Christmas goodies, and goodies, and goodies!

I baked this year. I usually make a few treats to hand out, but Scott wanted to send stuff to the guys he works with, so instead of the very simple things I've done in years-passed, I decided to go for broke & expand my baking experiences. Wow! It was fun, but much more involved than I'd thought it was going to be. And, the worst part of it was that I couldn't even eat 90% of it because of my non-dairy diet. Did I mention that I went through 3 BOXES of butter???? Here is a quick snap of my kitchen at its worst:

From Christmas 2009

And a sneaky shot of my wonderful husband helping out (I was joking when I asked, but he took me seriously & agreed, so who was I to turn him down?!?!?):

From Christmas 2009

Here are a few things I learned about myself and my kitchen-gadget obsession during my two days of torture, um, I mean baking:

1) I have NO patience for things having to "come to a slow boil" or "melt slowly over medium-low heat"

2) While I don't love the Pampered Chef chopper for vegetables, it's a must-have for chopping nuts, peppermints, and chocolate chips!!

3) The Pampered Chef small scoop is a must-have for mini-muffins and the perfect size for small cookies. I also used it to make meatballs for a party appetizer & it's the perfect size for uniform meatball appetizers, too! Who knew I couldn't live without a teeny scoop???

4) I hate kitchen mess. I kept having to stop what I was doing & wipe the counter down. I mean, I knew I was anal, but had no idea I was OCD!!! And, dishes in the sink DIRTY drive me crazy--I might need it for something & then I'd have to stop & wash it. Why not wash it now & be done with it?? (insert eyeroll here!)

5) Yes, you do absolutely need more than one size scraper. Little scrapers just don't do the job on big bowls.

6) I actually like to bake. And, I mean LIKE it. Who knew???

And, it only took me about 3 dozen gooey-caramel bars, 6 dozen chocolate peanut clusters, 2 dozen peppermint meltaway cookies, 2 dozen cinnamon candy-cane cookies, 2 batches of chocolate pecan fudge, and 6 dozen triple-nut bars to figure all this out. PHEW!