Mission accomplished!

I did it!  NaBloPoMo success--30 posts in 30 days.  I'm still trying to decide if I want to continue the daily posting into December, but it's really nice to know that I can manage it if I put my mind to it.  My goal is to avoid getting hung up on being perfect, and just write more often than I did before this month.

I was tempted to wait on posting about the Gingerbread Cupcakes until I could get a better picture.  But that would have taken a while, since I would have been tempted to make more cupcakes first.  Since I wanted to take most of them to work but keep a few for us, I increased the recipe by half so I got 18 regular-sized cupcakes.  The only ingredient that was a little tricky was the egg.  I cracked an egg into a small bowl and beat it to combine the yolk and white.  Then I measured out about 25 grams of it to add to the batter along with the other whole egg.  It worked out pretty well.  Other than that, the recipe was pretty straightforward to follow.  My cupcakes took 20 minutes to bake.  For the frosting, I only used 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, since I was using high-oil Vietnamese cinnamon.  I only ended up adding a couple teaspoons of milk to the frosting, since I wanted it pretty thick for piping.  One thing to note is that I didn't have to increase the ingredients for the frosting.  The original amounts yielded more than enough frosting for 18 cupcakes.

The verdict?  These were definitely a hit at work--and a nice change from chocolate.  The cupcakes were quite tasty on their own--nice and spicy--and the frosting was very good, too.  The cinnamon kept it from tasting overly sweet.  Both the cupcakes and frosting are going on the make-again list.

Baking therapy

Is it bedtime yet?  This has been a very long week.  I'm sick of everyone being sick, while keeping my fingers crossed that I don't come down with whatever has been plaguing everyone else.  I'm tired of G coughing her head off and B whining that she can't breathe.  And J isn't feeling so hot either.  Might just be a respiratory virus, might be the flu, who knows.  But it can go now.

G managed to be sick on days that she had off from school anyway.  B, on the other hand, missed school on Monday and Tuesday.  As a result, we've been paying for it yesterday and today.  She's had a bunch of math classwork and homework to catch up on, as well as a test that she ended up bringing home today.  Figure in the facts that she still isn't feeling well and that she's a drama queen at the best of times, and you end up with me spending the better part of four hours (over two days) dealing with her as she's been sitting at the kitchen table complaining.

I finally gave up and went for the stress relievers--baking and booze.  Not the hard stuff, just some tasty cider.  And some gingerbread cupcakes that are in the oven now.  If all goes well, the finished products should make an appearance here soon.

Double yolk!

Wordless Wednesday - Breakfast for dinner

Deck the halls

..or at least the cookies. =)  I had a meeting down in Austin today, and got out early enough to run a couple of errands before I had to head home.  Stop number one was at World Market, since I was just about out of Andes Peppermint Crunch bits after baking cookies last night.  Central Market had them the past couple years, but I haven't seen them there this year, even though there are plenty of other holiday items out.  So I did some searching online to see where I might get them, and was successful in purchasing several bags this afternoon.

My other stop was at my awesome local baking supply shop, Make it Sweet.  I was reading the December issue of Bon Appetit over the weekend, and there's a great cookie article in there from the wonderful Dorie Greenspan.  The recipe for Speculoos Buttons is high on my list of holiday recipes to try, and I was inspired to search out some interested sugars to use for decorating.  It's hard to tell from my picture, but I found pearlized sparkling sugar in assorted colors--it looks really neat.  The great thing is that Make it Sweet has all sorts of sprinkles, etc. available in bulk, so I was able to try out several without spending a lot of money.

Aromatherapy

I love the smell of bread baking.  It always puts me in a good mood.  There's just something so satisfying about making my own bread.  This recipe is a favorite of mine, in part because it's made all by hand--no mixer involved.  It was a good choice for a lazy afternoon while I was home with a sick kiddo.  I usually prefer rolls for sandwiches, but sometimes a hearty white sandwich bread is just want you need or want.  I had a variation on a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner, and it was delicious.  If you'd like to try this Simple Milk Loaf for yourself, my friend Nancy has the recipe on her bread blog.

Tree toppers

My girls were quite interested in these holiday marshmallows.  We had to have hot chocolate this morning to go with them.  I'm glad that they had something to boost their spirits, because it's been a germ-filled weekend around here.  G was sick (fever and icky cough) Friday and Saturday.  She seemed a lot better today, but was still coughing.  B complained of various aches and pains off and on for a couple of days, but I put it down to her usual drama about everything.  Then she got up from rest time this afternoon with a temp of almost 102º.  *sigh*  Here's hoping that whatever virus is making the rounds decides to skip the adult members of the household.  *fingers crossed*

(And for those who might be wondering, these marshmallows aren't flavored like some of the other special edition ones; they taste like the white ones.)

Lunchable

I have a fridge full of Thanksgiving leftovers, yet this was my lunch.  That's because eating the meal once is about all I'm up for.  I just don't like turkey that much.  So my husband gets the leftover dinner items to eat for lunch, and I eat the leftover pie for breakfast. =)  I had to work today, and since I don't have that many employees working on Saturdays, it's often hard for me to sit down to eat lunch.  This actually worked out quite well for grazing.  I had cinnamon sugar pecans, dried cranberries, sesame bagel chips, and some slices of a nice cheddar.  (Not pictured--miniature Hershey bar.)  Mmm, a grown-up lunchable.