The "Bakening" Continues

My Christmas Baking Extravaganza

Last weekend I made chocolate peanut clusters, caramel popcorn, peanut brittle, and cinnamon sugared almonds. It took all day, but in the end, I had enough of everything (a 5 gallon bucket of caramelcorn) to pack and ship 12 goodie boxes with quite a bit left over.

I left town for 2 days and came back to an empty bucket and no more peanut brittle. Sigh.

Chocolate peanut clusters, then cinnamon pecans and almonds, then peanut brittle, then caramel corn!

I got up this morning and after a quick 7am trip to the store and an agonizing decision about sausage, I started the pound cakes. It takes 30-40 minutes to mix. Given the size of my disposable pans (4”x9”x3”), each batch makes 4 cakes. and after they’re done, I brush them with a vanilla, butter, and sugar glaze. When they’re completely cool, I’ll package them and slap on a bow. I’ll do something similar with the lemon and orange-caramel pound cakes.

Why am I baking 16 cakes, you ask?

Well, after the Bakening comes the Cookening. Tomorrow, more peanut brittle and caramelcorn, pecan pie and a cheesecake, then I start the cinnamon rolls. I’ll prepare 2 dozen rolls (plain and pecan) to bake and serve on Christmas day at brunch.

Yeah, Christmas day brunch… buttered grits, homemade biscuits and sausage gravy, French toast and fresh apple syrup, veggie frittata, western frittata, bacon, sausage, glazed ham, and , of course, cinnamon rolls…all except the apple syrup will be cooked on Christmas morning before guests start arriving 11am. Guests? Like how many? Oh… maybe 30.

We chit-chat, and play games, and drink coffee and mimosas. Kids watch movies and play with their toys they brought with them. This year, I added coloring books as little gifts. The kids get goodie bags too.

So… back to the cakes… well, guests get to take home a cake and a bag of other sweets. There’s usually a traffic jam at the sweet table, but it’s all in the holiday fun.

Well, the cakes are all done…16 pound cakes (vanilla, lemon, and caramel). I’m saving the pecan pie and cheesecake for tomorrow. It’s hard to believe I used to make 30 cakes every year.

Anyway… that’s my holiday prep… how ‘bout you?