stomach-timber

I got a fabulous Christmas gift this year: several people putting me in charge of dessert. 

It's great because 

1. I love baking.
2. I have a sweet tooth, so it's not a good idea to have lots of sweets in the house.
3. Have you seen my dessert Pinterest* board?

If you need a recipe, click on the photo of the completed dessert!

First up is Christmas Eve. We spent that in Chicago.

My notes: I made mini gingerbread men, as you can see, and I think that was a much better topper than the giant ones in the original link.

Next up, a dinner party with friends. This was supposed to be Christmas night, but the flu struck their household, so we rescheduled for Friday night. I'm glad I made two (and Chip made eggnog ice cream), as there was a crowd thanks to the new date!

My notes: I got impatient with the frosting, so it was a little grainy. I highly recommend fully dissolving the sugar before you beat.

My notes: I'm thinking I may reduce the amount of espresso in the mousse next time I make this, or serve it the next day. The coffee flavor was a bit overpowering, so you didn't notice the Nutella. My chocolate curls are from the Pioneer Woman's tip sheet. I only used 1 oz of chocolate, though.

And finally, New Year's Eve. This was up in Minnesota.

My notes: I baked this for the full 20 minutes once everything was added and think 25 would have been better. I also used a half bag of chocolate chips. 

*I sometimes grow weary of hearing Pinterest get blasted for being too unobtainable. So I set out to make some of the 'fancy' ones to show these things can be done. I do, however, agree some posts are a little too staged to be doable. For example: the post that showed beautiful Christmas cakes that sported the caption 'let your kids help!' Yeah. Not going to be so perfect looking if the children are involved...