I have a feeling a lot of you love to bake, especially around the holidays, so i figured i'd make a little thread to share our creations!

Describe the food, post pictures, post recipies(if you want to, i like being secretive :D), give advice to solve baking dilemmas, talk about traditions you might have or funny stories involving baking disasters, etc!

Happy baking, and may your food never burn!

I can never get dropbox files to work as images, but here's my pumpkin/pumpkin cranberry breads from thanksgiving, to start us off with!

They were ridiculously moist, more like fruitcake than bread, lol. But the cranberry one was sooo good, half of it was gone by thanksgiving day...

My family never makes baked treats or anything... Too 'American' and 'sweet' for my parents. xD I wanna try making cookies for myself, though.

Baked goods come from all over the world though! I'm sure there's SOMETHING they'd like, maybe they had a favorite treat as a little kid?

It can be hard work, but there's nothing like pulling a fresh batch out of the oven and eating a fresh one once it's cooled a bit :D

Crystal, you should try looking up traditional recipes from your area. Might be fun, and can show a bit of productiveness to your parents as well. Sometimes parents like to see their kids doing research into local traditions. Plus, it could be lot of fun for you!

As for me, I'm really hoping to be able to do some type of baking. Don't have the means at the moment, as I'm away at uni and my dorm room doesn't have a fridge (yet). But moms gettign me one as an early christmas present, so I'll be able to keep things like eggs that are required or baking. With a new job, I'll have soe money to spend on thigns liek that as well, so yay!

One of my fave things to make befor ei wet to uni was pizells. My gma makes htem every year, but only one day out fo the entire year. there is never a second batch. I still get super excited when we happen to visit ont hat ONE day and she is making them, and I get to help. (they are amde with a device similar to a waffle maker, and are like really thin waffles in cookie form) On that one day, she makes enough to last for the entire holiday season. Unless im there. Then i eat about half and take half of what is left home with me =P I've alwasy wanted the recipe so I coudl make them myself, but since it requires that special machine, there wouldnt really be a way for em to make the anyway. (I think she said once that they are very rare these days. hers is practical an antique...)

I thinkt his year, I may make cookies to share with ym dorm hall or soemthing. Maybe cupcakes. Or both. Or amybe I will amke little presents for everyone in my hall, like little baggies of cookies, a cupcake, some candy,e tc XD (I gotta be careful though, because I know for a fact that 2 people are allergc to coconut, peanuts, and treenuts. My roomie is one of them. So I'll have to make sure anything I make doesn't contain any of those. May have to see if our RA knows of any other allergies I need to watch out for...)

I love baking! Though I do not do it often, I still love it! I was helping my mom make this Peanut butter cup cheesecake with Chocolate sauce on top >u< It was SO good! Ahhhh Baking... :)

Jade's Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
Ingredients and Directions
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
Mix it well. Then add:
1 egg
Mix. Then add:
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
Mix. Then add:
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional...but, in our recipe it was a must!)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (we used a capful each)

Then:
Cook for 3 minutes on high. The cake bubbles up like when you heat up a marshmallow, but don't worry. It just rises up not over. Let it cool for a bit (unless you want to burn your lips off). We let our cool until it had settled to a normal height and then dumped it out onto a plate. Tip it out onto a plate if you want it to cool thoroughly. ENJOY!

Got this from the book Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings, also ironically my name is Jade to so, just all the more reason its better :)

Yeah, I suppose do. One of my friends wants to try going into culinary at some point for awhile. I could ask him for recipes or something.

Ahhh, allergies, i'm sure there's plenty of low allergen recipies online though! As well as general ingredient alternatives. And yeaah, we're getting ready to move in like, January, so we're trying to see how much we actually get to do. Sucks, there's some things that just make this time of year so special!

Ohhhh, i've seen those, just never homemade, all just that one pattern you see in like, stores and frozen yogurt joints. Didn't know they had a name! And yeah, sometimes those olllld machines and tools are better than anything new. One day a year though? That's incredible. Totally makes them even more worth it.

We have this awesome shortbread-ish recipie for candy cane cookies. The almond extract and melted candy cane on top really seal the deal. We dye half the batter red and roll pieces with the undyed half and make little candy canes. Which is obvious 'cause i said that but y'know. Tastes just sweet enough to be a cookie, but not a sugar overload. Goes well with cold milk and teas!

@Violet -- Ohh, my mom promises year after year that we're gonna make a cheesecake someday, esp every time the pan falls off of the towering stack of pans. Still haven't, but that one there sounds absolutely d i v i n e. But something you tell yourself to drink lots of water and exercise after, heh!

@Carrot -- That's microwave, right? I've always wondered the difference between oven and microwave baking, taste/texture-wise, is it still good? I've had some...interesting experiences with microwaves, so i'm hesitant to try, but it's also super fast, so i'm torn, heh. (Also marshmallows in the microwave can be terrifying. I tried making s'mores once and i ended up with the Stay Puft marshmallow man in a chocolate/graham cracker hat and shoes...)