Holiday Baking

I enjoy cooking and baking all year round, but there's just something extra-special about holiday baking that puts me in the mood to go a little overboard. This year I made a combination of new recipes and old favorites. Some will come to my aunt's house on Christmas Day and some will be munched on throughout the night on Christmas Eve. Of course, I've already had quite a few samples over the past few days.

First, I made chocolate chip cherry cookies, one of may favorites among the Christmas cookie recipes that have been in my family's repertoire for years and years.


Next, I whipped up a fudge wreath:


And then, in an encore from Thanksgiving, I made another one of Paula Deen's pumpkin ooey-gooey butter cakes.


Finally, I tried out a new recipe from a cookbook I got through work, Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson.

I have to admit that although this book is beautiful to look at, I haven't actually made that many recipes from it. This year, I decided to try making a layered chocolate bar from the book, which I'm officially christening "Chocolate Macaroon bars", because of all of the coconut that they're topped with.

The recipe couldn't be easier to make. You press 'Nilla wafer crumbs and butter into a pan to make a crust, then top with layers of white and dark chocolate chips and coconut. Pour a can of sweetened condensed milk over the whole thing, bake, and voila!- the Chocolate Macaroon bars are ready. They came out deliciously chocolaty and sweet. Definitely a recipe I'll make again.