7^th day of Christmas

Baking…mmmmmmmmm

I have always loved to bake.  My grandmother was a wonderful baker and she taught me how to bake.  She taught me the “art” of making Divinity candy.  Not many people make it because conditions have to be just right, i.e. not too humid or dry in your house, and if you make it the old fashioned way, that is without a candy thermometer, you have to know how to let the corn syrup mixture “spin a good thread” to be sure it is cooked just right.  Then it takes a lot of beating (thank you, KitchenAid).

So, needless to say, baking is another important part of my Christmas festivities.  I like to make everyone’s favorite, my daughter in-law likes 7 layer bars, my son-in-law likes lemon bars and I even learned to make the wonderful cookie bars that my step-daughter, Jennifer likes (gluten free) as she discovered she can’t have gluten in her diet.  My son, likes my peanut butter fudge and last year, I introduced “Crack Cookies” to my granddaughter.  She loves these.  I know that is a terrible name for them but the gal I got the recipe from said, “she called them that because they are so addictive”.  She was right and yet they are so easy.

Here is the recipe if you want to try it.

1 Box Cake Mix – any flavor (chocolate doesn’t work that great but lemon, funfetti rainbow ship work well.  1 8oz cream cheese (softened), 1 stick butter(softened) and 1 egg.  Beat well and chill dough.  Take teaspoon fulls of dough and roll them in a ball and then in powdered sugar and bake for 8-9 minutes at 350 degrees.  They might not look like they are done, but they are.

From the time my granddaughter, E was about 2, (she’s now 18) we have baked together every Christmas and I have taught her what I know and she in turn loves to bake and is very good at it.  She is even considering going to culinary school and maybe becoming a pastry chef.  I am so happy that I was able to pass something down from my grandmother to me to my granddaughter.  That’s what traditions are all about.

I was going to just put a picture of goodies here, but I decided to put a more beautiful one.  One that never fades…because it is in my heart forever.

Each Christmas, I say to myself “she’s older now and she won’t want to come and spend time baking with me, she has a job and a life of her own”, and yet each year she still likes to come and that really makes me smile.  Our son-in-law is deployed this Christmas and it was fun to start some early baking and send him a care package of goodies.

I hope you have a “baking party” or a baking tradition that adds some sweetness to your Christmas.