Holiday Baking

I love making desserts, so naturally one of my favorite things about Christmas is holiday baking. This year I made fudge (pecan and marshmallow), molasses cookies, truffles (almond and peppermint), magic cookie bars, and of course sugar cookies (hard and crunchy for Dave and iced for the rest of us). 

But let me back up. A couple weeks before Christmas, we made gingerbread houses. I like to bake 3/4 size houses so everyone can make their own little house. We used to make them on Monday nights for family home evening, but that felt too rushed. So this year we made them on a Sunday afternoon and invited a young couple from church to join us. This worked out great. Plus the lighting was better for pictures.

There's just something so fun about decorating with candy and icing!

Dave went around the table and stuck candy to everyone's faces. That was a hit.

A great thing about this activity is that everyone can do it (check out Spencer's fabulous icing bag holding technique), and it always looks super colorful and festive.

And it isn't too stressful to put the houses together, now that I know the secret about using meringue powder and beating it for 10 full minutes. It was so stiff it burned out my hand mixer. Why wasn't I using my KitchenAide?  I don't know. I guess I have to learn something every year. At least now I have a nice new hand mixer. 

So proud!

Dallin has learned that the more candy he puts on, the more candy he eats off. Smart!

Our friends, Alyssa and Jesse.

We knew they'd love it - they're both artists! 

Now on to the rest of the baking. Of course fudge is everyone's favorite to help with. I don't like to do the marshmallow cream because it's so messy, but they love that part!

Levi perked right up after his nap when we stuck a fudgey spoon in his hand. 

Classic! This is my old, broken rolling pin. Dave's sweet mother gave me a French rolling pin for Christmas, and I LOVE it!

The boys were a huge help. They iced and sprinkled a ton of cookies. We usually go caroling when we hand out the plates of goodies. But it was cold and rainy this year, so we cheated and stayed in the car while the boys ran to each house. We sang carols in the car and enjoyed all the Christmas lights as we drove around. It was lovely.