Holiday Baking Ideas

As I spend the next few weeks trying to narrow down what sweets I would be baking for everyone around here, here is a list of a few favorites from the archives.  (I am shocked that there isn't a post with holiday cookies!  I will definitely need to change that this year.)

Pecan Tassies

Chocolate Pecan Butter Toffee Bark

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Peppermint Whoopie Pies

Caramel Popcorn

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Happy Pi Day!

I absolutely love pie.  Especially after  I finally mustered enough courage and learned to make my own pie dough from scratch.  Below are a few of my favorite pie recipes in honor of "Pi" Day!

Apple Pie Bars

Cherry Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Banana Cream Pie

Peach and Raspberry Crumb Pie


Peach and Blueberry Crumb Pie


Pecan Topped Pumpkin Pie 
 

Pecan Pie Bars

Fall Recipes

Happy First Day of Autumn! It's hard to imagine that it's already fall given the temperature around here is still in the 80s. Nonetheless, I dug up a few fall goodies from the archives for some inspiration.  I definitely will be revisiting the following as well as adding a few new ones like apple pie, pumpkin muffins, cinnamon rolls, and pumpkin snickerdoodles this season.

Snacks:

Caramel Popcorn with Roasted Almonds

Pies:

Pecan Topped Pumpkin Pie


Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cookies, Bars, Brownies:

Pecan Pie Bars


Snickerdoodle Cookies

Specialties:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting


Oven Baked Apple Doughnuts

Cupcakes:

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Frosting


Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Holiday Baking Repertoire

I am so ashamed.  For someone who loves to bake, you'd think I would have accumulate quite a list of go to sweets for the holidays.  I definitely need to step it up this season.  Stay tuned for some great new ideas.  In the meantime, here's a flashback of some oldies but goodies.


This red velvet cheesecake cake won me first place at a company holiday bake off.  What's not to love about it; it's two layers of red velvet cake "filled" with an entire original NY cheesecake and then frosted in vanilla bean cream cheese frosting.
These are definitely the best brownies I ever made.  For the holidays, I like to mix Andes baking chips into the batter or pour half the brownie batter into the pan, lay a handful of York peppermint patties down, and then pour in the remaining batter.

Pecan pie bars were just added last year to my repertoire.  They were quite the crowd pleaser at my family Christmas party as well as the Cake4Kids table at the SCS Annual Auction last week.
I've made these red velvet cupcakes with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting for many different holiday parties over the past few years.  I've alternated between a few different recipes but my favorite one to date is this one.

Pecan Pie Bars

Cake4Kids is providing mini desserts at the Sunnyvale Community Services Annual Auction this year and I volunteered to make pecan pie bars.  The event isn't until Dec. 2nd but I wanted to do a trial run as I haven't made these since last Christmas season.  Tweaked the original recipe a bit as I wanted to scale back the sweetness.  I don't think anyone noticed.  Got rave reviews from my brother's coworkers.

Pecan Pie Bars
slightly adapted from All Recipes
Makes about 36 bars

Crust:
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter

Filling:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan and line it with parchment paper or foil, making sure it hangs over the rims. 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Cut in 1 cup of butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the prepared pan, and press in firmly. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven. 

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. In a large bowl mix together the eggs, corn syrup, sugars, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the chopped pecans. Spread the filling evenly over the crust as soon as it comes out of the oven. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing into bars.