Christmas Catch-Up

Over the years I've gotten better at following through with my ideas of things to make. (I have a lot of ideas, so sometimes I become overwhelmed and give up entirely until the next spurt of creativity takes over my entire being and drives me into overload...) For example, every year I wish that I had made Christmas cookies and given them out as gifts but somehow never get around to it but this year I have finally succeeded in doing so. I have a great book called Festive Baking, by Sarah Kelly Iaia, with recipes for traditional German cookies, cakes, pretzels, and the like. I decided to try my hand at making "Lebkuchen," traditional German gingerbread.

The Lebkuchen dough is made over the stove top in order to fully dissolve sugar, butter, and honey, the key ingredient being the honey which has been used in making Lebkuchen since the Middle Ages. Then the spices, flour, egg and other ingredients are added. Once the dough has been prepared it can be left out at room temperature for at least a few weeks and can be used as needed---quite convenient for when you're in a holiday pinch!

The results...

Now for the rest of my creative adventures, going backwards in time:
Red roses I made for the Orion Magazine holiday party...

Decorations I set up inside...

My little advent corner in my kitchen window...

Recent Cakes:
Commissioned birthday chocolate
flourless birthday cake with lavender ganache...

Caramel chocolate torte---looks better than it actually
tasted as something was off with the brand of sugar I used...
The Man Catcher Cake from NPR
producer Melissa Gray's All Cakes Considered...

I recently did some commissioned illustrations
for a friend's storybook. Here are just a few examples...