It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (sung in a nice Bing Crosby-style voice … not really!).  And this year, due to all the other baking and cooking and entertaining we have been doing recently, I wasn’t going to bake cookies for the neighbors.  But then, they kept bringing us Christmas gifts, so I thought the only decent thing to do, would be to bake.  And give the majority of baked goods away.  But I still ate a bit too much cookie dough in the process … I’m working on that problem of mine!

So, here is what I madefor the neighbors:

• Gingerbread donuts – using this gingerbread recipe here;
• Carrot cake – all-time favorite recipe here;
• Sugar cookies – using a recipe I have had handwritten in my folder for years, but haven’t been able to make it because it calls for custard powder – something that is quite rare in the US.  But we were given 4 boxes of gluten and dairy-free custard powder earlier this year which I’ve been saving for just an occasion.  Oh, and making custard with it too!  Anyway, I still wasn’t totally happy with the product, so I’ll need to tinker around with it a little more before putting it on this website.
• Chocolate orange cupcakes – this was Abby’s cupcakes of the week – you can read more about them here.

Who would want to be our neighbors?

So Abby and I dressed up in our Santa hats and delivered them, one-by-one to the neighbors.  And learnt the hard way, that ice can be difficult to see on concrete at night time.  I still have the bruise on my leg as evidence … fortunately we only lost one of the cupcakes and one slice of carrot cake … which I just had to eat to make sure they all still tasted good.  I think the neighbors enjoyed them, although I’ve never seen them eat any of my baking … I wonder …!

Anyway, I also wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you an awesome holiday time and to take care of yourselves.  And if you’re doing stuff in the kitchen, enjoy it!

Until next time, enjoy cooking at home!

Sarah