All Baked Out

The holidays seemed like a big haze of flour, butter, and sugar this year.  With children I've found that the holiday season is longer than ever.  Rather than the normal span from Thanksgiving to Christmas, it now starts in late September with the planning of Hallween costumes and spooky treats, right on through to the new year and black-eyed peas.  I have to give partial blame to my friend Amy (mom to Kayla, Luke's best friend) for the bakingpalooza this time around.  It all started with a book given to me by my mom, Hello Cupcake.  Ever heard of it?  Probably not, but it has the most ridiculously cute cupcakes you ever did see.  I mean, sickningly cute.  I mean, the moment I flipped through the pages I thought, I MUST MAKE THESE CUPCAKES.  Yes, just another something to distract me from the things I should be doing, like cleaning the house and filling photo albums - BLAAAAHHHH!!!  Anyway, I made this cupcake/cake thing-a-ma-bob for Luke's birthday last year...

This gave me some confidence and practice with my cake making skills.

Next up was the Easter cake...

There were a few others until I tool a long hiatus.  A girl's got priorities, ya know. :)

Then I became closer with Luke's best friend's mom.  Amy and I made a trade.  She took our family's Christmas card picture...

...in return for a lesson in cake icing.  Not that I'm a pro, but I've found those little icing tips to be a bit overwhelming until you just take the plunge.  Amy came over and we iced a cake for Kayla's school.  She caught the bug!!!  Before long Amy was asking if I wanted to work on these...

Uh, yeah!  What cupcake-lovin' fool wouldn't want to be part of this?! :)  I swear half the fun is finding the ingredients listed in the book.  We didn't find them all, but they still turned out okay, don't ya think?

Then she called me to make these...

Too stinking cute, if I do say so myself.  This one cracks me up...

All lined up, ready to be taken to Luke's school and gobbled up by little three-year-olds.  Side note:  Luke refused to eat the Oreo hats (he must not be my son).

Then I had the brilliant (sarcasm, I promise) idea to bake my holiday gifts this year.  You know, the gifts you give to neighbors, teachers, etc.?  I found this recipe for cinnamon honey butter on one of my favorite blogs.  Here's the recipe: /http://www.f-bruises/http://www.flythroughourwindow.com/2009/12/yesterday-rain-paint-butter-bruises/

 Sounded delicious.  But what else could I give with it?  A quick search for cinnamon bread and I found this: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/cinnamon-bread-i/Detail.aspx

This of course allowed me to play with the packaging...

Perfect.  I thought.  Until I realized I actually had to bake this bread and whip this butter...all with children at my feet.  Brilliant (sarcasm again).  I stongly suggest NOT to bake with small children in the house.  I kept forgetting whether or not I had added the baking powder and wondering if I'd actually be able to hear the timer from the playroom.  In the end, it all worked out, but if time is money, that stuff was like gold.  Ha ha!  Might be hitting the TJ Maxx and Bath and Body Works next year. :)

Not quite a baked good, but we also made pasta for Steve's dad's big birthday celebration (more on that later)...

Then there was Paula Dean's Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle...

And my dad's German Chocolate Cake...

Is this thing on?  Is anyone still there?  I just realized I spent an entire post dedicated to baked goods.  YAWN!  I'm even annoying myself.  Oh well, that's what's cooking over here.  (Oh my goodness, someone stop me.)

xo,

Jess

Serioulsy.  Barrett, where is spellcheck on this new set-up????  Help!!!