après des holidays.

It's a bit late for a holiday post, but seeing as I have only recently started my cherished food blog, I decided to post this now!

Closeup of my X-Mas tree

To me, the holiday season means food, more so than family and presents and all that jazz. I show my love for the people I love through food, so after finals week, making gift baskets for Christmas!

I still smell of chocolate.

But the outcome was adorable, and I like any culinary feat that requires using a spice grinder*.



I wanted to make traditional holiday time goodies, that didn't taste so stale and boring, so I created the majority of these:

- Chai Tea Gingerbread Men (Fresh ground cardamom seeds are MUCH cheaper than preground and the flavor is to intense!)

- Cinnamon and Rose flavored Sugar Cookies (I used Indonesian rose paste from an Asian market which made the cookies the most fabulous shade of hot pink!)

- Caramel Apple Cake (So delicious you could cry. Easy to make for begining chefs. I taught the boyfriend, and he made it for his mother. So cute!)

- Aztec Hot Chocolate Mix (Ground chipotle peppers and real Mexican chocolate were among the ingredients)

- Lavender Lemon White Hot Chocolate Mix (I know too many people who only like white *pretend* chocolate, so I created this little mixture which was to die for! I found powdered lemon extract and it gave the mix quite the kick.)

- Pistachio Dark Chocolate Fudge (People fought over this. Fudge really is so much better when made from scratch, y'all!)

- Almond Butter Crispy Cookies (Martha Stewart Recipe. One day, I wil be her. Or Oprah. Or Martha and Oprah combined.)


Caramel Apple Cake
(Not my recipe, so I'll tell you, because EVERYONE should know this.)

1½ hours | 30 min prep

SERVES 12

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups finely chopped apples
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted these!)

Glaze topping for cake

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup whipping cream

1. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, soda and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, oil, apple juice and vanilla. Stir in apples and nuts. Add the egg mixture to dry ingredients, just until moistened.
3. Spread batter in a greased and floured 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes.
4. In a small saucepan combine the brown sugar, butter and cream.
5. Cook and stir till bubbly and all of the sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly. Drizzle warm sauce over cake, when it has cooled for 5 minutes, so it can seep into the cake, keeping it moist.

And boy is it moist! And I even hate that word, and only use it sparingly.

(*Note: Grinding dried chiles is fun and dandy, and produces amazingly strong flavors, until you open your spice grinder and inadvertently snort chipotle. No bueno... Be careful!)