from last year:

Reindeer Cookies using a chocolate sugar cookie recipe (recipe is on Domino Sugar site)



Rich and Dark Fudge Tassies - very chocolatey!



Drop Sugar Cookies (recipe is on Domino Sugar site)



Caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel rods and caramel covered chocolate dipped Lorna Doones using the caramel recipe from Chocolate Covered Caramels (I overcooked the caramel the year I took that lousy picture)



Candy-Cane Twists - an old, old recipe of mine that is a pain in the behind but so cute



South Seas Cookies - these were a big hit last year. I used my homemade caramel to make them



Butterhorns - another old recipe I brought out of retirement



These are recipes that I made in 2010 that might be good for the holidays too:

Lime Cooler Cookies



White Chocolate Dried Cherry (or Craisin) Cookies (SO GOOD!)



Big Soft Ginger Cookies (if you don't feel like making gingerbread men but you want something spicy)



Big Sugar Cookies - I'm definitely making these with Christmas sprinkles




Icebox Cookies - this is a great basic cookie that can be doctored up for the holidays



Cherry Chip Bars

Another short break?

Now that I've been posting more regularly again, I hate not having anything new to share with you today. I did cook this weekend but it was mainly for meals this upcoming week so I can't comment on the recipes yet. I winged a big pot of beef vegetable soup that came out pretty good. I should have taken a picture of that. I also have some recipes in the backup queue but I have to track down the actual recipes first. I am at a loss at to where some of them came from, it's been so long since I made them.

I think many blog readers will be busy getting ready for Thanksgiving so maybe I will just wait and pick up posting next week.

I don't have anything exciting planned for Thanksgiving, recipe-wise. I'm not doing a ton of pies this year. I'm taking a break. I am going to make the Deen Bros. Truffle Pie again. I love this pie.


Maybe I'll get a better picture this year.

My brother will be spending Thanksgiving with his new wife's family so I won't be making his favorite, Butterscotch Pie, which is also one of my favorites. I'm going to miss that pie but it is sort of labor intensive so I won't miss it too much.

Otherwise I am in charge of mashed potatoes and gravy but I have to do it with as little sodium as possible so I'm not too excited about that but at least I'll have the pie to look forward to!

Pretty in pink

Maraschino Cherry Bars
Cookies 1,001 Mouthwatering Recipes From Around the World Copyright 2004

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon maraschino syrup (from a jar of maraschino cherries)
½ cup finely chopped maraschino cherries
Maraschino Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13x9-inch baking pan. (I think this is better suited to a 11x7-inch baking dish). Sift the flour and salt into a medium bowl. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and maraschino cherry syrup in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients and cherries until well blended. Spread the mixture evenly in the baking pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan. If desired, spread the frosting over, Cut into bars.

Maraschino Frosting (This will make way more than you need)
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons maraschino cherry syrup
16 maraschino cherries, finely chopped

Beat the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and milk in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until smooth. (**I wouldn't add the milk all at once. Safer to blend everything else then add the milk until you reach the right consistency. **)Beat in the cherry syrup and cherries until well blended.
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I've had a jar of cherries in the cupboard for quite some time that I wanted to use in something. There are plenty of recipes that use maraschino cherries but this one was the least labor intensive and it didn't require any other special ingredients.

This is basically a shortbread, which I'm generally not crazy about. The frosting gave these a more personally pleasing texture for me (it softened the bars slightly). They are VERY sweet - don't cut them too large. They didn't blow me away right off the bat but everyone seemed to love them - they got a few 'extra' comments from the work crew and disappeared quickly. I was sorry to see the last one go since they really grew on me, but I'm still not sure if I would make them again. When it comes to sweets, I generally only remake the things that knock my socks off. As much as everyone enjoyed these, I don't think these fell into that category for me, since, like I already mentioned, I'm just not a huge shortbread fan. I could maybe see making them again if I needed a pink treat someday - I loved the color.