2014 is slipping away

I will be very glad to see the back end of 2014. It has been a very challenging year in many ways, and I think both John and I are over-ready to put a lot of it behind us and out of mind. We've got new goals and brighter opportunities in 2015, and will greet them with open arms.

2014 will, thankfully, be closing on a high note. We've already navigated Thanksgiving, and I'd love to walk you through some of the baking I did for the holiday! The big day started at home, where I cooked up a delicious but simple breakfast of eggs and churro popovers (make your own courtesy of Joy the Baker's recipe!). We washed that down with coffee while watching the Macy's parade.

Churro popovers!

Our delicious feast.

I then quickly got to work on dessert to bring to John's aunt's house, where we would spend the afternoon and share dinner with John's family. That's right, y'all: apple cider doughnuts! YUM. This was a recipe I found, I think, by Googling around on AllRecipes. It was simple and delicious, and the entire dozen was gobbled up in less than 10 minutes. : )

For my parents' visit on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I would have baked an apple pie, but my mom forgot I had offered this and bought one from the grocery store. Since she and Dad had eaten some on T-Day, however, I made some almond cloud cookies to supplement (also courtesy of Joy).

As I ramp up for prime baking season (as if I'm any less active during the rest of the year...haha), I have also been collecting a few things to make lovely presentations of my goodies that hit the road with us. I've got some stamps, some gift tags, some bakery boxes, and some twine. Let's do this!

I'm currently finalizing my battle plan for Christmas baking, so as that develops, I'll come back and check in, especially as I tackle my first pie. OM NOM NOM Pastry dough, I will make you! Until next time, I'll leave you with a few festive images from our decorated house: