Happy Christmas one and all! Here I am celebrating in the woods of Maine, where, sadly, there is no white Christmas and it’s 52F. Still wonder and nice though. And I made this Cranberry Upside Down Cake for Christmas dessert. It’s not much of a looker, but tastes fantastic — that whole combination of sweet and tart, with a little bit of cinnamon, clove and ginger. Also a touch of whipped cream add to the mix. Anyway, enjoy the day!
Christmas Cookies. Weihnachtsgebäck. It’s actually what I am most “famous” for. For those who don’t know the story, every year I bake thousands of Christmas Cookies over a three week or so period (this year it was around 6000, over 19 days — 115 hours in total). There are 19 types this year, 17 of which are “standards” and a few new ones to try out.
The recipes have all been on this site for a number of years, and they are scattered through many entries. I thought that it might be helpful for people who want to make their own cookies and are searching for the recipes to have them all in one place, so here are all the links. Happy Baking!
Sometimes I am just in a cupcake kind of mood. It was a spur of the moment thing that I decided to make these — I realized that a friend has a birthday tomorrow (on Halloween) so it was an impromptu thing. I didn’t have much in the house, but I did jazz up the flavors in these otherwise rather “black and white” cupcakes: vanilla bean paste in the cupcakes themselves and both cinnamon and chili powder in the chocolate frosting.
It’s not often that I have to serve pie to 30 people. I think that happens maybe once ever few years, actually. But tonight is an occasion that I need to present some of my goodies in front of a large group of people. I thought about just making cookies or brownies, but then I thought that a pie would be more impressive. Also, I thought that this might give people occasion to see a recipe that will work for Thanksgiving, if you are serving a whole lot of people. You will need a rimmed half-sheet pan, but I think that most home bakers will have that. Maple extract adds a lot to this recipe; my flat smells absolutely wonderful because of the boost of the maple syrup flavor.