Still in the Game

Yes, the baking project is still on, I was just too tired to blog about it last night. The days feel way too short at the moment and I am so exhausted all the time. I still haven’t quite adjusted too the dark days, I suppose. 

The day before yesterday was nut cake day and I think so far they are my favorite. I actually made them with half nuts and half almonds because I ran out of hazelnuts – unorganized as I tend to be. The corners are covered in chocolate and there is a layer of apricot jam underneath the nut/almond filling.

After finishing those I got started on yesterday’s treat which were apple cinnamon candy balls that had to rest over night before being turned into actual balls and then dragged through grated white chocolate.  

They do look pretty cute, don’t they? I didn’t get to try them because they are not vegan but had the boyfriend do that for me because he tends to tell the blunt truth and he said they are too sweet. If he says that there’s something to it because he his likes sugar. So they might be the first not so great thing. Let’s hope they are also the only not so great thing. Gonna throw that recipe away, I suppose. 

Gotta share a funny story now which is also the reason why today I made more cupcakes. They do look more Christmasy this time. However, here’s what happened to the last batch. I had given my friends six of them and she sent a photo to her parents which replied by saying: And what about us? So they came to visit the next day and after staying a night left again with the four remaining cupcakes. They actually ‘stole’ them and when they got home her mother called her up to ask: Guess what I am eating right now? That’s when my friend opened her fridge to notice that the cupcakes were gone. So basically I had to make more and she send out another photo to make them jealous. Worked out well. 

After making the cupcakes I made lemon cookies for tomorrow because I will have to work long. Sometimes I am actually organized and I can plan ahead and then follow through with that plan. That’s not my normal self though.

So now that’s seven down and seventeen to go till Christmas Eve and I am still enjoying it. I wonder if the point will come when it gets just plain annoying. I hope not, because I do intend to keep going till the end.

But now I’ll be going to bed. It’s been dark outside for a long time and it’s beginning to get to me. I can basically hear the bed calling out to me. I am literally always tired. Let’s just hope it will pass soon. I’m off now reading a page or two in bed before falling asleep.

Cupcake Love

Those beauties brought me a lot of praise yesterday and they were a lot easier to make than they look. They were the second ‘door’ in the Advent calendar and I suppose no one would mind if I kept making them every other day. Can’t do that of course. It will have be different things every day. That’s just the way I tick.

Today it was supposed to be a special rather thick nutcake with apricot jam. Only apparently I am still not able to read a complete recipe before getting started. Had I done that I would have noticed  that they have to rest for at least five hours after baking – better yet for a day. I noticed that devastating detail once I had put them in the oven which was close to six pm. Stupid me.

I spontaneously switched to Smarties cookies. I am nothing if not resourceful. They did turn out well and it will make tomorrow a lot easier because I just have to finish up the nutcake then. 

So that’s three almost four down and about twenty to go. I must say though that I really like this little project so far because it makes me finally do all those recipes I kept on printing over the years only to then store them in the kitchen cabinet. Trust me it’s quite a pile and I am not gonna be able to go through all of them in the next three weeks but it will be a good start and it’s nice to have a project.

Almost time for bed  now. Or rather time to read in bed. Started on this year’s Christmas book. It’s called ‘The Christmas Mystery’ and funny enough it’s built up like and Advent Calendar. There’s a chapter for each of the 24 days and a little boy gets to open a door or window or whatever you want to call it once a day. I am trying very hard only to read a chapter a day to keep with the whole idea behind it but I don’t know for how long I can go on like that. With each read chapter I beg for more. Jostein Gaarder does that to me. He has that special gift.

Be back tomorrow with news about the nutcake. Thanks for reading.