A Little Christmas Fun...

I love to bake... I like to cook, but if I had the choice I'd definitely choose baking any day.  I love the results of baking: the wonderful aroma's wafting from the kitchen, the smiles from my husband, family & friends when they see what has been created, and that fabulous satisfaction eating these creations brings to my over-active sweet tooth!

I haven't done a whole lot of baking for Christmas, I bake often enough that there are usually some kind of goodies to be found on the counter, but last night I was on a mission.  My sister is the service manager at Chatters Salon here in Medicine Hat, and while she's not the baker in the family, her staff certainly enjoy the creations that her sister periodically brings in for them lol!  So in the spirit of the Season I thought I'd make something extra special for all of them.  I found this recipe online several weeks ago and as soon as I saw it, there was no question that this is what Mo's staff was getting for Christmas!

And what a blast I had making them!  Justin's mom is here for Christmas and we kinda tag teamed a bit on these.  As she watched me pipe on the icing, I'm sure she thought I was a little crazy when she saw my "icing tool"... or the lack thereof lol!  I'll admit, it was rather ghetto - maybe investing in a set of tips and a proper icing bag is in order :)  But we had fun laughing at my makeshift set up!  All in all, I think they turned out not too bad for my first try... and needless to say my sister is the most popular person in the salon today based on the reaction I got when I brought them in at lunch time lol!  If you know her at all she's not a "huggy" person, so I gratefully accepted the hugs on her behalf :)

These pictures were taken with my iphone, forgive the quality... I took better ones with my real camera... will post those too later...

Butter pecan cupcakes with raspberry pie filling top and french vanilla icing...

I was going to bring them and set them all up nicely for them on my cake stand... but then Mo pointed out that cupcakes with a side of hair clippings that seem to always be floating in a salon might not be so appetizing...but I thought this picture was kinda cool anyways!

And I thought I'd just whip up a quick batch of buns too since I was in the mood...















Of course there may not have been any left for Christmas dinner if I hadn't added this note to some of the batch!