Christmas Baking Recap

This holiday season I set out to actually do some baking!  I love to bake, but rarely do anything in "bulk" and don't usually branch out from a few tried and true favorites.  THIS year though, I made the mistake of following the cooking blog Lulu the Baker and found myself drooling over some of her sweets recipes.

So, I made myself a list, headed to the grocery store and attempted to find all of the correct ingredients. =)  For someone who doesn't do a lot of seasonal baking, this was a bit of a task.  I must say though, the recipes were super easy to follow, the ingredients weren't too hard to track down, and the end products were FANTASTIC.  Our families, friends and I were all quite pleased with the results. =)


 First off, not via Lulu, but rather "in a jar" from my Secret Work Santa:  Mini Chocolate cupcakes:

Next up, c/o Lulu, Chocolate Mint Cookies!  I couldn't find mint chips to save my life, so I replaced with some crushed up Andes Candies and Candy Cane... they tasted awesome!

Then I experimented with some Peppermint Oreo Pops.  I thought there would be a lot more cussing involved as I figured out how to do these. lol  But, it actually turned out to be quite easy!

And, finally, the HIT of the weekend, Carmelitas!  Our families LOVED these and several people asked me to pass the recipe along.

I am VERY happy with the way everything turned out, and plan to save all of these new recipes for the future!  Thank you Lulu! =)