it’s December

…and while I haven’t posted in a while, please rest assured, I’ve been baking up a storm.

My first thought on December: what a great time of year. I’ve always loved the holidays, possibly because of all the sugar cookies to be decorated, fudge to be received, and it was the only time of year my mom would make sweet bread shaped like little bears (which of course means there are many years commemorating this via photographs of my sister and I pretending to eat the bear’s head/limbs/face.) I won’t pull a whole “times are hard” card, but I will say that as a twenty-something who is still working her way out of the collegiate lifestyle, things aren’t getting any cheaper. If it’s wrong to love my job’s perks, like discounted clothes, I don’t want to be right.

But you know what we can all agree on that is right? That receiving one of these little puppies would be a very good thing:

Inspired long ago by this post from angry chicken, I finally got my hands on some straight-sided half-pint canning jars and proceeded to attempt to make cakes in them. While baking and sealing was too good to be true (especially considering I have never canned anything before) I was most afraid of results. Patience paid off and I waited until the next night to pop one open – it slid right out, I warmed it up and… wow. Yeah, wow. It’s more fun to eat out of the jar, but it’s the kind of thing you might like to eat with a spoon. There will be some lucky recipients this season, so start making nice now 😉

My boss loves peanut butter cookies, especially those involving chocolate. While I did plan on greeting our crew with some PB&C cookies to kick off our Monday, I knew that one of the merchants – who is anti-peanut butter – would make her usual comments. I found myself a jar of almond butter and deliciousness was had:

And let’s not forget my pound cake obsession – this time, blueberry coconut, served up yesterday:

Said pound cake triggered a lovely e-mail from a co-worker I must share:
From: Jen ______
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 3:35 PM
To: Christina _______
Subject: are you responsible

For that amazing deliciousness I am about to get seconds and thirds on in the kitchen???

If so, it’s damn good.

>> If you’re NOT talking about those vegan bar things, then yes, I am responsible 🙂 Who knew blueberries and coconut were such good friends?

Bestest friends. Lifelong pals. Seriously, I know I’ve said this before, but *this* may be your best dish yet!  Thanks for sharing!

Ah. I feel the love 🙂 More soon, it’s time for me to dig into the cinnamon rolls I made.