Sesame Crackers

James and I had some friends over for dinner the other day, and is there ever a better excuse to make your own crackers? These are perfect for cheese and dips, as they are only very lightly salted. I also like rolling them out in big pieces—saved a lot of time, and I think it's a neat look. This recipe is exceptionally easy, the crackers taste great, and they look lovely; I already have a second batch of dough in the fridge, waiting to be rolled.

Coconut Milk Caramel Sauce

I've been tempted to try making candies and caramel sauce with honey for quite some time, but I've always been anxious about the potential of wasting large amounts of honey. I'm not certain what prompted me to finally do it, but I made caramel sauce today, using this recipe. Though I have recently re-embraced dairy, a couple of my loved ones are lactose intolerant, and as I intended to make this as a Christmas gift for one of them, I opted to try using coconut milk.

Pecan Shortbread

To somewhat resolve my inner conflict over the sugary food related things I do at work, I've decided that I'd really like to establish my own repertoire of basic recipes, made with local sugars...perhaps to appear in my imaginary bakery. I really enjoy working on recipes and testing my knowledge of baking theory to adapt them. Shortbread was a delicious and simple place to start. And pecan sandies are among James' favourite cookies.

Getting Ready

Christmas is coming too soon, and I'm trying to get ready. Today I'm working on a shortbread cookie recipe for here and trying to finish my Christmas cards—'tis the season!

Lately

Christmas is coming, so I've also been busy knitting and making cards etc..., and work is pretty nuts right now too. I have been baking at home, because James and I have had company for the last two weekends, but by the time I feel any ambition to take a picture, it's gone.

I've been feeling conflicted about the amount of cane-sugar baking I do, when my real interests are in baking with local sugars, but here are a couple little sugary things I've made lately. The cookies are just a basic sugar cookie recipe with royal icing. I made them for fun, because I'd like to improve my piping and decorating skills. The cake is a chocolate genoise, with orange flavoured buttercream, that I made for a friend of James'. The colour combination for the cake's icing was a definite mistake, but I do think taste is most important, and the feedback was great. I hate looking at all the imperfections of my decorating, but I try to remind myself that I have to start somewhere.