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I mentioned the other day that I’ve been baking with my Mom, sister and two sister-in-laws this month…

Here is my sister putting gingersnaps onto cooling racks.  Hi Brooke!  I love baking and being with my sister more than words.

Gingersnaps dipped in white chocolate…  that’s about 50 dozen cookies right there.

As soon as the cookies are totally cool, they go into their packages.  I could swear packaging takes longer than baking.  But that’s maybe because you feel like you should be done already.

At one point over this weekend, in about a 4 hour period, we baked 160 dozen cookies.  That’s almost 2000 cookies in my Mom’s kitchen.

Once packaged in their cellophane bags, the cookies, brownies and breads all go into a lovely box.

That’s happiness in a package right there.

Today is our last day of cookies and I’m so happy that I have a week of nothing to do but enjoy time with my kids who are out of school for their Holiday vacation.  Just in case you are wondering, no, I don’t get burned out of baking when I am done.  I will still happily bake cookies with the kids for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

I am so excited to welcome AmberLee here today.  Her blog, The Giver’s Log is both inspirational, beautiful and one of my best resources for gift ideas.  Today she is sharing how to make one of my all time favorite treats: caramel dipped apples.  AmberLee knows a thing or two about making delicious sweets.  She is the chocolatier behind the Ticket Kitchen and the lovely hot chocolate on a stick.

Hello Make It Do readers! I’m AmberLee, and I blog at Giver’sLog and have a hot chocolate shop called the Ticket Kitchen. I am a long time-fan of Calli and Make it Do, so of course I’m so happy to be here to say hello, and to share one of my fall favorites with you.

Every year around this time, I love to make a big batch of homemade caramel.

Have you ever had homemade caramel? The only problem with making caramel is, once you’ve tried homemade, it’s hard to eat those little wrapped bulk-candy cubes again (not that I have anything against bulk candy, in fact I love buying gummi bears by the pound. It’s one of my favorite pastimes.)

I love making a big batch when company is coming over, and leaving it on the counter with a pizza cutter for everyone to slice off just a little bit here and there.

And I love, as the caramel cooks, to take out some caramel early to make an unbelieveably good caramel dip…

and then waiting a little longer to dip apples.

I am still working on getting the perfect caramel apple, but after this post and this post last year, I’ve picked up a few favorite tips. I now dip the apples in boiling water for just under a minute to get any added wax of the skin, then let it dry thoroughly while I make my caramel. Finally, as soon as that big apple sinks down into the caramel and back kup again, I pop it right in the fridge for better cooling. Or I dip it first in an obscene amount of nuts and toppings. Which I also reccomend. Happy dipping!