Happy Halloween

I will post later with all the recipes and reflections on this, but here are some images of all the baked stuff I made this weekend – my last big bake, I do believe. I set it all up in the office and feel very… free.

Getting the big Halloween bake all set up in the office

Very basic Halloween decorations

How will I organize this??

Pumpkin-stuffed snickerdoodle recipe

White chocolate macadamia nut cookie recipe

Chocolate mint cookie recipe

Coconut cream bar recipes

Ready for their close-up: Coconut cream bar cookies

Chocolate chip cashew cookies – same recipe as the white chocolate macadamia cookies, only throw in chocolate chips and cashews instead of white chocolate and macadamia nuts

Lemon pistachio bar cookies

Mini pecan pie recipe… also these got some rave reviews

M&M cookies… same recipe as the white chocolate macadamia cookies

Chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips – same recipe as the chocolate mint cookies but with peanut butter chips instead of mint

Ginger cookies with pumpkin spice chips recipe

Table 1 of 2: Getting rid of ingredients cookies rather than the Halloween-themed goods

The Halloween-themed spread

Chocolate cupcakes (which happen to be vegan – not by design, just coincidence) with grey vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream

Witch finger shortbread cookie recipe… they freak everyone out

Same as chocolate cupcakes with a couple teaspoons of instant espresso added to the mix. And of course the tombstone cookies.

Chocolate truffles: Very easy to make

Lemon meringue cupcakes – recipe

Welcome to the crime scene: Vanilla cupcakes with cherry “blood” filling and candy knives recipe

Coconut dark chocolate bites recipe: I toasted the coconut and blitzed it in a food processor, which is not indicated in the recipe. I think it works better this way

Close-up: Candy corn cupcakes

The full spread: Halloween baking 2017

Happy Halloween 2017

the tail end of baking

I wrote the other day about how I no longer derive joy from baking. But I discovered that in the middle of a medium-sized bake. Later I posted pictures of the baking, and everyone exclaimed, “You’re baking! But I thought you said you weren’t going to!” Yeah… I won’t. But I didn’t realize I didn’t want to until I was too far down the road of baking this recent stuff to stop. I finished the bake, vowed only to do my planned Halloween bake next month, and then that’s it.

Meanwhile, if you want to try your hand at the things I made for my office this week, here are the recipes:

Nanaimo bars
M&M cookies/white chocolate macadamia cookies (same recipe; replace M&Ms with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts instead)
carrot sandwich cookies
peanut butter sandwich cookies
Stuffed chocolate chip cookies (stuffed with whole peanut butter cups, but you could use brownies or some other candy; I used leftover dough to make some plain chocolate chip cookies)
chocolate biscotti
chocolate cookies with mint chips
ANZAC biscuits
oatmeal cinnamon cookies with chocolate and butterscotch chips (used this recipe but omitted raisins, added chocolate chips and butterscotch chips instead)

Baked goods & recipes – May 27

When I finally came out of hibernation and baked, I ended up making nine different things to take to my office. I had a list of more things than that but was so slow in the baking process that I was not even sure I would manage to make the nine things I did. But here is the recount and all the recipes, for those who care:

M&M cookies

MMM MMMMMM … M&M cookies

White chocolate macadamia nut cookies

Ever-popular favorite: White chocolate macadamia cookies

ANZAC biscuits

Deceiving you into thinking they’re healthy: ANZAC biscuits

Nanaimo bars

Nanaimo bars for all those times you don’t count calories and/or want to pretend you’re Canadian

Coconut macaroon shells filled with dark chocolate ganache

Gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s not amazing: Dark chocolate ganache filling in coconut macaroon tart shells

Chocolate chip cookies stuffed with Reese’s peanut butter cups

Heart attack in cookie form: Reese’s peanut butter cup stuffed in giant chocolate chip cookie

Chocolate cookies with Andes mint chips

Using the rare Andes mints for chocolate mint cookies

Chocolate cookies with Reese’s peanut butter chips

Using up peanut butter chips brought by “chip mule” from the States – chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips

Shortbread with chocolate sprinkles

Perennial favorite – buttery shortbread with chocolate sprinkles

M&M cookies – always planned, never in hand

M&Ms: Begging to be used

I have only baked once this year – when I made some bagels and some pumpkin cheesecake muffins (recipe). For someone like me, this is weird. I have had M&M candy in the cupboard for some time, just screaming out for M&M cookie-making. But there they sit.

One day the baking bug will return but for now all I feel like is writing nonsense and working.

The old switcheroo – when M&M cookies aren’t really what they seem

In recent years, I have baked M&M cookies – probably the most broadly well-loved cookies of the entire repertoire I bake – using the same recipe I use for the other most popular cookie (white chocolate macadamia nut cookies – sadly I don’t make these much anymore because I don’t have a constant supply of white chocolate chips from the US; a former colleague used to bring them to me, but we no longer work together).

The recipe I usually share on my blog for M&M cookies is not the same one as people go to such lengths to rave about. It’s misleading, and I feel in some way like I have pulled a switcheroo operation, falsely advertising, “You can get these results if you use this recipe” – but it is not true because the recipes are patently different.

M&M cookies: I have deceived you

Selling a false bill of goods, though, is something we should be used to now. Everything is a bit of a falsehood.

“Nothing clings to you like laughter…” – Full list of 2013 holiday baking

I started off today in the office exchanging messages on Facebook with a colleague who was on a bus – it was unintentionally stalker-like to see her progress as her public transport made its way to different parts of the city, and I could track her, thinking, “Oh, she must have stopped responding because she is walking up the path to the office now…”. In any case, our conversation started the day off on the right foot because it sparked laughter. And, as Robyn Hitchcock sings, “Nothing clings to you like laughter…“. Too true.

I also noted that the 24 kinds of baked goods that I brought to the office yesterday – the logistical nightmare that that was – has been reduced and fits nicely on two long tables instead of three. Progress!

Christmas 2013 spread – three full tables

The final list of stuff baked and brought along with links to recipes (where they exist – some I was making for the first time so will post in new posts in the coming days)…

COCONUT-MACADAMIA COOKIES

CHRISTMAS M&M COOKIES (I know this links to a white chocolate macadamia cookie recipe, but I have been using it for M&M cookies for a while – prefer it to the one I used to use. Just eliminate the macadamia and white chocolate and put M&Ms in instead!)

VANILLA ORANGE ALMOND BISCOTTI

CRANBERRY PISTACHIO BISCOTTI

TART CHERRY & PINE NUT BISCOTTI

GINGERBREAD

THUMBPRINTS (WALNUTS & CHERRY)

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES (ALMOND)

SHORTBREAD

CHOCOLATE MINT COOKIES

SNICKERDOODLES

RASPBERRY OAT BARS

PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES