Christmas Baking Confessions

Day 22 of 25 Days of Christmas My Urban Oven Style!

I don’t have a new recipe for you today, but I sure do have a lot of old recipes for you.  Only because I have been spending my night baking my favorite Christmas recipes. I started this blog to document and share my favorite recipes, so I would be natural that when I am making one of my favorites, I would have already have shared it with you all.

I know many people do cookie exchanges or get together one early weekend in December and bake up a storm. I have never participated in one of those. Every time I tell someone that fact they give me this sideways look like they don’t truly believe me.  I look like a person that would host one of these events, I know. But in all actuality, my kitchen is my calming space.  The space that I can decompress. The space that I can tune everything out and get into “the zone”.

I have been called a “kitchen nazi” before.  I am more likely to boot you out of my kitchen than ask you for help.

Perfectionist right here. ::thumbs turned in::

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I think I could host a cookie exchange if I had a bigger kitchen {fingers crossed I will next Christmas}. And I think I could organize a really fun one too. The biggest flaw in hosting a cookie exchange is my desire to make something super fresh.

I am baking cookies 2 days before Christmas, not because I am a procrastinator. Ok, maybe I am normally. But in this case, I planned it. I even took the 23rd off of work to be home to bake. I love the taste of fresh baked cookies {any dessert for that matter}, and believe anything I serve to people should be as such, fresh.  I will wake up super early or go to bed super late to bake something as close in as possible to when it is served. I think this came from my mom. Growing up for years, she was the one that did all the baking for the family events. Outside of the Sugar cookies, that was one we made with my great-grandma every year. And her and I would stay up super late, like midnight or 1 am the night before Christmas Eve, and then she would be up at 5am again, back at it trying to finish. That is dedication to fresh, and it has always stuck with me. The Hubby really does not understand it.

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Tonight, I have started my baking, but need to break to finish my Christmas wrapping. That I really did procrastinate on. I think I have 10 presents done, with a bazillion left to go. Tomorrow will be my big bake day.

This year my plan is to make:

And who knows, if I have time, there might be a few others on that list. Tonight I was able to prep the peanut butter balls, oreo balls, rice krispie bars, and make the peanut butter blossoms. Hitting the ground running.

You are wondering why one person is making all of this, aren’t you? For one, I love to bake and my family knows it, so I bring almost all the cookies to my families gatherings. As well as having 4 different family Christmases to attend this week. I like to make a diverse platter of goodies for each gathering. That way everyone can find something they like.

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There is someone I do let into my kitchen when baking, Dewey. He loves to watch me in bake in the kitchen. I think it is because he is always waiting for me to drop something. There are 2 treats that he does get while I am baking. One, I let him lick the butter wrappers before I throw them out, and second, are the empty peanut butter containers. The peanut butter containers can keep him occupied for almost a half hour. I bet he wishes his tongue was longer.

Oh, and I got myself slippers to wear. This might sound silly, but any time I stand in one spot baking for long periods of time my heels start to shoot pain up my legs. In the past I have worn tennis shoes in my kitchen for this reason, but this year I bought myself some comfy slippers.

Now back to baking. I will check in tomorrow on Instagram with some photos of my finished products. As well as come back with a recipe for Caramel Crispix, which I am still baffled I have never shared with you. It is one of my favorite {and my friends} recipes.

Remember to stay tuned for the last 3 days of 25 Days of Christmas My Urban Oven Style! 

Look back at the rest of the month:

Day 1: 25 Days of Christmas My Urban Oven Style

Day 2: Lactose Free Coconut Hot Cocoa with Coconut Whipped Cream

Day 3: A Doggy Bed for Christmas

Day 4: Candy Cane Pretzel Cupcakes

Day 5: 10 Christmas Gift Ideas for an Aspiring Baker

Day 6: 2015 Christmas Tree Contest

Day 7: Caramel Apple Sangria

Day 8: Thumbprint Date Cookies

Day 9: 10 Gift Ideas for the Female Entrepreneur in Your Life

Day 10: Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas

Day 11: Cumin & Rosemary Roasted Carrots

Day 12: Egg Clouds

Day 13: Brown Sugar & Bacon Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Day 14: Sriracha Bacon Shrimp Sugar Babies

Day 15: Christmas Monster Cookies

Day 16: One Pot Fettuccine

Day 17: 5 Gift Ideas for the Hard to Buy for Person on Your List

Day 18: Frozen Chocolate Mocha Martini

Day 21: Caramelized Apple & Ham Cinnamon Bites

XoXo-

Rachel

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