Christmas Baking

Tis the season to be jolly....and roly-poly.

I LOVE baking for the holidays. For weeks ahead of Christmas, I'll pour through cookbooks and blogs to find the perfect recipes. I always add some new goodies to my family's annual favorites.

This year, my baking plans for cookies and sweets will consist of the following recipes:

Oreo Truffles: This will be a new recipe for me this year. I learned about it on an online community forumn where everyone raves about the ease and tastiness of this recipe.

Spiced Carmalized Pecans: My Mom and sister's favorite holiday treat that I make.

Decorated Sugar Cookies: The recipe for these sugar cookies is delicious! Ethan loves to help with the decorating! Often, more frosting and sprinkles end up on him than the cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies: This recipe is called "The Chewy" and is from Alton Brown, a cook on the Food Network. This by far the best chocolate chip cookie that I have ever tasted! If you try anything from this list, make it this one.

I just ordered the new cookbook from The Pioneer Woman. I love her blog! She reminds me of my mother, who moved from Los Angeles, CA to our small, rural Kansas town. (The Pioneer Woman also moved from a city in CA to a cattle ranch after marrying her husband.) The stories throughout her blog and cookbook all seem very familiar to me. The photographs on her blog are beautiful and the recipes are simple, hearty and a crowd pleaser around these parts.

I plan on trying two of her recipes for Christmas this year.

Cinammon Rolls: These look so goey and rich! I plan on making these for Christmas morning breakfast. I'm hoping the recipe scales down well, as I certainly don't need seven pans of cinammon rolls.

Chocolate Cake: I plan on trying a new tradition this year for Christmas. In an effort to keep the focus on the reason for Christmas and to teach my three year old that it is about Jesus being born, I plan on having a "birthday party" for Jesus on Christmas Eve afternoon. I think this cake looks just perfect for our little birthday party. I'm sure that Jesus would approve of chocolate cake being served at his birthday party. :)

I'll do my best to review each recipe after I make them and to photograph the results to share with you all.

I'm not a natural domestic goddess, so I'll need all the luck I can get!