Christmas Baking

I decided this year that the one thing I miss about the holidays is the Christmas baking. So I decided this year that I am going to start my own Christmas tradition and learn how to bake one new holiday treat each year. But since this is my first year I had to learn my favorites... Carmel Corn, Peanut Butter Balls and a Cheese Ball. The cheese ball is more of a New Years fav. But I figured it sounded easy annnnd oh so yummy sounding so I might as well try. Well.. I first made the Carmel Corn.... uh I figured out why it is harder than a brick and once you get it in your mouth it sticks to your teeth like super glue... apparently you should put BOTH cubes of butter in it. I guess I was just being careful of how many calories I put in there. So Chyla and I went BACK to the store to get a few more ingredients. $70 later we had all the ingredients we needed. Who knew that baking could be so expensive. As we were getting ready to check out of Wal-Mart we walked by the pre-packaged holiday treats and both of us thought long and hard about how much time this could save us if we just bought them, but we both knew it would mean a lot more if we put our blood, sweat, and tears into these treats (literally!). Back from wal-mart we were ready to start baking and by we I mean me. Chyla got on her laptop while I dove into making the peanut butter balls. It said mix with your hands. So I dove right in..... ewwww. I hated every second of it. I could feel the peanut butter under my nails and the smell was pretty overwhelming. The receipe said to make them into balls but they just weren't staying. They kept falling apart. So I had Chyla call Mom for the like 57th time. She wasn't home so we added more peanut butter. Then I had an eppifany! Use a spoon. That helped a little but not a whole lot they were more like blobs than balls. At this point I was fairly frusterated. I said forget it and shoved them in the refridgerater to "chill". In my spare time I made the cheese ball and then some more carmel corn which turned out wonderfully this time. I could tell it turned out because everytime I turned around Chyla was at the table eating it. That's what she's best at. She clamed that was her job. Geesh. :) Then I had yet another eppifany! I realized that Mom always let the peanut butter "dough" (if you will) chill before rolling them into balls. Ooops. So I rolled the blobs into ball. Perfect! I melted the chocolate and covered the peanut butter balls with Chocolate and let them again chill. I let Chyla taste them and she was pretty impressed. Nice! ok, so here's my conclusion about Holiday baking.....

1.) Once you are married and a mom you understand how to cook a lot better. It's like magic. When you are a young single adult... it just doesn't come easily.
2.) When a recipe calls for 2 cubes of butter. Put both in... or else it won't turn out.
3.) When you cook with Chyla around double the recipe.
Last but not least.....
4.) I give My Mom a lot more credit, she's a way good cook and I wasted a lot of time not learning from her. Mom ready or not I'll be home in a week and we are gonna be having a cookin good time! :)

*Also, I took pictures of all my creations. I can't find my camera cord tho.... shocking I know! I'm in the middle of cleaning my room, I'm sure it will show up soon!