You Aorta Know....

I love themes. And colour-blocking. And over-the-top projects. And my friends. And baking.  Valentine's Day is the perfect way to celebrate all of these. Last year, I was inspired by personal hero Leslie Knope's Galentine's Day to host a Palentine's Day sugar-palooza:

 

Candy Buffet!

Sugar Cookies!

 Lemon-Raspberry Linzer Cookies!

 Red Velvet Cupcakes!

 Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pies!

 Cookie Dough Truffles!

I had such a good time last year that I decided to do it again this year, but I decided to scale back.

 

First up, dinner - Red pepper & goat cheese quiche, buttermilk biscuits, spinach salad, raspberry lemonade, and raspberry jello:

 (To scale back, I only made a half batch of the biscuits.....)

Onto sugarfest:

 Chocolate lollipops:

 I don't know if I can ever make a spread without cookie dough truffles.....

Sugar cookies, red velvet cookies with white chocolate chips, and shortbread:

 Lemon cupcakes with raspberry buttercream:

Mini candy buffet:

she lives! she bakes!

So, there was the wedding baking extravaganza post.  And then there was some other baking.  But, after that scale of baking, everything else seemed only a half-step up from pop tarts.

But I have a few big projects in the works, so for now, here's what I've been up to for the last few months:

My friend Meaghan loves apples.  For her birthday, I made these brown sugar cookies:

 

In November, I made chocolate mustache lollipops:

For a wedding shower a friend was throwing I made some cupcakes, sugar cookies, and the infamous cookie dough truffles:

 

As Christmas gifts, I boxed up red and white goodies - cookie dough truffles, linzer cookies, spritz cookies, and candy cane kiss cookies:

A few other random treats - lemon squares, vegan chocolate cake, lemon cupcakes, and pumpkin bundt acorns:

And last, my aunt and I got a hang of royal icing just in time for Christmas: