To Bake or Not To Bake

Years ago, when I was growing up, my mother baked and baked all kinds of treats for Christmas.  My grandmother made the Christmas puddings, my aunt the Christmas cake and my mum all the rest.  She certainly drew the short straw.

There were 2 pans of Nanaimo bars, 2 pans of Neapolitan squares, which have a graham crumb base, coconut and condensed milk in the middle and pink icing, 4 pans of something with a shortbread crust, coconut, condensed milk and glace cherries in the middle and topped with some kind of egg white layer because it went meringuey when baked.  2 of these pans were iced with lemon icing.  

Then there were the rolls: a double recipe of Stained Glass Windows made with coloured marshmallows so that when you slice it, it looks like, you know, stained glass windows, and a double recipe of some kind of roll made with graham wafer crumbs and rolled in icing sugar.

There were also little ball things: strawberries and oranges made with coconut and condensed milk and jello powder.  A whole clove was stuck in the top of the orange and a green icing leaf was piped on the top of the strawberry.  There were things called Cherry Surprises, a maraschino cherry wrapped in something, probably coconut and condensed milk and rolled in graham wafer crumbs.  Then there was something called Potato Balls made with mashed potatoes and coconut and half dipped in chocolate.  They taste better than they  sound.

Isn't that mental?

Oh, I almost forgot the shortbread.  Whipped shortbread, shortbread cut out in bell shapes with those little silver candy balls, holly leaf shapes with the outline of the leaf painted on with green food colouring and little tiny holly berries in red, circle shapes with a little piece of glace cherry stuck in it and, with the remnants not big enough to roll out again, crescent shapes dipped in red or green fruit sugar. 

Mental.

Over the years, though, some of these treats have been dropped - the meringuey squares are long gone, the cherry surprises haven't been made in years and since we finally admitted we didn't really like them, the potato balls have been struck from the production list. Which was a good thing because several years ago, Luddite Granny was done and said she wasn't doing any baking anymore.  So the responsibility has been foisted  passed on to me.  But I told LG I was not making shortbread nor was I dicking around with those stupid strawberries and oranges.  She relented and continues with the shortbread and fruit things.

For the last few years I have been making the squares, not 2 pans of each because we don't ship them to my aunt in Ottawa anymore.  She can make her own damn squares.  (Actually, I think she pays her neighbour friend to make them for her.)  Anyway, I make 1 pan each of Nanaimo bars and Neapolitan squares and 1 recipe of Stain Glassed windows and the graham crumb rolls. Plus I make some of my own things like Turtles, which are like the candy of the same name only better, Empire Biscuits and mince tarts.

But this year, I'm hesitating. 

It's not that I don't like baking. I do.  Christmas gives me the chance to make fancier stuff than the  cookies and muffins I usually whip up.   I wouldn't make Empire Biscuits or mince tarts at any other time of year.  I try something new every once and awhile, sometimes it gets permanently added to the production list, sometimes it doesn't.

It's not the cost that's making me hesitate either.  Although it is much more expensive to bake these days, I buy a little bit at a time to spread out the cost and I use by PC Points which helps. I also buy from the Bulk Barn so I only get what I need.  If I need 2 ounces of chocolate I don't need to buy a whole box.

I think what's making me hesitate is the inevitable waste. I give half of what I make to Luddite Granny. I make a up a tray for Himself to take to work and I make a tray to take to my in-laws.  But as we were discussing last week as my Spa Lady scraped the crud off my feet, nobody seems to visit each other anymore so you don't have company to feed your treats to.   The Trouts aren't huge eaters of the fancy stuff; Himself only likes the turtles and the shortbread, Science Girl only likes the graham crumb roll and  Lego Boy doesn't really like any of it.  So I'm still stuck with the stuff at Easter.  It breaks my heart to throw all that food out. 

So here we are, two weeks before Christmas and no baking done.  If I wait much longer, there won't be much point.  I better decide this week-end.