Third Annual Holiday Baking Night

I didn't have time to blog about this before I left for Japan, so I'm taking the opportunity to catch up now since we achieved an impressive amount of baked goods in a short amount of time.

From L to R - Z, Heather, Kelli and I gathered at Kelli's wonderful kitchen to continue our holiday tradition of baking and sharing goodies.

We made good use of the four hours we were together to churn out a variety of pies, cookies, and bars. This is a tradition I really love, not only because we are making holiday baking easier by teaming up to produce more variety, but also because it gives us a chance to catch up, laugh and devour massive quantities of pizza and diet Dr. Pepper.

Heather and Z were the most productive, making dozens and dozens of cookies (as evident by the cooling racks that were placed on every available counter top):


Kelli made wonderfully golden chocolate chip pies earlier in the day, making four in total so we would each have one:

The next day, I made a plate to take into work (and had enough leftover to send Andrew to work with his own plate, as well as pack a little tin to take with me to Japan):

To recap what everyone made:

Heather - Chocolate cookies with white chocolate chip and chocolate cookies with chocolate chip and Heath Bar - Andrew said these were the first to go in his office.

Z - Coconut/Almond macaroons with chocolate drizzle (heavenly and very moist) and her trademark chocolate chip cookies.

Kelli - The Bartlett holiday favorite, chocolate cookies with M&Ms and FOUR chocolate chip pies.

Me - I went with the caramel short bread bars, the white chocolate, pistachio and cranberry cookies, and the M&M treats (pretzels with Wilton melts and M&Ms).

Talk about a sugar overload!