A FESTIVE CHERRY ALMOND CAKE SURE TO PLEASE EVERYONE Cherry Almond Cake is a must-have fresh-baked cake in our household for the Christmas holidays. I, like lots of other people do quite a bit of home baking for Christmas but prefer to do more easy cakes and squares rather than cookies. Last week you might remember my Frosted Apple Cinnamon Rolls drenched in a silky glaze, perfect for Christmas morning with a cup of tea or coffee. You can make that too but first let’s talk about this simple Cherry Almond Cake that even a novice baker can make. Each year around November I pull out my collection of traditional Christmas recipes to start preparing the ingredient shopping list. You’re always sure to save money on your grocery bill if you plan your Christmas baking needs ahead of time. Related: 20 Basic Baking Ingredients to Power Up Your Kitchen Over the years I’ve collected recipes from just about any outlet that I can. Sometimes, I will take a recipe and add my twist to it which I think most people do. That’s the great thing about easy recipes or those that you can add or take away some of […]
Jolly Don-Don Fudgy No Bake Squares
EASY CHRISTMAS BAKING TO CHECK OFF YOUR HOLIDAY TO-DO LIST If you’re super busy for the Christmas holidays like we are you will appreciate our signature family Jolly Don-Don Fudgy No Bake Squares that take 15 minutes to prepare. We’re feeling excited as it’s coming closer and closer to Christmas which means I’ve been busy baking up a storm in the Don kitchen. You will LOVE what these fudgy no bake squares look and taste like especially since they are unique to our family. This is one less holiday recipe that you won’t have to worry about spending time in the kitchen for so you can get on with other tasks. These fabulous Jolly Don-Don Fudgy No Bake Squares take 1 hour to chill in the refrigerator and you’re ready to serve to your guests. What you end up with is a lovely dense graham cracker crumb on the bottom, fudgy chocolate coconut center topped with a buttercream vanilla milk icing that is sure to hit all those sweet notes. I love adding candied orange peel to the crumb as it gives a bit more to the taste and flavour. We’ve had our snow storms out west and now […]
Top 5 Christmas Baking Ingredients to Stock Up On Now : The Grocery Game Challenge #1 Nov 2-8, 2015
STOCK UP OR RISK PAYING MORE We enjoy Christmas baking but it’s important for us to have the best baking ingredients stocked in our pantry but without the high costs. Today I’m going to discuss with you which of those baking ingredients you WILL want to stock up on now or risk paying a heavier price closer to Christmas and New Years. The moment Halloween is over and done with the Christmas flyers and holiday sales start appearing just about everywhere. Product sales throughout the year are orchestrated to perfection in chronological order because they know exactly what the consumer is looking to buy every month. Come November any savvy grocery shopper knows that the grocery stores start pumping out baking ingredients for great prices. Mrs. CBB and I don’t save money as a projected expense for Christmas baking ingredients so the money will come from our $235 monthly grocery budget or $25 stockpile budget. Each week when we menu plan we know that we have to start incorporating some of these baking ingredients if we intend to whip up our famous holiday treats in December. Most people don’t wait until the last-minute to bake for Christmas especially if […]
Classic Date Squares
CLASSIC DATE SQUARES A SWEET TREAT FOR ANY TABLE Are these the best date squares ever? You bet they are so plan to make a double batch if you want them to last longer than a day! Everyone knows I’m a huge fan of the chocolate fudgy brownie but aside from a chocolate treat classic date squares are number one in my books. I am also a big fan of oatmeal raisin cookies or just about any dessert that involves oatmeal like Nicola’s Oatmeal jam filled squares. I make these classic date squares a few times a year and they never last. Some of my colleagues ask that I make them for work now ever since I brought them in for a bake sale last year. If you aren’t into baking date squares but you love them as much as I do then you might buy them at the grocery store, coffee shop or your local bakery. What you will notice is the price tag for one date square is pretty high. I have yet to find a thick, chewy date square for under $3.00. Ouch! I can make this full tray of date squares for around $8.00. We all […]
The Grocery Game Challenge Nov 4-10, 2013 #1: Holiday baking on a budget
HOLIDAY COOKIE SMELLS FILL THE AIR The holiday season is fast approaching and whether you buy cookies or enjoy baking cookies some of the best cookie recipes may cost your holiday baking budget some cash if you don’t plan in advance. With less than 2 months until the festivities there’s no better time to get baking than the present. If you wait until the last-minute you might find you get overwhelmed with having to shop for gifts, plan a dinner, getaway to the relatives, work and friends Christmas parties and then bake on top of it all. Some of my favourite Christmas cookie recipes that I like to bake and to eat are the butter cookies and the sugar cookies both of which are fairly inexpensive to make with butter being the costly baking ingredient. Making sugar cookies from scratch are probably one of my favourite cookies to make because it reminds me of home. My mum used to make shortbread but the butter, sugar and shortbread cookies all taste the same with a bit of difference in texture. This past year I posted a few of our favourite holiday treat recipes such as chocolate peanut butter balls, coconut balls […]
