Peppermint Bark Meringue Cookies

I've never really had a job where everyone gave Christmas gifts to everyone else (granted, I've only had about 3 jobs that lasted to Christmas and beyond. But still: giving something to everyone was never a thing). So when my co-workers at SHAG started handing out gifts last year, I was a bit unprepared. I decided to change that this year.

Since I had leftover egg whites from my pinwheels, I started to look for meringue recipes (meringues are easier and quicker to make than macarons). At first I wasn't sure what to focus on. Then I had an idea: one of my favorite flavors of the Christmas/holiday season is peppermint, specifically peppermint bark. So I decided to make peppermint bark meringues. I started to specifically look for peppermint bark meringue recipes but I didn't like what I found. Eventually, I realized I'd have to make my own so I switched to searching for chocolate meringue recipes with the goal of dipping them in white chocolate and crushed candy canes. Eventually, I settled on a recipe from Beyond the Chicken Coop.

Pretzel Challah Rolls

Last May, Rowan Fae performed at a Spring Fairy Magic Market in Tacoma. After our performance, we walked around the market for a little bit, checking out the vendors. One of the vendors was a bakery called Forest Fairy Bakery. I ended up buying a cookie and a loaf of challah bread, the latter of which I stuck in the freezer and snacked on occasionally over the summer. I'd never had it before but I'd pinned a few challah bread recipes so when I saw it at the market, I thought "Why not?" Since I ended up liking it, I decided to make some challah rolls the next time I needed to make dinner rolls.

Because I hadn't had pretzel rolls in a while, I decided to add that extra step (it's pretty easy really - just give the rolls a baking soda bath). So I started searching through my bread pins. One of the pins was instructions from PopSugar, a lifestyle and pop culture website. It even included a link to a recipe for  challah bread on the YumSugar, PS's food section - until the link mysteriously became broken a few days after I saved the instructions. Couldn't even find the recipe by searching the website. So I quickly went through my pins until I found an easy challah bread recipe from Life as a Strawberry.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

When I do my weekly grocery shopping, I tend to be the type who goes up and down almost every aisle and department, even if I don't need what's there. One such department is Safeway's bakery. I usually head there to get my sandwich bread but on the weeks I don't need it, I still peruse the displays to see what's new. Every few months, this includes seasonal treats. For the most part, I use the excuse of "I can make that! I think I pinned a copycat recipe for that." for not buying them. Except I never really make those recipes. So last month when I saw pumpkin snickerdoodles out on display, I decided that the next time I needed to bake for me, I would find a recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodles. After combing through my pins on Pinterest, I settled on a recipe from CenterCutCook.

Chocolate Chip Clouds (Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies)

After I learned the hard way that it's better to put egg whites in the freezer than in the fridge, I started freezing the whites after making Pepperoni Pinwheels. Fortunately the brief supply shortage of Pillsbury products (and I think also of pepperoni) helped buy me some time to finish the S'mores Cookie Bars. Once I got close, I started searching for recipes that use 8 egg whites (or at least could be adjusted to use 8 whites). I eventually decided on chocolate chip clouds (a.k.a. meringue cookies) from Skinnytaste. To defrost the egg whites, I put them in the fridge for a few days.

Velvety Cheesecake

This year for Easter, Auntie Vicki suggested something different than usual: a plain cheesecake that could be topped with fresh berries. For my search, I decided to stick with my books and magazines since I tend to go on autopilot to the internet. I considered choosing a fruit-flavored cheesecake but eventually decided to stick to finding a plain flavor. In the end, I chose a recipe from one of the pocket magazines I once grabbed from the register display, specifically by Gooseberry Patch.