Belated Baking Day 3 and New Year's Eve!

I wanted to wear this outfit to work on Thursday, but thought it was just a little too casual. 

Cape - made by Rach
T-shirt - Target
Jeans - Buffalo from Macy's
Boots - Nine West

I went to the Antique store near our house to look for vintage patterns and of course they were closed. Maybe I'll get to go on Saturday and see if they have any fun ones. I went to the car dealership to see what the deal is with the airbag light and it was packed. I had to reschedule for Monday because I had lots of baking to do before our little New Year's party!

I actually made the Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti last but here they are listed first. These are great for the holidays and everything tastes better homemade! They are super easy to make just take a lot of time in the oven. Here's the recipe:

1 1/3 cup (1/4 lb) dried cranberries

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3 eggs

1 t vanilla

1 cup pistachios

egg wash (1 egg and 1 t water)

In a bowl, combine cranberries with enough hot water to cover. Let soak 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry.

In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, blend flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in cranberries and pistachios.

Knead dough a couple times. Half the dough. Form into a flattish log 13" x 2". Arrange 3 inches apart on a baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Bake in the middle of the oven at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Cut into 3/4" thick slices. Arrange back on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes on each side.

Enjoy with coffee!!!

I'm not sure if the next 2 cookies turned out the best. But here are the pictures for you to see.

First Cranberry Turtle Bars. Kellen doesn't think the crust is cooked the whole way through. They still taste good even though it looks like a mess. They look better in the last picture.

Next is Chocolate Mint Brownies. The green layer is Creme de Menthe and ended up being really gritty. I'm not sure what went wrong. There is a brownie layer on the bottom that you can see better in the next picture.

Here's the cookie tray we are having now while watching the football game. I'm sure Kellen and I will both be bringing cookies to work this week unless we want to be 300 pounds.

For New Year's we had a low key party at home. We invited a couple over from Kellen's work. Here's my New Year's dress. I was going to remake a vintage dress I bought at an Estate sale this summer, but didn't have time.

 My aunt got me this dress at an estate sale a couple year's ago. It's really fun for New Year's and I LOVE getting dressed up! I just wore my Uggs to be comfy.

Kellen made chicken with figs for dinner and we had cookies for dessert. We set off fireworks at midnight since it was 70 degrees here in Memphis! Then we played rock band until 4 in the morning. We are such dorks. On New Year's morning we made Panetone french toast! It was so nice to just stay home and have an easy New Year's!