I am about to post a fruitcake recipe. Now..don’t click the X yet ….
I grew up loving fruitcake and i could never figure out why people didn’t like it..To me, there was nothing more delicious than a piece of the moist and chewy cake, slathered with cream cheese or butter and  resting next to a cup of hot chocolate.  Mmmmm – Christmas!
Until..until the fateful day when I tasted someone ELSE’S fruitcake. EWWWW! I finally understood the jokes..the grimaces..the gagging.
I used to sell this cake on ebay for $30 …and that was ten years ago! Noone that has tasted this cake …read more

By now you have several dozen cookies in the freezer and you are good to go, right? This is about the time I switch to quick breads. They also freeze really well and make really good gifts when wrapped in clear wrap and tied with raffia, or what ever imaginative way you want to do it!
You can make these loaves full sized or make them in the small loaf pans. Often I will put two or three loaves of different types in a basket and add some homemade lemon curd or pumpkin spice butter.
This cranberry bread recipe is one …read more

Remember the Chocolate Whoopie Pies I posted the recipe for last summer? Well these are a more festive version made with pumpkin.
I can’t imagine the Holidays without the smells of pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and other spices. It just seems like those scents and flavors hold the key to unlock the Christmas Spirit in the Scroogiest of Scrooges. The pumpkin cookie is spicy and tender and the filling is creamy and resplendent with minced candied ginger. I suggest sprinkling the dough with green and red sprinkles before putting in the oven, or totally gilding the lily and topping …read more

As you can see, we’re still in catch-up mode over here. These are no-bake cookies, so I hope you don’t mind that you’re seeing it on this blog, but I find that an assortment of baked and non-baked goodies in a gift box will make the pickiest person happy, they’re not even going to ask which ones you labored over and which ones were no-brainers. This is one of the no-brainers, but it’s so pretty and yummy, and depending on what you put in it, good for you too! A basic recipe can be found here. …read more

Springerle mold (nativity scene) and recipe from House on the Hill. Yena’s was an old Valentine’s cookie stamp from a kids’ baking set we got her big sis years ago, combined with a fluted cookie cutter.
I’ve got pics of painted ones too but they’ll have to wait ’til next week. My eyelids are getting heavier by the minute. There’s a longer story too but it will have to wait.