Saturday, December 31, 2011

Baking, Baking, and More Baking...

It was another busy baking month... and I am "usually" grateful for some help in the kitchen. Amaya LOVES being in the kitchen, so I try to be patient and let her do as much as possible. This month we made Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, two batches of Fudge - one plain and one with walnuts, Caramel Brownies, Christmas Wreath Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Swirl Cookies, and Candy Cane Cookies.

Let the baking begin!

I think we went through 5 pounds of butter this month....that's a lot of butter...

Add the eggs... Amaya has really mastered cracking eggs!

Add the flour... (we still need to work on measurements, but she's getting there.)

BUSTED snitching the dough!

Roll the dough in balls and roll them in sugar.

Decorate with sprinkles!

Ready for the oven!

DELICIOUS!

Later that week, Jen came over to visit us and we put her to work too! She's on winter break from school in California and we've missed her tremendously.

We made a batch of Candy Cane Cookies and I'm so thankful Jen helped... they are kind of a putzy cookie to make. I didn't realize that Steve and my sister, Carol loved them so much, so I'll make them every year from now on.

I also tried a new recipe for these "Swirl Cookies." They aren't as pretty as in the original pictures, but they look festive. Not sure if I'll make these again next year.

The finished product.

For Christmas, I got quite a few baking tools and I can't wait to use them. Amaya and I will have to experiment a little before I do her cake for her birthday... so the baking will continue...