Baking Results

Sorry peeps, no baking pictures. By the time we were done baking I was SO tired there was no way I was lifting another finger. We made 20 plates and delivered all but 7 of them. I find Christmas time really hard. {time for me to have a moment} Christmas baking is just one of the traditions of Christmas. If I had it my way I wouldn't do it at all. But I think that the kids need to be involved etc. That's the way it was when we were growing up. But I'm finding that it's a lot of work....for nothing. And it's the same with Christmas cards. We sent out 62 Christmas cards this year. I have received 3. We made 20 Christmas plates, we've received 1. And I know it's better to give than to receive, but why should I go to all the work when I feel like no one else is? So next year Mike said that I need to just pick 4 things that are really yummy and then make a lot of them. Then we can fill the plates with those instead of baking all day long for everyone to get a small bite of each thing. So that's what we're going to do. And we'll probably only deliver 10 treat plates next year. Because really, why should I bust my butt? (Although, for anyone interested, I bought sugar cookie mix from Sam's Club this year. LOVE IT. I will be buying that every year. SO easy and the cookies are SO good.) Anyway, on to the critique.

Cake Balls. Hmmm I wasn't impressed. I am a texture person and the cake balls were soggy to me. So I didn't like them. I've heard others say they loved them, but the chocolate on the outside wasn't good. So don't dip them in chocolate bark. LOL. I will not be making these again. I also realized that I don't like dipping things. So until they come out with some invention where I don't have to get chocolate all over EVERYTHING then I won't be doing this any time soon.

Fudge. Pahaha. I totally forgot that I had this. So it's still sitting in my freezer. It will probably go in the garbage because Mike doesn't like fudge, and neither does my sister and to be honest, I don't need the calories. So I'll be scratching fudge off for next year.

Gingerbread men. I like them. Of course they didn't turn out as cute as the ones I had pictured. I was in a rush to decorate them. I quickly just added eyes and a mouth and some horizontal stripes on the legs. If I had more time (which I would if I only make 4 things) I could take the time to make them cute. Maybe add different colors. Idk. So this one goes on the maybe list.

Muddy Buddies. Easy. They turned out good. They always do. These make a good filler on the plates so I'll probably do this one again. Either this one or the Wonderful Stuff. (Muddy Buddies are for sure cheaper).

Homemade Oreos. YES. My husband loves these so these will for sure be going on the plates next year. And they turned out pretty darn good. We made one batch look like Crackles. So we dipped them in powdered sugar and then baked them. They looked very fancy shmancy. So a big YES for next year.

Oreo Bark. Super easy. I would for sure double the batch I made. Everyone only got a little of the bark, probably not enough to decide if they liked it. And I didn't really get to taste it to see how much I liked it. So I'm not sure about this one.

Dipped Pretzel Sticks. I get a lot of good feedback on these. And they're easy. So I could probably do these again.

Pretzel Turtles. A HUGE yes on this one. SO easy (except for the fact that you can't buy a bag of normal sized rolos in Canada. Stupid Canada. So I had to use 2 small rolos. And it made them a bit uneven.) But they are SO good. I love salty/sweet combos and this was perfect.

Shortbread. I make this because my mom always made it. I love the way it crumbles in your mouth. But I probably won't be making these any more.

Spritz Cookies. These are another cookie that we made growing up and to me they are Christmas baking. So I will make these again, but probably just for our family.

Sugar Cookies. Mix from Sam's Club. Loved them. Hate to decorate them. So I'm not sure about this one. Will for sure buy the mix again and I don't mind eating plain sugar cookies. But I probably won't have this be on the plates.

Wonderful Stuff. Very yummy. Always a big hit. Probably won't put this on the plates, but will make to take to parties and such. Will buy small Christmas bags and fill them for the teachers next year.

And that's it. My kitchen still has dishes that need to be cleaned, but Ashley did all the tidying up for me, which was SO nice. I did SO good on cleaning up after myself until about 3p.m. Then things got crazy. I was so tired that I just set things aside so I could work on the next item etc etc. So by 8p.m. the kitchen looked like a tornado had blown through it. So the next morning Ash cleared off all the counters and wiped them down for me. I will wash the dishes today. Now, I just need to figure out what we're doing for dinner so Mike can shop today and then we won't have to go into Lethbridge until Monday when he goes back to work.