RECIPES
- Spicy Gingerbread Cookies (Smitten Kitchen)
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chocolate Caramel Crunch Almonds (Smitten Kitchen) -- these didn't turn out quite right (sandy textured instead of glassy coating, the sugar did not end up melting again despite instruction that it would) but they were still tasty.
- Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti (Joy of Baking) -- colorful and tasty! We dipped the ends of some in melted white chocolate, the sweetness of which pairs really nicely with the sour cranberry.
- Cinnamon-Sugar Rugelach -- a repeat from last year because we love them.
- Decadent Hot Chocolate Mix (Smitten Kitchen) -- a repeat from years past because it's really good.
- Toasted Coconut Marshmallows (Ina Garten) -- Sarah has made these before and they were just as tasty this time. I kept accidentally burning the coconut because I would get distracted with other baking tasks and forget! I finally got it on the third try, haha. I might crumble the toasted coconut into smaller pieces next time because it didn't stick very well to the marshmallows as large shreds.
- Peanut Butter Balls / Buckeyes (Irvin Lin via Simply Recipes) -- This was my first time ever making them. I had always wanted to try making them ever since seeing my grandma's recipe for them in my mom's collection as a child, but her recipe called for paraffin wax (yikes!) so we did not use it. I think these ended up a little soft, but we used coconut oil instead of dairy butter so they would be vegan, and that might have messed with the texture. I'd absolutely try again though. Make them smaller than you think you would like them, because they're quite rich.
- Dark Chocolate Coconut Truffles (Melanie Stephens, via Feed Your Awesome Machine) -- a repeat from 2014, still love them. Next time I want to roll them in toasted coconut.
- Irish Cream and Coffee Truffles (The Crumby Cupcake) -- delicious. I'd definitely consider making them again. I decided I don't like them coated in bright blue sprinkles though.
BAKEATHONS PAST
