Baking up a perfect storm

Tonight and last night were spent in a near orgy of holiday baking. Every year I make something different to bring in for all my co-workers right before our holiday break. I love to bake and such, but I don't do it that often, so this is my one big annual outlet for indulging in it.

Sometimes I get all Martha Stewart and creative and make something really unique. Other times, not as creative but even more yummy. (Right now, I can actually hear fat dude groaning and can imagine his eyes rolling so far back into his head that it hurts. But I don't care; there's nothing better than the gift of food, I enjoy doing it, and it makes me happy, happy, happy!)

This is a less creative, more yummy year. I started out planning to make pizzelles, but with my own little twist. After two test runs, however, it became clear that wasn't the way for me to go. In case you hadn't noticed through my writing, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and them damn pizzelles weren't coming out perfect enough for me. Too much batter in this one, too little batter in that one; this one isn't cooked enough, that one's too brown. So while they tasted good, they weren't up to snuff, gift-wise, and that plan got tossed. This is the second year in a row where my original idea did not pan out -- very aggravating.

Plan B turned out to be biscotti. I've made it before, but never with these recipes and never this many of them. There are still probably two batches to go (don't tell Mom -- I told her there was only one more), and then they have to be bagged and tagged. I never tell exactly what I'm making before I hand them out (the fact that this is sometimes because I wait too long to get started and I don't actually know for sure what it will be has, sadly, been true in years past), so I won't say yet what kind I'm making. But if anyone is interested in a killer recipe for a kind of biscotti I'm willing to bet that you haven't had before, let me know and I'll send it to you later this week.

There will be pictures once I'm done...if they all turn out perfectly, of course.