Joy Wilson's Blog, page 53

Three Recipes To Make For The New Year

Hi friends! 

I hope this finds you taking some much needed, very well-deserved rest. We’re almost at the end of this hurricane of a year. I know we don’t just twinkle back to normal life (what, even?) at the stoke of midnight on January 1st, but we can mark it down as the moment we made it through a sucker punch of a year. 

I like to tuck into tradition this time of year.

Continue reading Three Recipes To Make For The New Year at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 303!

Hello friends! Welcome to the the last Let It Be Sunday in the year of our Lord 2020. 

This year I flailed. This year I stayed steady. I think I’m tired from both.  

I spent this Christmas alone in New Orleans, thinking of all the big and small ways 2020 has changed us.  I mean… we change every year, but a Zoom family Christmas is real whiplash.  In some way, 2020 brought us the usual amending of habits, searching different things serve us.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 303! at Joy the Baker.

How To Make Popovers For Holiday Mornings

Hello my dears! 

This year’s holiday is going to be miles away from the holiday I usually spend cozy in my parents’ living room in Los Angeles. I’ll be literal miles away – with Tron and our tiny tree in New Orleans. 

No doubt your holiday looks different this year too.  Certainly more quiet, but still room for a little magic? Gosh, we have to make it so. 

Our family has a scheduled  Zoom (we’re tired and grateful for Zoom, aren’t we?) and they don’t know it yet, but our gathering is going to be part piano recital because I’ve learned Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas on the piano juuuuust well enough to play it badly.

Continue reading How To Make Popovers For Holiday Mornings at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 302!

Hello friends. 

Another Sunday, isn’t it? Alright let’s do it! 

Last week some of you said that you had to click away from the NYT Year in Photos and friends, ME TOO. I didn’t want to lead with that because I wanted you to have your own experience. We’ve been through a lot together/apart this year. I feel like I’m just beginning to take a breath to process most of it.  There’s sweetness swirled into all the mess and uncertainty.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 302! at Joy the Baker.

Gingerbread Marshmallows

It’s funny – this year my dining room table is dotted with the most lovely Christmas cards from friends who don’t usually send such formal holiday greetings.  I’m usually a holiday card sender, but just didn’t feel the spirit move me this year.  2020 has us all on our heads in big and little ways.  

I’ve given most of my holiday card energy to my cookie baking endeavors.  Friday afternoon is the big bake off and box up of this year’s offering.  The baking, boxing, bowing, and gifting is where all the joy lives for me – I’m so excited! 

Maybe you have a big bake planned this weekend.  Can I add to it? 

The invitation is fluffy spiced marshmallows topped with gingerbread cookie people – chocolate dipped, of course. 

I’ve made these for my cookie tins the last two years and I’ve finally gotten my act together enough to share it with you.  I hope you find some space for this little bit of holiday cheer – and I apologize for the dishes that result.  I’m in the same boat in solidarity. 

For these marshmallow cookie treats you’ll need to make little fuss in your kitchen.  Get ready for to simmer sugar and crank that stand mixer to high.  You’ll want molasses, cinnamon and spices, brown sugar, and enough powdered sugar to make a mess.

Continue reading Gingerbread Marshmallows at Joy the Baker.

The Every Pan Cake Batter

Today I’m taking a page from Aunt Dede’s cookbook. 

I’m quite literally taking notes from my aunt’s loose pages of  large-print handwritten recipes.  

See, Aunt Dede was a baking legend in my life and, if you’ve baking anything from my site, she’s a baking legend in your life too. 

Dede baked every birthday cake for every Wilson family member for as long as I can remember. It was a ritual.

Continue reading The Every Pan Cake Batter at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 301!

Hello and good Sunday from me, Tron, and our little Christmas tree. 

We made our Christmas mini this year since trees have gotten more expensive and I want to stick to my holiday budgie.  Mom made ornaments from Hello Bargello, paired with a few handmade ornaments I made last year, and a few peacock feathers from Houston. Sweet, right? It’s small but mighty this year, and we love it. 

I’ve got my eye on the prize this week and the prize is the week between Christmas and New Years – my week off work with a little end of year camping trip.  What are you looking forward to this strange strange holiday season?

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 301! at Joy the Baker.

Chocolate Cherry Yule Log Cake

Grab your pen and get ready to cross something off your Baking Bucket List (you have one of those, right?).  Today we’re making the most festive of holiday cakes and it’s shaped like a log.  Yes, we’re asking our chocolate cake to roll and contort and look like a log of wood for our holiday pleasure. 

If you’re curious about the history of a yule log cake I’ll give you the most Cliff Notes of versions.

Continue reading Chocolate Cherry Yule Log Cake at Joy the Baker.

How I Package My Holiday Cookie Tins

Hello friends and welcome to my accidental cookie factory! 

This marks my fourth year celebrating the holidays at The Bakehouse!  Home sweet home – where the oven is always on and the refrigerator is home to at least two batches of cookie dough.  This marks the first year not having an old fashioned cookie swap party on the big dining room table. You might think that’s slowed down my cookie baking but it most certainly has not.

Continue reading How I Package My Holiday Cookie Tins at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 300!

Hello friends, good morning! 

I hope this finds you with a few good minutes for yourself.

The week after Thanksgiving feels similar to me every year.  There’s a glow from a few extra days of rest (and maybe for you, a few extra family hands around the help with the kids), there’s a settling from all the stuffing and gravy leftovers, and there’s a hint of mania as we tumble towards the gifting holidays. 

I feel like my feet are heavy but my head wants a strong push to the end of the year. 

Speaking of heavy feet.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 300! at Joy the Baker.