13th annual Christmas baking

On December 6th Sylvie and I spent the day at her house for our annual Christmas baking session. I’m starting to think we need to re-name these ‘Christmas crafting with some baking’ because as these have evolved it’s become clear that, as much as we love baking and making candy together, I think we love crafting just a little bit more. Which is kind of great because the crafts make fun memories we get to look at every year, and share with loved ones. This year the universe even delivered a perfect light snowfall to really put us in the Christmas mood.

This year we revisited the Millionaire Shortbread from last year. Because let’s face it, when you find the perfect dessert, why make anything else. This is also a great recipe to make while doing crafts on the side because it requires time to set between layers so you can switch back and forth between activities.

The first layer is shortbread of course.

While that baked Sylvie set us up to start our Pysanky, which are Ukrainian eggs, intricately painted using beeswax.

Lucky for me, Sylvie already had all the supplies and collected eggs for us which she had already emptied. The blue and white instruments are what you load with melted wax and use to draw on the eggs.

We had a few videos for inspiration and used them as guides for the traditional design (this was my first attempt).

This one was a little less traditional, but felt festive.

Once the wax was applied it was time to make the caramel layer for the shortbread. Despite accidentally adding too much cream, the caramel turned out perfect. Once the caramel set we added the final layer, dark chocolate with sea salt sprinkled on top.

And then it was time to dye our eggs.

After this Sylvie sliced up the Millionaire Shortbread and I packed up to catch the train home.

I haven’t had the chance to varnish my eggs and add their ribbon yet, but when I do I’ll try to remember to come back and add the finished product here. These eggs were so much fun to make and a very exciting medium to learn. We will definitely be making these again!