Holiday Baking

I finally put a big dent in my holiday baking this weekend!  My house smells awesome, mostly due to the incredible Cherry-Almond Biscotti I made today.   Cherries soaked in amaretto – what’s not to love!

So far I’ve made English Toffee, Peanut Brittle, Mexican Wedding Cakes, Magic Bars, Cherry-Almond Biscotti, fudge (we won’t talk about the fudge), and rice krispy treats.  I know the rice krispy treats aren’t necessarily a holiday treat, but hubby loves them.

Still to go are Bohemian Pastry, which is  a family recipe I cannot divulge under pentalty of being excommunicated – oh wait…

I’ve also got shortbread cake on the list and some chocolate crunch cookies.  I’m not sure what else I’ll get to, but so far I haven’t screwed anything up too badly except for the fudge.  If anyone has a good (and idiot proof!) recipe for fudge I’d love to try it!  Mine ended up all crumbly.

I’ve got the scrapple made for Christmas morning.  Scrapple is another family tradition.  Back in the day it was a cheap food that used up the parts of a pig that aren’t all that attractive (think head cheese).  Now it’s all good quality pork, cornmeal, and spices.  Basically it’s a savory polenta with a lot of chopped pork and sausage seasoning.   You make it into a loaf, slice it very thin, and fry it.  Yumalicious!

It’s finally starting to feel like Christmas!  Now I have to get to FedEx so my late ass can get my gifts delivered on time!