Life in bullets:

*My Christmas shopping is done…are you?

*My Christmas cards are not…hand writing all those addresses with my right hand is less than awesome. But I have stamps and I never have stamps. I think I might start a new ground hog day card tradition instead.

*When dealing with people in fantasy land it is very hard to get them to understand reality world.

*I don’t know how people who work in retail don’t run and get a shovel and start beating people to death…not only for rude customers but for having to hear the same holiday music over and over again. Oh and having to work until 11pm this week and midnight next week at my local mall. I truly feel bad for them…so if this is you I’m sorry.

*I’m thinking about starting a savory aspect to the blog…what are your thoughts on this? It would just be once a week. My goal is to use a cookbook I hardly use a week to make dinner or lunch. But if you guys want and all baking blog let me know. It’s just that I’m on 6 ½ years of making desserts and sometimes it’s hard to reinvent.

*To the person who wrote me and said that just a few months ago I was begging for money but then I went out and bought a mixer so I am a scam artist: First off, I never begged for money. I told people I was going to have to blog less because my money needed to go to other things than making food for this blog and some people chose to donate. And the donate button was only ever put there because people asked for it. Also that was before I won my Better Homes and Gardens contest. Which I saved almost all of it to help run the blog and well, for a mixer…which is for this blog. Plus ad revenue during November and December are much higher than any other month as people bake a whole lot. Come January they are at their lowest. Sorry you think I am scamming you. It really does cost quite a bit to run a blog…especially one that is update often! I don’t know if you noticed but I am pretty forthcoming on this here blog of mine….subtle isn’t my thing.

*I decided that since I was drinking so many peppermint mochas, not from the ‘Bucks because they only have milk or soy, but from a local place that offers rice milk I decided to seek out a baked good that matched the flavors. My bff had a potluck at work and signed up for desserts…he bought the stuff and I baked away. They will all be featured on the blog. I found these Peppermint Mocha Blossoms over on My Kitchen Addiction and thought they looked fun and festive. They are tasty too…so even better!

Peppermint Mocha Blossom Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 TBSP instant coffee powder…I used Starbucks Via
2 eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. peppermint extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
About 1/2 cup granulated sugar to coat cookies
Approximately 4 dozen Candy Cane Kisses, unwrapped

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease your baking sheets, or line with parchment, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and espresso powder until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then add the vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture until the dough comes together.

Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls and coat with granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before pressing a Candy Cane Kiss into the center of each cookie. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

From my Kitchen Addiction

These babies are from way back in 2008…I just love how cute they are. At first they really do look life cinnamon rolls. Someone should make them with a little cream cheese frosting and tell me how that is. Or perhaps I should just do that myself.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

For the filling:
½ cup sugar
2 TBSP ground cinnamon

For the dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup warm water
½ tsp powdered egg whites

For the filling combine sugar and 2 TBSP cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside.
Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, and salt together for the dough in a bowl; set aside.
Cream butter and brown sugar in a bowl with a mixer until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, blending just to incorporate; do not over mix.
Trace a 16-x-9-inch rectangle on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Pat the dough into the rectangle using your hands, then sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the dough.
Beginning on a long side and using the paper to help you, roll the dough into a log. Dust the outside of the log with the remaining cinnamon mixture (I forgot to do this). Wrap log in plastic and chill for at least 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350F; line tow baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice chilled dough into 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack.
Combine icing ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle icing over cooled cookies, let stand at room temperature.

Adpated from Holiday Cookie from Cuisine at Home Magazine

The holidays are in full swing and while many people are throwing parties and having little get togethers that you invite your single friends to; I encourage you to adopt a single person this year for Christmas Day. Sounds silly I know but if you have a single friend who either can’t afford to go back home for the holidays, or can’t take off work, or has no family to go back to, this time of year can be especially hard for them. Christmas Day can be mighty lonely if you have no one to share it with.

I am lucky in the fact that I have my hockey family. It’s a rather large one at that. I also have non-hockey friends who were amazing after my divorce to make sure I had somewhere to go for the holidays. I did, but I greatly appreciated them offering as I have spent the Thanksgiving with just me, the dog, and a box of take-out Chinese food. And while I love both the dog and Sesame Beef, it kind of sucked and magnified the fact that I was alone.

My mother is a collector of strays. Our holidays were always filled with family but also with random people, some of whom I met for the first time that holiday. I remember one year I answered the door and this woman was there I had never seen. My mom had met her on an airplane and she had nowhere to go for Thanksgiving, so my mom invited her and she came. Or the time my parents made friends with the Scottish nanny while playing volleyball in our neighborhood (and my brother ended up dating for a while). She ended up coming to most of our holidays before and after she dated my brother and usually brought other nannies that didn’t have a place to go for the holidays either. My mom still does it to this day, especially now that they are retired and most of their friends are older with no family around. Though it is a wonder we haven’t been stabbed to death by some random serial killer she picked up somewhere.

So make somebodies day and ask them over, they might have some place to go already but they will greatly appreciate the offer I can assure you.

And nothing brings people together like breaking bread or Pear-Walnut Bread in this case. My pears come from my awesome Harry and David Fruit of the Month Club; they are their signature Royal Riviera Pear that I love so much. To make this bread extra wonderful add a ½ cup of blue cheese crumbles to it. Which I would have done but didn’t have in and was already in the middle of dough making before I realized this. Opps. This bread turned out denser this time more than usual because I could not get the dough to rise. It did eventually but it was so cold yesterday (and today) that it was having none of it. This bread goes great with my favorite Roasted Onion and Gorgonzola Soup which is perfect for the chilly weather we have been having.

Stay warm and show some love for your singles.

Pear and Walnut Bread

2 ½ tsp dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
2 ¼ cups water, room temperature
4 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP salt
7 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 pears, sliced and peeled, I used Royal Rivera Pears from my Harry and David Fruit of the Month Club
½ cup walnuts, chopped

Combine the yeast and the warm water with a whisk until it looks creamy. Let it rest for about 10 minutes while the yeast blooms.

In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the room temperature water with a whisk. Add in the remaining olive oil, salt and flour. Mix to form a soft dough. You can do this by hand or in the mixer. If using the mixer be careful not to over mix the dough.

Form dough into a large ball and place into a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and lte rise until it doubled in size about and 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Cut dough into two pieces, or three if you want smaller rounds. You can roll the dough into either a rectangle shape or a round. I like the rectangle shape better because of how they fit on my pans. Place the circles or rectangles onto a pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave for 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Once the dough has sat, take your finger tips and make dimples in the dough. Brush with some olive oil if you like. Sprinkle walnuts and sliced pears onto dough.

Bake bread in oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. It’s best to start watching around the 20 minute mark. Cool and serve.

See that snowflake? It’s really a tortilla. I saw those and knew I had to make them, for while it is cold enough to get snow right now, we don’t have the moisture to go with it. So I had to make my own. The originals had melted butter and sugar on them, which were very cute. But I chose to go savory so that I could dip them in hummus.

The key is definitely to heat the tortilla in the microwave for about 15 seconds so it’s pliable and then just cut it like you would a snowflake. Yes, it is harder to do than say cutting paper, but who cares if it’s not gorgeous, you are going to eat it and it’s way fun. Buy the biggest tortillas you can to make it easier to cut. You can go smaller but your shapes will be limited. Mine was limited as I was cutting left handed. Which was amusing unto itself.

Tortilla Snowflakes

flour tortillas

melted butter
sea salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Warm tortillas in microwave until soft and pliable. Fold into quarters or eighths.

Use scissors to cut out shapes and then unfold. Place tortillas on foil-lined baking sheet and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 10-15 minutes (mine took WAY less time…like 5 minutes..so watch them), until golden brown around the edges. Cool until easy to handle and eat up. Eat plain or dip in yogurt, hummus, or any yummy dip.

To see a more step by step approach go on over to Our Best Bites.com