Grandma Hofmeister, you will be missed

I feel a bit like I fell off the face of the earth this week. My phone was turned off for longer than I expect it's ever been, and there were whole days when I didn't get on the computer(!). I have quite a few things I've baked, but I honestly can't bring myself to really think about writing about them right now. I had four grandparents in my life when I was born. I lost my paternal grandfather in 1998, and then my maternal grandfather in 2005. This Monday, I lost my maternal grandmother, Menta Hofmeister. She was my mom's mother, and left behind my mother and her three siblings Betty, Fred and Phyllis along with my cousins and their kids.


It's not to say it was unexpected. She'd had Alzheimer's, and hadn't really been the Grandma I knew as a kid for a long time. But that didn't mean it was easy, either. Things I loved about that Grandma:


She always sent Christmas presents early. I may or may not have accidentally pried one open before Christmas day once. It was a stuffed animal of Percy, the pug from Disney's "Pocahontas." Tell me you're surprised.


She had a collection of collectible spoons that hung by the kitchen. An interesting thing to collect, but it was her thing.


She always had candy waiting for me at her house when we came to visit.


She kept sandwiches and chips for every visit too. Oh, and cans of Pepsi. She would put a lid over the top of the glass in the fridge if people hadn't finished it all the way.


She, like every other grandparent of mine, teased me relentlessly. In a good way :)


She adored my grandfather. They met as pen pals during World War II and were hardly ever apart after that.


I know that because I'm the youngest grandchild by a long shot, that I missed out on many memories of her that my cousins might have. But that was the positive that came from this: I saw many cousins at her funeral that I hadn't in quite some time. A couple were missing, held up by weather, but most of us were there. It's strange how death can bring together family for a sad reason but the situation can also be happy.


My grandpa had this habit, that he even had while in France and Germany during WWII. He shot pictures of everything. German soldiers, friends, downed planes, and later in life, family when we would come to visit. Looks like I've inherited the duty of forcing family to take pictures :) I want to remember the few times we get to see each other. A picture can be incredibly valuable.


So, that generation of my family tree on that side is officially gone. She's much better off where she is now, though, and I hope that wherever she is, she's by Grandpa Hofmeister's side.

Christmas break baking: cake pops, meringues, spritzers, peanut butter cookies and Trix bark

With the amount of sweets sitting in my grandma's fridge right now, I could feed a small Kansas town. It's a little ridiculous. So far I've taken cookies to two of her neighbors and introduced my dad's employees to cake pops. Before I talk more about that, some good news.


I won Hoosier Homemade's Holiday Cupcake Challenge! I'm super excited about it. It was a really good excuse for trying some great new cupcake flavors: eggnog, pecan pie, chocolate peppermint and champagne. Thanks to Kelly, who helped me come up with the flavors. I will definitely be making a few of these again.


I've been taking care of all my Christmas traditions lately. This Sunday, my friend Lauren and I went to see the KC Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. She used to dance in her company's production of it, and I have gone to see it every year since...well, I don't know how long. Probably since I was about 5. Mom and I used to go, and then more recently I dragged a boyfriend along, but going with Lauren was perfect, except for the bratty little kid sitting next to her. Sigh. This picture is an old tradition that we don't do anymore, but was still fun when we did. My mom worked at Plymouth Congregational Church for 17 years, and it was a beautiful old building. Every Christmas they had a day of decorating, and my dad and I were unstoppable, because we didn't need a ladder to reach the things that were high up! I'm not sure we could manage that nowadays.


I did a bit of baking last week before coming back to Salina for my psuedo-Christmas break. First, a Christmas present for my friend Tim, who I made Boston Creme Pie for after his birthday. The last time I was at Tim's, there were about four empty bowls on his table that had been filled with Trix at some point, so when I came across this recipe for Trix candy bark, I knew I had to make it for him. It's my understanding it's not going to last very long.


I took these cookies into work (and I absolutely had to go for the Sesame Street fabric...yes I'm a 5-year-old sometimes). They're plain old peanut butter with chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Always a hit.


Now for the baking at Grandma's. Pretty sure I packed up about half of my kitchen, including my KitchenAid, for my trip back to Salina. First up were cake pops, and these are easily the best ones I've done thus far. Red, green and gold sparkles. Dad's employees loved them!


Then spritzer cookies with the cookie gun Aunt Betty gave me. The recipe makes a gazillion cookies, so I've had to hand some out. I don't think the neighbors mind :)


Then some peppermint meringues with a chocolate frosting filling. Needless to say, Grandma's fridge is full right now. And I came to find that today is national cupcake day. I'm going to have to make up for that later. More holiday baking to come!

Holiday baking: meringues, divinity, Buche de Noel and gingerbread cupcakes

I have inherited Christmas decorations. Honestly, I'm not sure where some of them came from. I've got lots of gaudy plastic garlands, plenty of lights, red velvet bows, a gazillion ornaments and countless other things. Our front closet is filled with multiple boxes of decorations. I have to admit, I tend to be a fan of flashy Christmas decorations. When else do you get to light up a tree? I didn't put up all my decorations this year, though. Big Christmas tree in the living room, little one in my bedroom, garland and lights over the front window, stockings and a few knickknacks. I'm good with that for now.


I talked before about how we used to get a giant tree when I was younger. See how big that tree was? When you have 14-foot-tall ceilings (at the peak), as a child, you want the tallest tree you can fit in the space. We got a real tree every year, then had to use the ladder to decorate it. And just look at those garlands...gold AND silver. I'm glad I didn't inherit those.


I had another baking marathon with Aunt Betty last weekend. After many-a-day-in-a-row working, I had a number of days off, which I promptly filled with things to do. It's kind of unintentional, but I always enjoy seeing all the people I can when I'm off. Anyway, for once, we didn't use a ridiculous amount of butter. Only three sticks! Which is nothing, considering we made a bunch of different things. These were some meringues that I saw in my latest issue of Food Network Magazine. They are so light and airy, and I liked having them piped this way. They received mixed reviews from friends, but I think it was more the strange texture of a meringue than the taste.


Next on the list was divinity. I'm pretty sure not many people my age know what this is. I remember a woman in my mom's church choir made it every year, and I could never quite decide if I liked it. So we made it, and I definitely like it. I ran across this recipe at BakedBree that was pretty specific, thank goodness. We had to be really careful to cook it to the right temperature so it's firm but still chewy, and when the mixer started struggling (like the recipe said it would), it was perfect. I can't really describe the flavor on this, but it's basically really sugary with pecans.


Don't know if you remember, but one of my baking goals from a few months ago was a Buche de Noel, a French holiday cake. Basically it's a giant Swiss roll cake that you then decorate like a log. We made it from a cookbook Aunt Betty had, then used three (!) batches of frosting for the inside and the outside. It was soooo good though. And it does look like a log, I'd say!


Last but not least, my latest cupcake. I found these absolutely adorable gingerbread man sprinkles from Bake it Pretty. So I bought them, and then decided what to put them on. Enter the Martha Stewart Cupcake book. I hear these were pretty good, but I wouldn't know, because I never tasted them. I'm not big on spiced foods. But they sure looked nice!

Cupcake challenge week 5: Cupcake roundup

Sometimes I get bored with baking. Or find that I really don't have any inspiration, even though I feel like baking. So the holiday cupcake challenge at Hoosier Homemade was really nice, because it made me think a little outside the box. The challenge is over now, except for voting (please vote for my New Year's champagne cupcakes, number 3). So here's what I did for the last month, with both the help of Kelly and Aunt Betty.

Week one: favorite fall flavor. I made egg nog cupcakes...my next goal is to make some egg nog homemade!

Week two: Thanksgiving cupcake. I made pecan pie cupcakes, and found I like them better than actual pecan pie!

Week three: Christmas cupcake. I did chocolate peppermint, with a peppermint patty baked into the middle. They were pretty rich, but people sure seemed to like them.

Week four: New Year's cupcake. I did champagne (not terribly creative, I know). But these were a nod to my Kansan folk (LNOPwooo!), and the frosting was darn good.

So, happy holidays! I'm posting this roundup on the last Hoosier Homemade challenge. Now it's time to go scheme away and come up with more holiday cupcakes. I'm thinking gingerbread.