2014 All Wrapped Up

Oh what a year...

For baking...
This year there were 26 office birthday desserts; here are a handful.

There were challenges...making a giant Reese's cup; there were classics...carrot cake; and there were boozy cakes...an Old Fashioned Cake with bourbon and all.

  

This year I got to bake for friends...pies and cakes, including a pig grooms cake and bumble bee cupcakes for a baby shower; plus 103 cupcakes and one salted caramel cake for a wedding.

This year I have learned what it is to be completely exhausted from baking.  I did it again just last week.  8 cakes with 7 frosting and two fillings in two days.  I might have had to sit down in a chair to prepare brunch for the next day after baking all of these cakes.

1 Week...3 Pecan Pies

I know I keep saying I have been baking over and over again but here is the proof...

Since November I have baked and not blogged about salted caramel toffee cake like this...

Pumpkin Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Holy its Thanksgiving week! How is it that Fall always seems to pass me by and now it feels like winter practically.  Oh wait now I am just confused...it's 70 degrees outside?!?  Just last week though it was in the 30's though for days.  I just don't know what to do...I mean last week I was all soup with toast for lunch and now I want to be grilling out burgers for dinner and throwing my flip flops on.  It is Thanksgiving week though and this year for the first time I will be spending Thanksgiving with Charles' immediate family, and now my family.  I am super pumped and excited to be contributing some pies this Thanksgiving to the feast. 

To get into the spirit of Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago, as well as to send treats to Charles office I made these pumpkin cranberry white chocolate chip cookies as my first recipe out of Joy the Baker's new cookbook Homemade Decadence.  These cookies were so freaking good and I can't wait to make them again.  They are sift and fluffy with great fall pumpkin flavors and the tart fresh cranberries and white chocolate chips add great depth of flavor.  They would also make some seriously delicious whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting in the middle....hmm maybe next time.  You should definitely give these a try though, because the are SO good!  Enjoy!

Before heading off to Laguna aka my happy place a couple of weeks ago now, I went to my very first Scotch tasting with Charles.  It turns out I kind of like it...wouldn't beat out Bourbon right now, but I don't hate it.

The Ultimate Carrot Cake...no really it's seriously delicious

Okay, okay, I know its only Thursday, but can we please talk about the weekend?  About sleeping in and mornings lazing around with a good book and a giant cup of coffee.  I see this in my future. Sometimes I feel like weekends in DC really start on Thursday even when you do have to work on Friday.  Fridays in my office are always just a little bit more fun...in the fall and winter they involve flannel...no really its a thing.  In the spring and summer they involve flip flops and florals.  It helps to change things up a bit and is definitely better than Mondays.  I am really excited for this weekend, because it is going to be all about good food.  All about enjoying the simple things...dinner with friends at a great restaurant; waking up on Saturday with no plans and nothing to have to rush off to.  Plus, a little baking to wrap up a nice Sunday with some great fall light sneaking through the windows.  The light I can't catch baking in the early morning hours or after work now.  Hopefully I can catch a few good shots.

Recently, I have been writing about trying to see things from different perspectives.  Paint Nite really showed that we all perceive the things we see differently.

This is my everyday life...and Maple Cinnamon Granola

I am not afraid to admit that my everyday life is a little boring.  And I am totally okay with that, work can be busy enough at times.  Let's just say I enjoy routine, so that when something is spontaneous its even more fun.  The everyday looks a little like this...

This is work...well the real work and how I help pay the bills.  It involves days with a messy desk that gets cleaned before heading home every night.

Some days there are doughnuts, because some days doughnuts are needed and ones that I didn't have to bake.

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake? Roll? Swirl?...Unicorn Squares?

Have you ever realized how much you can really learn about yourself when you hear a friend talking about someone she or he knows?  How much you can and can't relate to the person they are describing.  I have been continuing to try to think about who I am, how others may view me, and to try and think about things from other peoples perspective over the past few weeks.  Now there are a few good people in my life who can really put things into perspective for me.  Who help me get out of my head and see things through a different set of eyes.  Do you have those people in your life?  Those who can help straighten things out, turn your thought process enough just so you can get out of your head for a second?  

I don't know what it is about the fall, but its the time of year when I get more stuck with my own thoughts and start thinking about the past more than normal.  Maybe because the fall can be so routine.  Growing up there was always the start of school, the anxiety of starting new classes and then knowing a month in their would be endless amounts of homework.  Now, I know that the fall is endless meetings, and just trying to stay ahead of the game as I count down the number of meeting weeks left, even as we start to plan for the spring.  But I have Charles to thank for trying/forcing me to enjoy the now, "getting me out of my head" and not just thinking okay what's later this week, what's next weekend and the following weekend and so on.  To think more along the lines of what can we do that's fun today or tonight that we haven't been planing for all week.  Let's be spontaneous, because sometimes the best memories come from unplanned adventures.  This week I decided it was time to be spontaneous with baking too, with some early morning baking, before the meetings and the meeting planning.  Something delicious just to make Tuesday a little better.  

Sometimes, mid-long run, when I really shouldn't stop, I just have to, to capture the shot.  Sadly this is about as spontaneous as I get some days...Taking a new route down a different road.

Down to the good stuff:  So I wasn't really sure what to call these.  They are the texture of a cinnamon roll and yeast based, but yet they are not a roll.  I asked for suggestion on Instagram, someone said to call them a fall fritter, someone said send them to NC, but the best might have been Unicorn Squares.  What would you have said I call them?