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!
More pre-Christmas baking experiments in the works. Because I mostly give food gifts, I have to test out my recipes before making the final “masterpieces”. Some of them work well right off the bat, like this one. The saffron, orange, cinnamon and ginger work well, and I like the way the pearl sugar looks a little like snow, something we are missing this December in New England (yes, that is a little bit of a complaint … I like a little snow leading into Christmas!). Cardamom always reminds me of a family friend from Sweden. Happy memories!
Birthday Breakfast for America! OK, I’m not patriotic in the slightest (or if I am patriotic, it’s to more than one of my countries), but it is the 4th of July and I did make these very typical Blueberry Muffins, with an Almond Struesel (there is the German in me) topping. Great way to start off this celebratory day while up at a camp on the lake in Maine. Breakfast is good, weather is great, friends are fantastic!