You know the phrase less is more? Yeah well I forgot it when I made this eggnog bread. Tip when oiling your pans just put a small amount of oil in. Really less is more. LOL But this loaf is not a gift so we will live. Its just not very attractive. So I found this recipe thanks to Teresa. She sent me this link to a Christmas baking site. In there I found this eggnog recipe. I tried it tonight. I thought that this recipe would make great christmas gifts. But I wanted to try the recipe first to see. I could not wait till it fully cooled to taste test it. The smell of the bread was driving me crazy. It smelt so good. I don't like eggnog at all and wondered how I would like the bread. I loved it. It tasted great. Reminded me of a yellow cake.  Ben really liked it and said it tasted like cake donuts. Will make excellent gift. You know for all those Sunday school teachers and the like.  I can make mini's with my Christmas bread pan. Wrap with saran wrap and tie with a bow. Attach a note to the bow and you have a lovely little gift. Here is a link to the recipe. If it will post. Blessings

http://www.northpole.com/Kitchen/Cookbook/rec0786.asp

Donut Day!!

Ok these are my Pumpkin Cake Donuts with the Cream Cheese frosting. The donut dough was really easy to make to minutes really. Then it had to sit in the fridge for 2 hours. After that we had to roll out the dough and cut it out. While doing this we had filled my moms wok with oil and turned it on high to get the fat hot. Then once the oil was ready we put the dounts in. They cooked for about 3 minutes on the one side then we had to flip them over to cook on the other side. We had the donut making down to a science. My mom has made lots of donuts. So it was an easy choice to ask her to help me. We had plastic containers lined with paper towels so as soon as the donuts came out of the oil then you put them in the paper lined container. So the paper towel could soak up the excess oil. Then we let mine cool and my mom worked on her yeast  dough donuts. They took 1 + 1/2 hours to rise once they were made then hers had to be rolled and cut out then back for more rising. Now they were ready for the hot oil. Hers took about the same time to cook. Frying in the oil really takes a short time. Then her donuts were drained on paper towels then right into a sugar glaze then to drain on to paper towels again. Then into a container. Hers were now ready to eat. Mine needed there icing on them first. The cake donuts tasted good.  But it was a lot of work. Well it would not have been if we had just made the one kind. But as we made two kinds it took a really long time. It felt like there was barlely any time to breath. I was working by 8:30 am and did not stop until like 5 pm. I had a bit of a break for lunch and a bit of time on the computer. Long day. Worth it though cause now I can say I MADE DONUTS!! I never thought in my life that I would make donuts. They just seemed to daunting but they really are quite easy. The oil always made me nervious. Still does. I don't like cooking with hot fat. So if you love donuts and have never tired to make them you should not hard at all. Get a few friends or family together and have a blast. Then do what I did have a donut party and invite people over to help you eat them. What fun!

Blessings

                                                 These are my moms yeast donuts. YUM!

Some yeast donuts my kids decorated! 

Donut Making Finally!!!

Hey every one I am finally up to donut making. So tomorrow is the day. I am making a Frosted Pumpkin Donut. It is a cake donut with a cream cheese frosting. Sounds so delicious. My mom will be making her famous Glazed donuts. Which is a yeast donut. YUM!! Oh and I love donut holes!! So I will tell you all about my experience tomorrow. Well maybe. It will be a busy day with the donut making and the donut eating party. Blessings

Holiday Mini Loaf Pan

This is the mini loaf pan I bought last year after Xmas on Sale. So have not had the chance to try it out yet. I can't wait.  Nordic Ware pans are not cheap but are a great investment. They are a very well made and high quality pan. Tip is buy them just after a big holiday or season and you can get them at 1/2 price. This pan was regular $40 CDN but I bought it for $20 CDN.

Christmas baking and other stuff

So I finally baked something. I have not baked anything in a long time. My back pain has kind of taken over my life. But last night I made Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Plain but good. I want to get back to more baking and more baking of challenging things soon. I know what is wrong with my back finally. I have Osteoartritis. So now its just a matter of figuring out how to manage the pain. Well keep checking back one of these days I will do something challenging soon. Oh I have been planning out my holiday baking list. I love holiday baking. It is so fun. We have already started playing the Christmas music. I think this year I will try some new things. I like to change it up. I have my favourite things I bake every year. Like gingerbread cookies. Its not christmas with out them. Shortbread cookies. Bens mom makes a whiped shortbread cookie. So it makes it really soft. Not the hard kind of shortbread. Very good but I also really like the hard kind too. I found a recipe this year for chocolate shortbread that looks really good. I love making cookies. But I will also make some breads. I am going to try Eggnog bread. That sounds good. Oh and I bought this really cool pan last year that makes mini loafs with Christmas shapes. Its a nordic ware pan. I will find a pic and post it I love Nordic Ware stuff. They make a great product. I am also doing something different this year. My niece asked to have a day of Christmas baking together. I am so looking forward to that. What a  great gift. So we will be spending a day together baking all day. I hope and pray that I can last the day. She will be bringing ingredients for 3 kinds of cookies and I will bring ingredients for 3 kinds of cookies. Then we will double all the recipes and each bring home 6 differnt kinds of full recipes. I am not so sure what my single niece will do with all those cookies. But she said that she could find a place for them. We as a family will eat some and I always love giving a bunch away. Oh I can't wait. We will play christmas music for part of the time and as our computer is in the dinning room which is right beside the kitchen we will also watch Christmas movies. Should be a really fun day. So what about you? Will you be doing Christmas baking? Do you have some favourite recipes? What are they? Well have a great time as you think about what to make and do for Christmas.
Blessings :o)

Hopefull

Well I think I am finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. It has been a long haul but I am slowly starting to feel better. Ben asked me when I was going to reschedule the donut making. I said maybe next Friday. November 20th. But we will see. I am feeling a bit better. But my house has fallen a bit apart. So I am itching to clean it up. I have done some but so want to do more. If I do to much at once then I get back pain again. So baby steps. I printed off a recipe for Wild oatmeal cookies. They sound good. Chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal in them. I don't usually make mine with oatmeal, why I don't know. I really like oatmeal in my chocoalte chip cookies. Kids want to light a fire and roast weiners and eat smores. For those that don't know what a smore is let me tell  you. You take two cookies comonly graham crackers a piece of chocolate and a marshmellow. You roast the marshmellow over the fire then put it and the chocolate between the two cookies. Ben figured that why not just make chocolate chip cookies. You then get your chocolate and cookie all in one. They are quite tasty and very sweet. I think people do graham crackers over other cookies is cause they are thin and light tasting. So you can eat more smores. With thicker cookies you would not eat as many. So I will keep you posted on any baking going on over here. Blessings