It always distresses me that there could be a German cookie I don't like, such as traditional Nuremberg-style Lebkuchen. So, I work at recipes until I've baked something I like, but is true to the spirit of the original. Lebkuchen has been particularly hard, and most of Christmas 2008 was spent with Sarah, our exchange student, trying variations of this recipe. We cut back the sugar, added cocoa and varied the spices.
Lebkuchen are a good recipe to start your Christmas baking, as they improve after sitting for a few days.
It's not too late to make your own! These calendar projects all look do-able for anyone whose skills, like mine, lie mostly with cookies and computers, not sewing machines and skill saws.
Advent calendars must be one of the best things about the web:
This year's calendar theme is confessions. Isn't that what the web is for? A great big informational resource — and details about who did what and when. And that's what Christmas Baking with SusieJ has been lacking. There are dozens of recipes, baking tips and tricks, reviews, and recommendations, but nothing really confessional, nothing that would surprise the reader, make the reader say, I wouldn't have thought that SusieJ ....
I will try to rectify that this month, starting with the confession that I hate to cook. I love to eat. I love to bake. If I didn't hate spending $30 for dinner more than I hate cooking, we'd eat a lot of take-out.