Oh the weather outside is frightful

I think I understand why my grandmother's freezer was always packed with baked goodies. How else do you keep warm? This is my baking week. It's also the coldest week so far. That is a fortunate coincidence.

My freezer was dangerously low on banana bread, so I made 2 loaves Monday and an experimental loaf yesterday afternoon. I follow my Nana's recipe to a T normally, so I tried to healthify the bread a little with wheat flour and applesauce instead of oil.

Lesson learned? Don't mess with a good thing. At least Nathaniel seems to be going through a growth spurt and is eating everything we put in front of him. Even if it tastes like banana cardboard.

I have to take 4 dozen cookies to a swap tomorrow night. I couldn't narrow it down to just one kind, so my plan is to make 2 dozen of each. One is a new recipe, one is an old/new recipe.

I found Pumpkin Creme Pies online a few months ago and have been itching to try them. A little labor-intensive, but still classified as "easy," so I can do it, right? Gosh I hope so...

The other is pizzelles. When Nana moved out of the house I grew up in, I made sure to grab the pizzelle iron my mom and I used to make Christmas cookies. The original manual is gone, so I'm using a new recipe I found online and I've never made them solo. I was always Mom's sous chef. Sous baker? Whatever...

Of course I just discovered I am low on a few ingredients, so until Hubby takes a detour to Wally World on his way home, I will be at a standstill. Not that I really want help from my kids, who are currently chasing each other around the living room.

ANYWAYS...

Since we are ahead on the whole gift-buying-card-sending-other-random-task extravaganza that is Christmas, I thought I might make a few homemade gifts for friends. And when my plans for yesterday afternoon and evening got cancelled, I decided a little baking therapy was in order.

Enter the cinnamon rolls.

And because I felt like I needed to go a step farther, Orange Marmalade Rolls. Oh yes, I went there.

I think I like them better than P Dub's Original Cinnamon Rolls. Which are still kick-butt. Hubby, who professes to dislike both maple flavoring (in everything but syrup) and coffee (I know, I don't understand it either...), still went back for seconds on my first attempt at her rolls. That should tell you all you need to know.

So I have six trays of rolls in my freezer, waiting for a new home. Since I'm still learning how to make them, the gnarly, misshapen ones went into their own pan and the kids and I put a dent in them for breakfast this morning. Oh darn.

In fact, I'm drooling now just thinking about them.

But the plus side to baking like a crazy person is that my kitchen is nice and toasty warm when the oven is on AND I'm running around the kitchen like a chicken with her head cut off. It will also delay the formation of a Bridget-sized lump on the couch.

The downside, of course, is my waistline. I don't think I'm doing enough running in the kitchen to quite counteract the calories in all these goodies. Maybe I should start racing the kids around the house.

Nah.