Over the last few weeks, I’ve spent a LOT of time in the kitchen. I got a little burned out on baking. I don’t have my own recipes to share today, but I’ve found a couple gems from around the internet that I’d like to share. And a little holiday wrap-up…

I have made this bread recipe from King Arthur Flour a bunch of times now – even gave some away over Christmas! And it’s so easy and – once you have the dough made – quick to just pull a chunk off, form the loaf, etc. Very easy to NOT screw up 🙂

I love this bread. Not just because of the taste – which is crusty on the outside but dense and sour and salty (not over salty) and has real flavor. Not like the 3 for 99cent bread you can find at Kwik Trip. It’s simple too – flour, salt, yeast, water. Mix it all up in a 6 qt. container with a lid, let it sit in a warm place for 2 hours and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Keeps for up to 7 days. Makes 3-4 small (1 lb. loaves)

And it’s fantastic slathered with spinach dip – a favorite from holiday celebrations as a kid. Yum! Even though it’s good for 7 days (the dough, that is), I prefer the loaves made with in 2 or 3 days of creating the dough. It just gets a little more sour tasting and the texture gets a little more… spongy? Which Hermit LOVES so I guess whenever I make the dough I’m winning. Like Charlie Sheen? Yup.

And of course there was all kinds of other goodies at Christmas.

I made Salted Caramel Sauce from Bakingdom‘s site. Originally for these delicious cupcakes, which were OMG-delicious and I didn’t change a thing from the original recipe. Then I made 4 batches of the caramel to give away at Christmas as well.

Salted Caramel Mocha Cupcakes:

But it’s really good on ice cream (or frozen yogurt) or apples as well. ❤

And then we had a delicious Christmas supper on Christmas Day, full of lots of Lutefisk, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, Lefse, Swedish Sausage, ham, etc. (This is my sister-in-law’s Christmas spread and it was so beautiful I have to share a picture!)

Part of the 1,000+ cookies I baked (no exaggeration unfortunately)… Cranberry-Cherry Pinwheels, Pepparkakor, Cinnamon-Chocolate Crinkles:

It was over 50° on Christmas Eve day so we got some fresh air in the house. Amazing!

Got some Justin Bieber Holiday wrapping paper on clearance. Yeah, that’s the exchange gift for family Christmas … lol.

And, two of my favorite things I gave this year. (Well, a couple haven’t been given yet so I can’t talk about them…) First, a long-sleeved t-shirt to Hermit from Geekiana on Etsy. ❤ Doctor Who. She’s got all kinds of Whovian merchandise out there, if that’s your thing.

Another Etsy creation… can you tell I like Etsy? This was just the pattern for this cross stitch, which I made for one of our friends. PERFECT fit! 😀 (In hindsight, the black is a *little* hard to read but looks really cool with the metallic threads. It says “Did you eat a bowl of stupid for breakfast?)

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season full of joy, happiness, and good food. 😀

What was YOUR favorite part of this season?