For whatever reason I haven't felt super inspired about making holiday goodies this year. Maybe I'm burnt out from
Thanksgiving, maybe I'm depressed about my job situation, or maybe it's all the disturbing news about
Jamie Lynn Spears. I should have at least made a gingerbread house by now. Not sure anything could have topped last year's candy crazed gingerbread making party at my friend Amanda's house. I went to three different stores to ensure I got every available gummy, hard candy and novelty sweet. $60 later ensured that I did. Mix that with what Amanda had prepared for and her dining room looked liked it could have been the research and development room at Haribo.
I've been reading a lot of blogs lately and a lot people are out there baking away for the holidays. One writer challenged herself to make every single type of cookie in the Martha Stewart holiday cookie magazine.
There are 106. And Martha's own daughter, Alexis, took it upon herself to
bake ALL of her gifts this year. These ladies had the gumption I was longing for.
But all of that changed when I was shopping for a white elephant gift yesterday I popped into Williams-Sonoma.
First I saw these adorable minuscule sugar decorations. Something I could never make on my own.
And how perfect would these be topped on my mini-cupcakes?!? Oh yes! I haven't made those in a while and cupcakes, especially the cute mini ones, would make a unique holiday treat to bring to an Xmas Eve party.
Suddenly my creative circulation was coming back. I just HAD to have these sugary decals.
Next came the great debate between cake mixes. Betty Crocker or Pillsbury? White cake, yellow cake or rainbow chip, perhaps? Hell no! Turns out,
Sprinkles cupcake bakery sells gourmet mix in flippin fabulous flavors like red velvet and chocolate peppermint. So even though these little sweet gems won't be completely homemade, I'm going to make my own frosting and decorate with the sugar figures and crushed candy canes.
When I got home, I was a little more inspired and thought, maybe I could get my holiday baking mojo back and went to marthastewart.com. Sure enough I found a seemingly easy recipe for homemade peppermint bark, a favorite of mine so I will attempt that as well. And pictures will definitely be taken!
Good luck with all your holiday endeavors!
But then there's these...
2.) I've been meaning to try these Mini Charleston Chews for a while now, and finally did last night! I thought they were going to be about the size and width of about half of a Twix, but actually they are tiny bite-sized morsels. More like a Mike n' Ike size. Completely delicious and my final verdict is that they'll make the BEST movie snack.
3.) While perusing the Valentine's section at Rite Aid yesterday it donned on me that maybe I'll never have the resources to open up a candy shop. But how hard could it be to start an online store? "Not very," I thought. All I'll need is inventory, a good website, and some great ideas. All of which seem totally doable to me. I got the ideas and I know people who can design and build a great site. All I need is a little bit of cash to load up my garage with supplies. I've always wanted to work for myself and it's starting to seem like it could be a reality.
