The holidays
are a time when all my baking supplies get hauled out for one continuous
bake-fest. You would swear an archaeological dig was taking place in my kitchen
the week before Christmas. Cookie cutters, bowls of various sizes, rolling pins
and baking sheets are resurrected for a few weeks. It often goes past New
Year’s these days so we can get one last baking bonanza in for Second Born to
take cookies back to college.
In the past
I have sent Spouse to work with mounds of cookies that are wiped out by
coworkers in a matter of hours. I’m not a fancy baker and none of the recipes
are that complicated (there was that one year when I was cursing the pretzel
antlers for reindeer cookies), but it is something I’ve come to enjoy. This
year, however, being away for two weeks just before the holidays messed with
getting the cookie baking off the ground.
The week before Christmas I had to provide desserts for two of Spouse’s
holiday work parties. Normally that would mean mounds of cookies. Still
dragging myself back to reality and out of jet lag, my baking tins stayed
buried in the cabinet. I opted instead for a no-bake dessert that never fails
to impress.
Since this yummy treat is made with a spring form pan it
even looks like I slaved away for hours, when all I did was mix ingredients in
a couple of bowls, toss them together and pour the end result in the pan
aligned with ladyfingers. It was topped with blueberry pie filling and devoured
by the end of the party.
Ladyfingers are the best dessert invention ever, next to
angel food cake. Both make perfect bases for easy no-bake desserts. My
chocolate pudding trifles, just as easy as the ladyfinger pie, have won rave
reviews. I enjoy taking full credit for not breaking a sweat when I’m putting
these treats together.
Before anyone accuses me of cheating by not baking – color
me guilty as charged. Time got away from me this year and that meant the
semi-sweet chocolate chips, powdered sugar, new bottle of vanilla and green
food coloring have taken a back seat to the ease of no-bake desserts.
It’s not even the baking that takes up the bulk of the time.
It’s the cleaning up. I’m sure someone out there can relate to washing endless
amounts of bowls, spoons, baking pans, and cooling racks once the baking is
done. There is a delicate balance between cooling the first batch of cookies
just enough so you can transfer them to airtight containers and ready the
cooling racks for the next batch. I never seem to have enough storage
containers to hold all those cookies until I can transfer them to the right
size gift-giving containers. I’m exhausted thinking about it and I haven’t even
touched on sweeping and mopping the powdered, sugared, chocolate chipped
kitchen floor yet.

The Love Couple will descend upon our home for a belated
family Christmas right after Second Born arrives home in early January, and it
is likely cookies will be at the ready. We will still make some to send for the
college kids. I will also still continue to cheat with no-bake desserts when
the occasion calls for a quick fix that looks like it took hours, and I will
enjoy the accolades.
After all, going bake-free is not necessarily a piece of cake.
P.S. The tree did get decorated on Christmas Eve and will remain so until everyone is together. And I broke down and made cookies after writing this post. It was either that or eat the entire bag of semi-sweet chips I had in the freezer. I'm still not convinced I made the best choice.
P.S. The tree did get decorated on Christmas Eve and will remain so until everyone is together. And I broke down and made cookies after writing this post. It was either that or eat the entire bag of semi-sweet chips I had in the freezer. I'm still not convinced I made the best choice.
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