Baking Day

I baked lots and lots for Christmas. It didn't go quite as planned.

11am:
To start, I made two batches of anise candy... what my Grandma Schick used to make every Christmas.

I had never used a candy thermometer before- such a nifty thing!

Waiting for it to harden in the pan.

Breaking it up into pieces. That stuff is sharp.. I cut myself a couple times!

I put it into little bags to give to the Schick families who loves it.

And the rest I put into crystal candy dishes from Grandma for the tables at Christmas!


2pm:
I made Schnitz Brot- a German bread my Grandma Pfaffmann used to always make.

Yes, it has 1 cup of this in it. :)

My Dad was a little surprised when I asked him to pick up some Whiskey for me. :)

Chopping up the dried fruit-- doesn't it look appetizing? ;P

I found out after making it, that the yeast wasn't working. I guess it was too old. So it totally didn't rise like I wanted it to. Here's my not so great finished product..

1pm:

I started made tea rings for the Schick Christmas. But guess what? It was that same yeast. So, we turned the cinnamon rolls into dinner rolls:

Dad bought me new yeast...


And I started a new batch at 7pm.

And it finally rose!!! Let's just say I was thrilled, because I was totally not up to making another batch!

But thankfully it didn't take me too long. And it rose like CRAZY.

It turned out huge!!! I've never seen one so big..and ugly. Oh well, it tastes really good, and I'd rather have it huge than not rose at all!