Baking With Heart

Pearl of the Post: Traditionally Delicious

By: Orliyah Finnegan

Amazing Krusteaz "Seize the Holiday" Baking Package

Editors Note: Honored to share this pearl of a post from my dear friend and family therapist Orliyah to wet your appetite for the holidays!!

Tis the season to dust off your Kitchen Aid mixer, pull out that holiday apron (well, maybe) and get into the spirit of baking that ol' family recipe. TRADITION!

Whether you start your own with quality boxed mixes (like I do) or bake from scratch following every step of your time honored recipe, the holidays are not complete without freshly baked desserts!! There's nothing like waking up on a crisp winter morning to the sweet smells in the kitchen that build excitement through the final presentation on the table.

Gathering 'round the comfort of familiarity, as traditions often do,  helps mark the spirit of the holidays.

In my case, my grandmother would collect her near rotting but always perfect plums off her tree and puree them in a large saucepan. That first sizzle cued to my brothers and I that her famous pie were the day's just dessert.  She used the plum puree to later lay as filling into an amazing crust she somehow perfected each time from scratch.

My grandmother's pies, with her signature crusts -- tubes of dough laid down in a lattice formation or clumps of squares laid out 1" apart over the filling was a tradition my brothers and I could count on each year!

Years later, in my case, since I could never duplicate the crust, and received this beautiful baking package from Krusteaz, I decided to give it a whirl using their easy to bake crust. Short of picking the fruit off the tree, or the crust from scratch, the taste is not far off.

It felt so great to revisit the tastes of my childhood and even better to introduce the tradition to my children. My grandmother would have been proud.

The tastes of the holiday always do the trick to bring us all back to when we were kids fighting for the middle piece!   

We invite you to share your favorite holiday treats with us below!!

Get Baking!!
Mommas Pearls invites you to a special online LIVE "Seize The Holiday" Baking event with #Krusteaz and Catherine McCord of Weelicious.

Coffee Crumb Muffins from my Baking Party!

Krusteaz is running a "Seize the What If" Facebook Contest offering a chance to win a kitchen oven makeover (click through for details, entry and official rules)!

About our Guest Blogger: Orliyah Finnegan, MA LMFTA/ATR is a New York Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Registered Art Therapist and an incredible friend. She effortlessly offers pearls of wisdom about creating healthy family relationships and how to read the cues of your children.

Disclosure: We did not receive monetary compensation for this post, however, Krusteaz did provide the incredible baking set pictured above for Orliyah to sample, the story and memories are all our own.