Frugal Christmas Baking

It’s the time of year when we feel like doing some extra special baking, but this year….many people are feeling the need to cut back a little…to not spend quite so much on some of the extras.

That’s where this recipe comes in.  So simple.  So cheap.  Dontcha just want to eat the picture?

This is pretty enough for take-alongs, pot-lucks and bake sales!  And believe, me, the taste is absolutely decadent!

Our Favourite Lemon Loaf ( recipezaar )

1/2 c butter, margarine or shortening ( mmmm…butter…)

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c milk ( 2%)

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 lemon, rind of

Glaze

1 lemon, juice of

1/4 c sugar

Prep:

combine lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan

Stir and heat till sugar is dissolved

*********************

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar

Add eggs, one at a time, beating until creamy

Blend in milk

In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and lemon rind.

Pour into batter

Stir to moisten

Scrape into greased 9×5″ loaf pan

Bake in 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes

Cool in pan for 5 minutes

Remove to rack and while still hot, poke holes into it with a toothpick, and spoon glaze evenly all over.

Cool.

*******************

oooooh…so good and freezes well too!

Raising the class of 2018

Having a child born in the year 2000 is a special thing I think. They will be a class that for many reasons had different expectations over them than others.

They forged the way into a new millenium…they will always know how old they are as long as they know what year it is….all the ideas of what ‘life would be like in the year 2000′, from years past come to rest as we look ahead to different milestones.

When I mentioned that it was our responsibility to come up with dessert for the family Easter gathering, he quickly said “what about a chocolate volcano cake?”

Being the nurturing mamma that I am, I applauded that idea and proceeded to ask “what would it look like? what kinds of things would we use?”

He didn’t ponder long and decided that chocolate bars and cherries would make the perfect volcano. I think I shocked him when I asked “so, do you want to make it?”

After a short conversation, we had our shopping list made:

chocolate cake
cherry sauce
chocolate sauce
4 different kinds of chocolate bars
Whipped cream ‘in-a-can’

Now you have to understand…..his Chef Daddy started cooking at age 5 or 6, so the fact that HBI was ready to take this on at age 7 was really a proud-daddy moment…!

Here is the result!

 

 

 

That photo looks better than any Pioneer Woman has ever done!

***

Anyone else raising a kid from the class of 2018?  Would love to hear from you!

 

 

HBI bakes!

 

He’s seven and he’s pretty good in the kitchen!

We got the idea off of Beth Moore’s blog (you didn’t know she had a blog?)
 

Sugar…

I am addicted to sugar.
I told my naturopath today that I totally get how addicted people just can’t stop. I mean if an alcohol addiction is anything like my sugar addiction…I get it. I can stop for awhile, but then, as soon as I have a taste, I’m back at it.
Of course, this time of year doesn’t help, does it? I’m pretty un-Martha-like but I thought I’d detail my baking.
First, we tried a sugar cookie recipe. We liked it and I am going to make a huge batch now and do painted cookies. We tried a few with some success, so next Saturday, we will make a HUGE BATCH!  (click on any photo to enlarge)  We are going to be painting them!

Then, J’s request is always for a soft ginger cookie. Also a new recipe which got a little too flat, but the flavor is good!

mmmmm….brownies….the rest kind of crumbled when I took it out of the pan, so you know what that means..! I had to eat it.

I haven’t cut into these but I was proud of the end result. Some kind of citrus loaf with a sugar lemon sauce poured on top. Oh my..I can imagine what these taste like but they were so pretty I didn’t cut into them! (THIS is a photo worth enlarging!)

and of course, Grandma’s buns. Yum.

oh yeah…after all that, this is all I was left with..! I did a pretty good job of keeping up with the cleaning as I went.  You can see by the soft light cascading in the south window that all of this really didn’t take me all day!  Ignore the burnt pancakes from breakfast!