I will now be offerring homemade baked goods for sale in the shop!

Click here for the listing for lemon poppyseed bread.

Stay tuned for something new coming to the shop and blog in the new year!

Coffee cake for a work holiday party.

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Well, the holiday season is upon us at last (she says three weeks into it).  Despite my lack of posting, I have indeed been cooking, baking, and decorating.  The week of Thanksgiving I hosted my annual Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving at my apartment.  Fifteen friends showed up, brought food and drinks, and we feasted spread out on my living room floor.  I made two corn souffles, two kinds of stuffing, corn bread, and gravy.

After that, I ushered in the Christmas season very slowly.  It is very unlike me to be this disinterested in Christmastime, but I only started baking and decorating this past Sunday.  The first order of baking business(I'll get to the decorating in a subsequent post) was to make a batch of caramel shortbread bars, cinnamon applesauce ornaments, and another round of peppermint sugar cookies.  I somehow managed to make all of these at the same time.

I picked up a jug of applesauce and several containers of cinnamon at the local Dollar Tree and decided to make scented ornaments for the tree like when I was a little girl.  I couldn't seem to make a clay-like consistency, so mine are a little misshapen.  I tried.  Towards the end, I just started making circles with holes in them because the cinnamon was burning my hands.

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup of applesauce
• 1 1/2 cup of cinnamon

1. Mix ingredients together until it forms a clay-like consistency.
2. Roll dough out flat and use cookie cutters to make shapes.
3. If using as ornaments to hang, use a pencil or toothpick to make a hole.
4. Leave out to dry for 3 or 4 days.

peppermint sugar cookies

I am alive and full of cookies.  I started right away on my cookie baking once I returned to my apartment after Thanksgiving.  This was the first round.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. butter, softened
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 c. all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. crushed candy canes or peppermint candies
• 5 tsp. warm water
• 3/4 c. confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add egg and beat until blended. Stir in flour and salt, then the crushed candy.  Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into ball. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies 8 to 10 minutes until firm. Cool on sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. 

Picture from We Are Not Martha