Baking Baby

Christmas baking is literally a treat, most of the time. I like to cook and to bake so I am usually up for a challenge.This year I attempted to make truffles. Sigh. I started trying to make them 4 days ago, just to see how it would go. It did not go well. I had several recipes from my favorite Food Network stars and started out with the simplest. The center part of the truffle called from condensed milk and cocoa. That's it. It was suppose to stiffen up enough in the frig for a couple of hours and it never happened. I tossed it. Then I tried a more traditional center with white chocolate, a bit of vanilla and heavy cream. I put it in the frig to solidify and sure enough after an entire day, nothing. I checked my frig and it was fine. So I put it in the freezer...success! I molded the balls and put them on a cookie sheet back in the freezer. If this seems a bit  of a hassle so far you have no idea because the yummy hard chocolate outside what just as difficult to pull off. I melt chocolate on my gas stove and my centers got melty. I melted chocolate and as I put centers in the bucket they melted too. It was a juggling act. After 4 days of truffle making, I came out with about 20. I appreciate that classic I Love Lucy moment at the candy factory even more.

I also made holiday rice krispie treats, cookies, sugar free banana bread, sugar free brownies, mixed nuts chocolate bark, and a pumpkin cheesecake! It turns out that baking with an infant takes twice as long. A few tips, hide the timer in a drawer because when it goes off it will wake the napping baby. The drawer helps subdue the sound. Be sure to carve out a part of the kitchen even a counter for a baby station because she is going to want to hang out. And as all things baby are concerned, be flexible because as soon as that pie needs to be out of the oven is the very moment your baby has a pooplosion the size of Guatemala!