Let The Holiday Baking Begin!

Only 8 days until Thanksgiving!  I’ve been stocking up on baking items at all the recent sales, so Woohoooooo let’s get to it!

I had the day off today, so after my hair appointment and then a final decision on a new smartphone purchase (Samsung Galaxy SIII – Big screen. LOVE it) I baked and baked  . . . and baked.

First, I made 2 loaves of carrot-pineapple bread. It’s my favorite quick bread of all time. Excellent flavor and texture.  I found the recipe a few years ago on the Taste of Home website. Those people know how to bake.

While that was in the oven, I made a batch of English Toffee for my friend Ana. (Does that count as multi-tasking?) Get this - Ana and her hubby have 3 kids (one at college), and they took in 3 foster kids, ages 10, 12, and 14, who were removed from their own home because it was too dangerous for them to stay.  I don’t know the details, but Ana’s getting toffee AND a loaf of the carrot-pineapple bread, because I think she must be a saint! And she has to cook for 7 people every day. OMGosh!

That little bit of left-over toffee will go to my choco-holic friend Diana. I feel sure she can take care of that.

You know what I like about making toffee?  You get to bash the almonds with the meat tenderizer.  Works out any frustrations that may be building up.

And it’s a Two-Stage Bashing, because you need some of them just slightly bashed (on the left) to put IN the toffee, and then you need some of them pulverized (on the right) to put ON the chocolate that goes on top of the toffee.

To complete the pulverization, I put the extremely bashed almonds into my little Cuisinart mini-prep and give them a whirl.  Does a great job.

So I finished the toffee just in time for the carrot-pineapple bread to come out of the oven, and then . .

I made my favorite holiday thing:

Cranberry-Orange Nut Bread.   I love this bread because it has both orange zest AND orange juice in it.  And the fresh cranberries taste great with the orange, and the chopped nuts just seal the deal. My friend Shirley gave me this recipe years ago. She said she found it on the back of a package of Northland Cranberries.  It is really great for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it’s a nice item to have on a dessert tray with some other, sweeter things. (If any P&S Sisters or Cousins want the recipe, let me know and I’ll email it.)

They turned out really well, and made my house smell really good!

I wish I could slice it and show you the inside with all the red cranberries, but I’m giving these as gifts, so I have to leave them intact.

Whew, am I tired. Time to put my feet up and go play with my new Galaxy phone. Yipee!

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