Joy the Baker

Merry Christmas from me to you.  

I hope Santa brings you peace and love, a KitchenAid mixer and a dishwasher… and a kitten.   

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There is one reason why I have continued to feed myself, bathe, and otherwise keep myself alive these past few days: enchiladas. My Dad is making enchiladas for tomorrow’s Christmas lunch. I’m in. I’m so alive and I’m so in.

I’m going to come out of the next few family laden days with a camera full of pictures of my little sister doing various silly things, my uncle tormenting unsuspecting family members with a can of Redi-Whip Cream, and my Dad in several Christmas inspired aprons.

Mostly I just wanted to stop and say Hey! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Cheers to celebration, family, friends and food! It’s important. You’re important…. and I mean that. Have a great, belly filling holiday, and thanks for coming by and saying nice things like you always do. It means a lot to me.

Still looking for those last minute recipe? Here’s a few goodies you might be able to whip up without heading out to the store.

Peppermint Meringues

Just the Best Chocolate Brownie Cookies um… ever.

Make ‘em love you Apple Crisp.

Mocha Rum Cake… for serious.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

There are some things in the world that make me feel like an adult. Most of the time my brain likes to idle in the fact that I’m somewhere between ten and twelve years old. When I thought I was pretty cool. When I thought I had a pretty good handle on things. Before the painfully awkward Blossom hats and frizzy hair set in.

Something has happened though. Time I suppose. I’ve turned around and been hit square in the face with what feels like adult things.

Um… retirement plan? Yea… I have one. It’s totally weird.

Going to the airport by myself? Um… hello!? I need an adult to carry my boarding pass and my ID and to make sure I have matching socks on! Oh… I am the adult. Seriously?

Shoe shopping. No one is there to pinch the edge of my shoe and make sure I have enough toe room. How am I supposed to know if they fit!? I can’t very well pinch my own shoes!

And then there are things that show me that maybe I’m not so adult after all.

My Mom still nags me to write holiday and birthday thank you notes.

I love hot chocolate with marshmallows. I mean seriously. Come on! That’s some good stuff.

And these Peppermint Meringues remind me of the soft after dinner mints that I used to horde from my favorite Italian restaurant growing up. Do you know the mints I’m talking about? The somewhat chalky, melt in your mouth, white mints? I’m still a sucker for those things. I may have eaten them for dinner a few weeks back. Don’t judge me.

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It’s November, and that means that we’ve undeniably entered the holiday season. In my world that means lots of family, lot of parties and eating a ridiculous, almost painful amount of food. Cocktail parties. Tacky Christmas sweater parties. Surprise guests and…. my oh my… is it too early to be this excited?

Despite all of my (possibly premature) excitement, I’ll admit that I’m sometimes at a loss when it comes to a holiday night out. If I’m not fussing over what I’m going to wear, I’m getting nit picky about the dessert that I’m going to bring. It’s enough to drive myself crazy and send me straight to the egg nog bowl when I hit the party. The egg nog is always such a nice thought, but the actual introduction of egg nog into my system is a very, very bad idea.

This weekend I picked up a few party dresses and tights- festive and hip but not over the top. I also baked up the perfect all purpose holiday cake. It’s a winner because you can throw it together with virtually anything and everything you have in your pantry.

Let’s discuss…

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