Only 16 more Saturdays until Christmas!

Back in the days when I spent my days behind a desk, I used to count the Saturdays until Christmas because I knew that Saturdays were my only days to get things done. Monday - Friday were busy enough and Sunday was church and family day. I tried to get my projects done on Saturdays and for the most part, I did pretty well. I shopped online and had most things delivered to my office. I got to know the UPS driver by first name :) Since I'm a full time stay at home wifey these days, one day seems very much like the next and with my fibro, I can have the best of intentions to do something the next day and wake up feeling miserable, so those plans get nixed. I realized that making a list of crafts that need to be finished for Christmas wouldn't be a bad idea. I have 11 sewing projects and 10 birthday cards to make between now and Christmas. It's nice to have a list. I was able to check one item off my sewing list yesterday. I would love to post a picture, but I'm not really sure if my sweet daughter in law reads this blog or not and I don't want to spoil the suprise. I will post pictures of the orange dinosaur for David and the stacking rings for Gabriel as soon as I finish them. The 2 russian dolls that I am making for my mom are almost done too! So in the meantime and to get into the Christmas spirit I will share the Hazelnut Cake recipe I made for Christmas Eve last year. Super yummy and I got it from a calendar I bought for $1.00 at Michaels!

Hazelnut Cake

1/2 cup butter

2 pkgs (2 1/2 oz each) hazelnuts

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Glaze

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease bottom only of 10 inch springform pan. In 1 quart pan, melt butter over low heat. Allow to cool.

In food processor process hazelnuts until ground. Reserve 1 tblsp for garnish.

In large bowl beat eggs, sugar and 1 tsp vanilla on medium speed 2 to 3 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. On low speed, blend in flour, baking powder, salt and ground nuts. Continue beating, gradually adding cooled melted butter. Mixture will be thick. Spread batter evenly in pan.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove sides of pan, run a long knife under cake to loosen from bottom of pan and place a heatproof serving plate upside down over cake. Turn plate with cake over. Remove pan bottom. Cover cake with cloth towel. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

In 2 quart pan, heat whipping cream just to boiling point. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla. Spread glaze over top of cake and allow some to run down the sides of the cake. Sprinkle reserved ground nuts over the top.

Stand back and admire your handiwork!