Baking Fast and Furiously.

It's hard to explain why I woke up at 2:00 am on Christmas Eve and was completely unable to go back to sleep. I can't blame this one anticipation of Santa's arrival... after all, that would be one day too soon. Instead of wasting time lying in bed thinking of the things I'd like to get done the next day before I went over to my mother's house, I just got up. I did a few little tasks that I'd skipped before bed, I wrapped some gifts, ironed some clothes, burned a cd, and then the baking started.

First I made some yummy popcorn for snacking during movie watching.. generally after dinner and gifts we always watch at least one movie. The popcorn is nothing fancy (just butter, brown sugar and marshmallow melted and poured over 2 bags of microwave popcorn), but lately I've been indulging in this little treat.

Next I made some granola for mom. She's decided she really likes the vanilla almond granola I've been making so I made a batch and boxed it up and included the recipe. I like it too... and I'm out. I should have made a double batch!

Then I started sifting through my recipes. Planning on what I wanted to make for sweets. On Sunday, mom told me she didn't make any desserts so I decided to make a goodie tray, but that would have to include more than one type of treat.

I made three types of cookies:
Thin Mint Taste Alikes
Coconut Crispy Blondes
Ginger Snaps

Then I made two types of bars/squares:

Salted Nut Roll Bars

Chocolate Rice Krispie Cake Bars

Lastly I made these:
Mini Cheesecakes


Of course that was just the baking. I also made a pan of cheesy potatoes to go with mom's ham for dinner. And before the fun was done I had to try one new recipe:
Cranberry Salsa. It's a dip for chips