What a month!

It is unbelievable to me that Christmas is only two days away. Wow...how did that happen? And that seems to be the general consensus among everyone I speak to; time is just going so fast. November and December can be summed up in one word...baking! I never thought I would be burned out by being in my kitchen, but boy was I wrong! I even bailed on baking cookies last night with Em and Cam, telling Em that if I turned on my mixer I thought my brain might explode! However, being in the kitchen is such a natural part of my life that I'm sure it won't take long before I feel that "need" to get back in there. Here are a few things that I've whipped up this month...

I didn't think it would be that big of a deal to make red velvet roulade. My first thought was to do just like I had with pumpkin roll and use a regular cake recipe. FYI...that doesn't work. And if you have a red velvet cake recipe that you can do this for, please e-mail it to me! I tried a few different roulade recipes before I found one that actually worked. What a pain! I found this recipe here on Leite's Culinaria. I think it turned out pretty beautiful, especially paired with the el cheapo $1.50 green tray I found.


My 16 year old neighbor also loves to bake, and peanut butter pie is her specialty. Everyone in my neighbor-hood goes nutso over it, so I decided to add it to my list this month. To be honest, this pie is getting me back in the kitchen tomorrow when I whip one up for our own Christmas dinner. Doesn't it look soooo yummy?!!

Peanut Butter Pie (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

1 Oreo cookie pie crust

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1 c. sugar

1 tbs. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. heavy cream plus more for decoration

ganache or chocolate ice cream topping

mini peanut butter cups

In a mixer, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, butter and vanilla until smooth and airy. Fold in whipped heavy cream until fully incorporated. Spoon into crust and stripe with ganache. Refrigerate until set up and then decorate with more whipped cream and peanut butter cups. Mmmmmm.....

And last but not least...here is a sampling of a smallllll portion of the cookies and candy I made this holiday. I think I counted about 35 different kinds that I baked. Shew!