holiday grazing

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas over the weekend! My mind is still in holiday mode... there has been a lot of grazing on treats and leftovers these past couple of days... throw in a lot of social eating too, and I am quite surprised my pants aren't tight... yet. Here are some treats we made over the weekend -chocolate covered cake balls and Snoopy holiday cookies. Mmmmm... sugar.....

chocolate sweet, less the wheat

I am totally not a baker... love to cook, but still haven't really gotten into the baking. So when my sister's birthday dinner came up, and a wheat free desert option was a must, I volunteered to make the cake?! My memory of a store bought wheat free cake at a work function years ago left me with memories of a dry and inedible cake that everyone politely moved around their plates or smuggled into their napkins, so I figured I would spare my sis the same culinary torture. Anyhoo, rather than start from scratch (since, yes, it has already been established, I don't really bake), I thought I would try a store bought wheat-free cake mix.... and lo and behold, it was really good! And yes, please don't make fun of my amateur cake decor... that unfortunately, I had to do from scratch!

mmmmmmm.... mmmufffins

Oh, so many great recipe ideas everyone has posted! Thanks! So, as you can see from the pictures, I decided to make classic blueberry muffins.... hmmm and it seemed to have not made much of a dent to the blueberry stockpile we picked on the weekend (I even put in more than the recipe called for). I think, I will have to make something else.... don't worry, this won't be turning into a blueberry cooking blog anytime soon.

peppermint forest

I am just finishing up some last minute holiday baking... ok, well not really baking in the case of these... technically melting and prepping... ta-da... some cool white peppermint bark. These will be packaged up with a batch of cake balls that are currently baking in the oven. (Notice how I chose super easy recipes?... as you can guess, I am not much of a baker... heehee). My goal is to finish making all these treats and eat as little of them as possible. These are for giving, and I have to keep reminding myself that it would be very disappointing for the receivers to get a sad half empty box of treats. Must resist!

ooey gooey goodness

Yesterday, Roger and I treated ourselves to some ooey gooey cinnamon buns from Solly's, a local Jewish family bakery and deli here in Vancouver. So don't go thinking I ate both of these in the picture (although I easily could have)... we did share the pair. Solly's cinnamon buns are hands down my fave... lots of layers of sticky, sugary, caramelized layers.... mmmmmm... I think I just drooled writing that. They also have an awesome chocolate babka on thier menu too... but I will share that in a future post.... don't want to put everyone in diabetic shock all in one post.

happy birthday roger!

Today is my hubby's birthday... Happy Birthday Roger! We had a great birthday weekend and had a wonderful brunch (eh-hem... made by me), visited the Vancouver Art Gallery, took in a movie (yes, we saw Hot Tub Time Machine in all its 80's cheesiness), went for a lovely dinner at a french bistro and had some cake. Here is the cake I made... um, not from scratch, since I don't really bake. Do you recognize the character?... it is Cheburashka! (I had posted about him a couple of months earlier here). Well, I can't say I would ever win any cake decorating awards here, since bake is not my forté, but, hey... I tried. You will be happy to know most of it has already been eaten, though.

c is for cookie

Every year, Roger and I like to make at least one set of handmade items to give to our families to go along with the store bought gifts. And what to make becomes a bit of a dilemma when they are all too familiar with our etsy shops. So this year, inspired once again by Bakerella, we decided to make cookie mix jars (the original post was for Cowgirl Cookies... our interpretation has more of a holiday theme). As a non-baker, this was really exciting since it makes me feel like I am sort of doing some "holiday baking"... well minus the yummy baking cookie smell. Last thing to add to them are some pretty fabric and ribbon for the jar tops. I hope one of our recipients invites us over for a cookie.

cake pops

I had a chance to do some holiday baking on the weekend, since we were heading to a holiday potluck. So what to bake, when one is not really a baker?... cake pops! I saw the recipe on Bakerella awhile ago, and have always wanted to try to make them. And once I read that it uses cake mix, it sealed the deal. They turned out pretty good too... I decided to go with the pink, since it went so well with the chocolate cake centers. I think most of the guests sustained a sugar high for a few hours after eating these. Check out the recipe here.

ps. don't forget to enter my December giveaway hereto win a calendar! :)