Keeping busy, rotting my teeth out, plumping my thighs

My honey's been out of town for a week now and while it's hard to adjust, it's also given me a lot of time to work on projects! I'm 3/4 of the way through a second sock, halfway done with a pair of felted slippers and most of the way done with a scarf. I am forcing myself to finish at least two of these projects because I really want to start on a shawl to wear in the office this winter (love my new desk, but not the air vent directly above it!). All that knitting is fine and good, but I've also been itching to do some baking. So, last weekend, I found a package of phyllo dough in the freezer from when I decided to make spanakopita (SO yummy!), and I tried my hand at baklava.



Baklava has a bad reputation for being really difficult to make. I feel like I must have copped out or something because the recipe that I used really wasn't that hard to follow and the results were much better than expected! Aside from the nuts, which are always pricey, it wasn't even that expensive. For these reasons, I believe baklava can now be added to my Christmas cookie repertoire!


Mmmmm... look at all that flaky goodness...

For end of quarter, I promised one of my co-workers some of Bakerella's cupcake bites, so this weekend, I spend a considerable amount of time assembling them. Last time I made them, for a work bake sale, it took over three hours to make the cute little devils. This time, I decided to be less meticulous about it because in the end, they're devoured in two bites, and it really doesn't matter whether or not that cute little chocolate shell looks like a cupcake wrapper or not. It still took over an hour. Hurmph. No, they're not as cute, but they're still sugary and good.


Side note: I would not recommend the confetti Wilton candy melts... I thought they would save time with decorating, but once melted, it really resembles ranch dressing. Not something I want to put on my cupcakes!