The Great American Baking Show premiers in 6 days!!!! I absolutely cannot wait! I love both the British and American versions but as I am American… you get it. This year has new hosts (we’ll see how I feel about that) and Paul Hollywood is a judge. I will miss Mary Berry but I am psyched to see Paul Hollywood! I mean, if he tells you something is good, you know its good. I wonder if anyone will get a Paul Hollywood handshake this year?

I am extra excited about this season of the show because I actually auditioned. Sadly, I didn’t make it. But, ABC recently released a photo of this year’s bakers and after seeing it I realized I met four of them. Four! So, yeah, I know celebrities.

Instead of being bitter that I’m not there with them (maybe a little sad), I really just can’t wait. I sat next to one baker while auditioning so I’m team JC all the way #gingerjesuskc ! But, wishing all the luck in the world to Jessie, Molly and Father Kyle! If any of them win my head might explode.

The show premiers on ABC this Thursday, December 7th… the same night as my mom’s “Women’s Christmas Party.” (sidebar- if you have never watched the original 1939 version of The Women, put that on your to do list) As excited as I am for the party, I’m bummed I can’t see the show as it airs. But my DVR is set and I will stay up into the wee hours if I must to watch the first episode.

For this party, my mom asked me to make a small tray of cookies. In my excitement for the show and holiday baking, I turned that into: make tons of cookies and several other bite sized desserts. And that, is how cookie mayhem began.

Instead of sticking to my usual repertoire of spritz cookies (my fav), cutout sugar cookies and gingerbread men, I went a little crazy. My house was an absolute mess for days. Lucky for my husband, he was out of town for work and didn’t have to live in the filth. I considered moving because that seemed way easier than cleaning my kitchen. Take a look…

The island

The stove

Counter next to the stove

The kids’ table

The kitchen table

Horrible, right! Here’s what happened. I decided to make two different kinds of macarons: peppermint hot chocolate and red velvet. I was going to make green shells for the mint and red chocolaty shells for the red velvet. Festive, right? Macarons are known for being very finicky. But, I have made amazing macarons before so why should they be any different today. I had three trays of these green shells…

They came out of the oven beautifully. Equal sized, perfect feet, gorgeous… until you bit into them. Hollow, every single one. They all went in the bin. The red ones baked up well, but their feet weren’t as pretty and they didn’t look red. They were more of a burnt sienna. Bob Ross would like them. But, they did taste good! So, I divided up my burnt sienna shells and put a chocolate peppermint ganache in half of them and cream cheese frosting in the other half.

I also decided to bake my own gingerbread and built a gingerbread house. But instead of a house, I decided to try the Eiffel Tower. I made my own templates and everything. Stupid. Start with squares, rookie! How do you like my leaning Tower of Eiffel?

By the time I was ready to decorate it, all I could do was put on icing. Maybe I’ll add some sparkle later… maybe not. So tired.

This does not even include pics of the 9 dozen peanut butter cookies I made before Thanksgiving. That is 108 cookies, no exaggeration. I forgot how many cookies that recipe made. But at least, those are ready to go in my freezer and I can bake them off whenever I want. I still have to make spritz cookies and snickerdoodles and I guess the cut out cookies so my kids have something to decorate (I wouldn’t let them touch my leaning tower). But right now, I’m going to take a little nap. And if anyone is handing out free foot rubs, I’ll take one of those too.