Christmas Baking

This past weekend, we had a Christmas bake sale at my church and I tried two new recipes (and an old familiar one) that turned out great.  The first one is a Cookies and Cream Oreo Cupcake that I first saw Bakerella.  It looked like a fun and easy to make cupcake.  Since I was baking for a Christmas Bake Sale, I opted to use the Oreo's with a red filling.  Here is how they turned out:

You do break up one cookie into the liner before adding the batter.
Or you can leave it whole but that sounded like the person eating it would get
too much of a mouthful.

The batter instructions can be found Here.

The broken up Oreo's do rise to the surface and bring a pop of color.

Here's a close up.

Some of them resulted in a bit of an odd shape but still fun.

I decided to place them in the box before frosting them.  

Worked out well since I piped on the frosting and then added half of an Oreo on top.

Here's a side view of them.  

I then attempted my first cheesecake and it turned out great too.  My recipe is from Bakerella.  Here is how it turned out:

I did see the tip elsewhere on the internet to place the tin foil on the bottom of the pan, spray with nonstick spray and then pour batter over it.  

When it was all done, I was able to pull it out by the tin foil, lay it flat and cut it easily.

Here's my Toby, waiting patiently for a scrap to fall on the ground :)

I boxed them up by 4's to sell at the bake sale.  

It is a very rich sweet cheesecake bar with the chocolate ganache on top.

Then I made some M&M cookies.

 It was a busy couple of baking days but I enjoyed it and they all sold at the bake sale.

Advent Blessings,
Noreen