Holiday Baking Failures

Christmas Day has come and gone, and I am still working my way through holiday cards and baking. The baking, alas, has not gone well this year. My gingerbread fell, leaving a crater perfect for a huge dollop of whipped cream. Then my mini pound cakes overflowed and the batter fell onto the heating element, filling the kitchen with the smell of burnt cake. I stood in the kitchen like an idiot with my hands over my mouth as my husband scraped the batter into the middle of the oven floor, where it promptly caught fire. He smashed out the fire with the spatula while my daughter cheerfully suggested throwing water into the oven. If that wasn't bad enough, on Christmas Eve, I put baking powder instead of baking soda in the chocolate chip cookie dough. I added the bakig soda in a lame attempt to fix things, but the cookies melted and spread into each other in the oven. They ended up tasting like gooey chocolate chip flavored crackers. My younger daughter, who evidently has not yet developed any taste, enjoyed them immensely although she ended up covered in chocolate. I decided maybe the mess would work better as bars, so I now have squares of Cookie Disaster for dessert. No one on my list has received baked gifts or cards yet, but I remain ever resolute and optimistic, holding out for the Feast of the Epiphany as my new deadline. Next year, I'm sending Valentines.