I am the resident baker in my family and am in charge of desserts for pretty much every holiday. I love baking so much and I definitely get that from my aunt. When I was little and would have sleepovers at her house, we would always bake something. From brownies to cookies and cakes, to her special nut tarts, I always loved baking when I was there.
As I grew older and learned the powers of Pinterest, the world of baking only grew. Now, I try to make something different every holiday and try to make things as festive as possible. It's fun for me to do but also I like to try to make things nice for my family.
My mom yells at me every holiday to take it easy, not go so crazy and just try to make things a little easier on myself. I tend to stress myself out with baking; one Christmas, I baked so much I made myself sick (and threw up for days because of the sugar overload). Two Christmas' ago, I baked so much I passed out on my couch halfway through because it was so exhausting.
This year, I've made a vow to take it easy in that I'm not going to make any crazy concoctions. I'm keeping it simple.
I think it's important to note that I bake for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (Christmas Eve is the big holiday in Italian families) and my family are not huge dessert people. Everyone is usually so full from dinner, they take a few bites of one or two things and I'm leftover with tons of sweets. Those are two other reasons I'm keeping it simple this year.
Here's what I'm planning...
As I grew older and learned the powers of Pinterest, the world of baking only grew. Now, I try to make something different every holiday and try to make things as festive as possible. It's fun for me to do but also I like to try to make things nice for my family.
My mom yells at me every holiday to take it easy, not go so crazy and just try to make things a little easier on myself. I tend to stress myself out with baking; one Christmas, I baked so much I made myself sick (and threw up for days because of the sugar overload). Two Christmas' ago, I baked so much I passed out on my couch halfway through because it was so exhausting.
This year, I've made a vow to take it easy in that I'm not going to make any crazy concoctions. I'm keeping it simple.
I think it's important to note that I bake for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (Christmas Eve is the big holiday in Italian families) and my family are not huge dessert people. Everyone is usually so full from dinner, they take a few bites of one or two things and I'm leftover with tons of sweets. Those are two other reasons I'm keeping it simple this year.
Here's what I'm planning...
Gingerbread Cookies
 |
| Last year's gingerbread cookies |
It's not Christmas without them, right? Over the years I've really grown to love the taste of gingerbread so I'm excited. This will probably be the most time consuming and difficult to make because I have to roll the dough out and cut the cookies just right. However, I'm not making the dough from scratch (do you think I'm crazy?) so that's a good thing.
Gingerbread Cupcakes
 |
| Credit |
I wanted to make cupcakes and I wasn't sure how to do peppermint chocolate cupcakes so I just went with gingerbread mix. I have some cream cheese frosting and I'll look for some Christmas sprinkles to top them off with. Fun fact: cupcakes are my all time favorite dessert.
Chocolate Covered Oreos
This will another time-consuming dessert but oh, it's so worth it. I made them last year and everyone was so impressed but it's so easy. All you need is a package of Oreos and melting chocolate; add some sprinkles or a white chocolate drizzle on top and you have a festive, delicious, no-bake dessert. I may switch it up this year and get some peppermint Oreos if I can find them!
 |
| Last year's sugar cookies |
I am planning on making cookies but just some pull and bake ones; I have the classic Pillsbury Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies and new for this year, Pillsbury Ready to Bake Hot Cocoa Cookies.
