All posts tagged: ChristmasBaking

Online Therapy

If you’re struggling at the moment to keep your mental health in a good state, you’re not alone. We’re offering online virtual therapy sessions! Seasons offer therapy for children, adolescents and adults. We also help families navigate some of the challenges of parenting through workshops. Nikki Goldman Stroh is a Registered Psychotherapist with over 16 years of experience providing therapy to children and adults. Nikki started working with children and adolescents using Art and Play therapy. She now works mostly with adults dealing with anxiety and depression. Nikki began her training at Fanshawe College where she completed a diploma in photography. Later she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Western Ontario, and then a post-graduate diploma in Art therapy from the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. Over the years Nikki has taken additional training in psychology, counseling techniques and play therapy at the George Brown College and the Sick Kids Centre for Community Mental Health (formally Hincks-Delcrest). Nikki is a strong believer in using mindfulness and meditation with her clients. She has …

Holiday Sweet Table

Our Santa event was this past Sunday and personally, my favorite part was the sweet table (I may be slightly biased towards sugar though, we have a sort of love/hate relationship). If you’re wondering how to create your very own sweet table, please see our previous post. For this one, I adamantly stuck to the red and white theme. I also chose to reduce my work load by making easy sweets, like cupcakes and gingerbread. I found these amazing printables on Etsy and used them all throughout the event – this helped with consistency and presentation, plus a bonus is how cute they are! Sometimes you just have to turn your edibles into display items only – I hot glued the gingerbread men to the skewer sticks. I also made the lollipops using red and white felt. I cut strips and then round them around each other. I glued the lollipop to a skewer stick and then wrapped them up in cellophane.

Linzer Cookies

I absolutely love Linzer cookies, they have that perfect hint of lemon and nutty flavor all rolled into one cookie. They are slightly time consuming but they’re definitely worth it, not only are they pretty, but they make a fabulous holiday gift. Follow the recipe below to make these delicious cookies. Makes approximately 36 cookies Ingredients 2/3 cup almonds 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for the work surface 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 large egg zest from one lemon 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1tablespoon confectioners’ sugar 1 12-ounce jar raspberry jam Directions Heat oven to 350° F. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and toast, tossing occasionally, until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes; let cool. In a food processor, process the almonds and ¼ cup of the brown sugar until the almonds are finely ground. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and …

Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies are a staple at Christmas time as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been using the same recipe for years and it always gets rave reviews. I usually double the recipe so I can get twice as many cookies out of it. The best part about gingerbread is that it keeps for a while and thus can be made ahead of time. This year I made a ton of cookies for our Santa event, I particularly liked the mini gingerbread men because they can be used in so many different ways. You could string them for garland on your tree or use them as cupcake toppers.