Jenyfer Matthews

I thought when soccer season ended I was done with baking - especially since we’re traveling for the holidays. I should have known better.

This is my children’s last week of school and all of the classes are having Christmas parties. I was asked to make brownies for my son’s class. No biggie - brownies are easy to make and for him to carry to school. However, I am one of three class reps for my daughter’s class and as such, I’m responsible for helping to organize her class’s party.

We’re trying to keep things fairly simple. The children will bring their lunch as usual only we’ll take them outside to have a picnic and play a few games. Duck-duck-goose with a Santa hat should get a giggle out of them. It was also suggested that someone should bring in cupcakes for a special treat. After the mix-up that occurred with my daughter’s soccer team where they ended up with no cupcakes, I felt compelled to volunteer to bring the cupcakes - all three dozen of them.

Sigh.

Oh well - at least they’ll actually have cupcakes. I’m planning to top them with white frosting and stick a peppermint to the top for a little extra holiday fun.

What can I say about this weekend except that it was busy? Two simultaneous baseball games bright and early Saturday morning and tennis every evening in addition to all the usual fun.

I only got one new quilt top made this weekend. Cute isn’t it? When you have such cute fabric you can get away with a simple design:

The kids are back in school this week - finally! - so I’m trying to settle back into routine that includes writing. It’s tough after taking some time off. I had all these plans to do some editing this morning and wouldn’t you know it, I was seized by the urge to bake. Simultaneous procrastination and productivity.

I have made a batch of banana bread muffins, have a batch of honey oatmeal bread rising and, if I don’t run out of steam, plan to make double choc chip cookies later in the afternoon.

What’s on your agenda for the day?

I discovered something while making my toffee bars this year - today’s new and improved chocolate chips resist melting. Really. I topped my bars as usual and when I tried to spread the chocolate, they didn’t want to spread. I read the bag and it actually said “chips may retain some of their original shape when heated”. I can see where that might be a useful trait for shipping purposes, but it’s not so satisfying when baking - aren’t they actually MEANT to melt??

If you try the toffee bar recipe, I hope you can find some chocolate that actually melts.

So the toffee bars were tasty if not as attractive as usual. My gingerbread came out nicely though.