Christmas Baking Done!

This year I went through one of my bread cookbooks and was inspired to try all sorts of new things. I took a stab at making divinity which came out okay, but not firm enough. It was very challenging trying to slowly pour boiling hot syrup  into egg whites WHILE they were still being beaten. I had attempted to use my new candy thermometer, but only seriously read the directions AFTER its use. I think that's why the candy was a little too sticky. Oh well, it was very tasty.

I also made a batch of fudge using sweetened condensed milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Easiest thing I ever made and also good.

On to the breads: I added some dates and pecans instead of walnuts to a banana nut bread using sour cream. Also extremely easy and yum. Finally, today I attempted to use a bundt cake recipe and poured the mixture into 4 small loaf pans, the throw-away kind ("capuccino coffeecake") but 2 of the loaves spilled out (luckily I put all 4 small loaves on a large cookie sheet), looking like a mud flow fresh from a volcano. Again, oh well. Tasty is what counts!

Here's what some of the goodies looked like next to a Christmas Cactus in bloom...

Happy Holidays!