One of my favorite things about the holidays is making treats for family and friends, most of whom live far away. In order to get treats done and sent to arrive on time I typically have to start my baking the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is because I make a dozen different treats.
This year I’m for baked goodies making lemon bars, almond toffee bars, double chocolate cherry cookies, peanut butter blossom, pecan sandies, thumbprint cookies with lemon filling, apricot jam bars, plain and chocolate spritzes. I’m also making some chocolate peppermint candies and pecan turtles.
One of the keys to getting such a massive amount of treats prepped is to bake and freeze a number of things. For this reason I typically choose to bake goodies to freeze well. The major exception is the spritz cookies which I always make the last weekend when I pack up the boxes.
I’m kind of intimidated by making the turtle candies because it requires working with caramel. The last time I made something with caramel it was a complete disaster. The sugar crystallized in the pan TWICE before I was able to get something workable. Hopefully this time I will be more successful.
At this point in the preparation up I JUST have the spritzes left to make, the pecan sandies to bake off and the pecan turtles to put together. I’m hoping to get the pecan things done a couple nights this week so that I can bake and pack up things Sunday then mail out Monday. This SHOULD get everything to folks ahead of the holiday.