Tah Dah

...and we've managed to go and do the disappearing act again. I fear that we are perfecting it, for magicians, this is a good thing, for a blog, it is not.

New Year's resolutions:

1. Blog more often than once a month
2. Blog more culinary related information, and less apologies
3. Distract with pretty pictures

The holidays are always busy, I am currently in process of getting together the baked goods platter that I try to get to friends before my official vacation begins. It seems to be much harder this year, than it has in the past. The platters this year will contain the following (and pictures WILL be available at some point)

1. Baklava- new and improved, thanks to the many years of hard work Anna has put into the recipe. She is a very gracious woman, and had no hesitations to pass along to me, the recipe that year after year she has slaved over perfecting... and all I had to do was ask!!! (thanks Anna!!!!)

2. Gingersnaps- the famous great-grandma Woodard’s recipe. Crunchy gems... I think the best part of these this year... my mother has stepped in and made the dough, and is probably right in the middle of rolling, coating, and baking as I sit in my comfy little cubicle... (I at least gave her enough chain to get to the bathroom if she needed)

3. Fairy Footstools- which, I REALLY need to rename. The recipe came from a cricket magazine, I think I was a freshman in High School (the magazine was my little sister's), when I first discovered the recipe... I'm not going to date myself, but let's just say, I've been making these for quite awhile. I found that after going through a baking class, they were much easier :)

4. Spiced nuts- This recipe came from my friend David's wife. He had brought a little batch to me a few years back, and I couldn't get enough. I have tweaked it a bit (without noting what I've done differently... add that to the resolutions, start making notes when making changes in recipes!!!)

5. Peanut butter fudge- The easiest recipe in the world. I have no idea where I found it, but I haven't changed anything about the recipe!!

6. Snickerdoodles- Basic recipe... no changes that I know of. I don't make these too often, but the IT guy at work requested them at one point... and everybody knows, you should always try to make the IT guy happy.

7. Chocolate chip cookies- again, just a basic recipe... there is a recipe I tried from the NY Times, which is fairly incredible... but requires a rest time of 36 hours... or something crazy like that.

here's what I'm going to attempt to also make, time permitting:

1. Chocolate orange truffles- I found this recipe awhile back, so Steven could get extra credit in his French class (I think with this recipe he jumped from a B to an A+ in the class... I'm not even kidding). Very simple recipe, the only time consuming this is actually rolling them into their shapes.

2. Chocolate fudge- I always try new recipes for this one. One year I did a chocolate raspberry fudge.... ew, it was gross. I wish I could find one, and just stick to it!!

3. Peppermint bark... I just have to get some peppermint candies...

There is so much more that I wish I could get into the mix... but, apparently this is all that will happen this year.

I hope to have pictures to post tomorrow, see, I'm already working on my resolutions!!

-wendi-