All Ages View
By Abbey Murphy
Oh how I love baking! Especially Holiday Baking! It is one of the things that gets me into the holiday spirit along with my favorite holiday movie, Christmas Vacation.
In between all of the college applications and the essays, the break we all need is a treat now and then. The smell of fresh cookies and pies are the perfect holiday remedy for a stressful college planning day.
This is the perfect all-ages time of the year and so many things are easy on my wallet. The open mics at Queen Bean, the decorated McHenry Mansion, pumpkin lattes, music at the Barkin’ Dog and walking around the boutiques and galleries in downtown Modesto (especially when they have hot cider) are all great options.
The smells are amazing. It seems like there are a ton of good movies at both the State and at Brenden. The Twilight premier was a blast and I loved Lincoln. A cool fall night and a movie is a great night.
A really cool show this month is the VMI Rocks Christmas Concert at Club Maxx on Dec 16 inside the Doubletree hotel downtown. This is an all-ages show with bands like the Resistance, High Voltage and others and they will be performing Christmas songs. How fun!
One of my favorite classes at Modesto High is my IB Photography and I love to take pictures around town. If you really want to create personal gifts this year, I would recommend photos and videos. Everyone can watch videos, and it is a really cool personal thing you can do. This season, make a photo book- like a miniature momento book. Photo books are cool in that you can hand make the book, use some stamps, some fabric and really make something unique for each person. So much fun to make and so much fun to give. And of course, wrap up your amazing creation and attach a little bag of homemade cookies from your late-night baking session.
Have an amazing holiday season and an amazing new year with good wishes to all of you.
Here is Abbey’s Peppermint Petites Recipe
Stick of Butter
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract
2 C Flour
Red food Coloring
Frosting- Use a can of vanilla frosting for simplicity .Crush peppermint candy to sprinkle on top of the frosting.
Preheat Oven to 375. Combine butter, sugar, extract and a few drops of red food coloring. Add flour and beat at medium speed until well mixed. Roll into 1′ balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 9 – 12 min, until edges are slightly brown. Cool then frost and top with crushed candy. Yum!
