Team work was totally the name of my pre-Christmas game today.
Stephanie and I teamed up for Bake-a-palooza 2007.
(Before Bake-a-palooza even started today, there was plenty of team work. Josie and A.Amy both suggested some killer recipes for our treat-filled menu.)
What I'm hoping is the first annual baking extravaganza involved more than seven hours of intense measuring, scooping, recipe-reading, cookie pressing, and baking.
We made:Bourbon Pecan Balls
Chocolate-y Frito Goodness
Pretzel Candies
Peanutbutter Kiss Cookies
Glazed Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Spritz Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Andes Candies Brownies
Chocolate Cheesecake Streusal Bars
We were going to make peppermint shortbread cookies until we realized that neither one of us actually purchased the ingredients we needed to make them. There's always next year.
Of all those recipes, only one--the Spritz cookies--did not turn out. They refused to be pressed in the cookie press, got burned, and just, overall, did not taste particularly fantastic.
And would you believe that the Spritz cookies are the only cookie-pictures that are actually on my camera (there are other shots on Steph and Karl's camera). Quite frankly, we were too busy baking to take a whole ton of pictures.
That is not where the Christmas-cooperation ended, though.
The Christmas Tree Picture
For this, I thank Em and Brad.
Based on this website, I got the brilliant idea that tonight was the best possible time to learn to use the manual settings on my overly-fancy camera to catch the perfect shot of our tree.
Lots of consulting with the manual and a phone conversation with Em later, Brad and I managed to figure out f-stops and shutter speeds and ISOs and a few other things to get a few cool shots (touched up with Photoshop).
Thanks to Stephanie for the baking.
Thanks to Emily for the photo tips.
Thanks to Brad for his expert tripod work.
Without your expertise and patience and kindness, I would not be on my way to a happy holiday.
13 comments:
GORGEOUS Christmas photos!! Thanks for sharing these!!!
Gorgeous Christmas tree pictures - and love those little biscuit now have an overwhelming urge to bake something !!
cool tree pictures- glad to see you figured it out! (your camera that is)
The tree looks GREAT!! Sorry I wasn't much help!! I really want to come eat some cookies... :)
All of your baking makes me want a treat! Great photos and thanks for the link with tips :)
So beutiful photos!!!!
And those cookies that was shaped as x.mas tree so cute!!
Those cookies look yummy! So does your tree. Happy holidays!
I love that this entry captures the disarray on the island, my difficulty making perfect balls, and those poor poor pressed cookies!
It's our day in a nutshell :)
Sounds like you had a yummy and fun day!!! Tree looks fab...you took some gorgeous pictures!
I'm jealous of all the yummies you have made. Also, I'm proud of you for using your manual setting :)
yummy
and i love cookie press christmas trees! that's a big tradition in my family!
love the idea of Bake-a-palooza!!
your treats look yummy =)
excellent tree pics! i love taking night/light shots...
and uhm, it's a good thing that I didn't know about those pecan bourbon balls...i would have had to add them to my baking list!
Post a Comment