Parker - Out of the box holiday baking: gingerbread cupcakes, peppermint cheesecake, and more festive semi-homemade sweets

To my family
the best taste-testers around

The holidays are my favorite time of year, and I dont care who knows it! But chances are, if youre reading this book, you also have an affinity for the winter season... in which case, welcome! I am just crazy about the holidays for many reasons, including but not limited to: giving presents, Christmas shopping, holiday music, and of course, Christmas baking! I feel like the holiday season is basically an approved and sanctioned time to eat all the things, indulge constantly, and enjoy every minute of it. Or at least, its my personal sanctioned time to indulge.

Since Ive always enjoyed this time of year, I decided to write a book about it! Out of the Box Holiday Baking came to be because I always have such a hard time putting away my Christmas decorations and festive sprinkles. I tend to get moody when I can no longer hear Elviss crooning voice singing my favorite Christmas tunes, and I really dont like whoever decided peppermint, gingerbread, and eggnog could only be seasonal flavors. I mean, why deprive yourself of the greatest holiday flavors just because its June? Who says you shouldnt guzzle eggnog by the pool in the summertime? (Okay, I admit... that doesnt sound very pleasant. But thats the only exception!)

Christmas in the Parker household is notoriously insane. As kids, my parents would force us to stay in our rooms until six in the morning, when we could finally emergechaperonedto our Christmas haul. But over the years and as weve grown older, youd think we would have pushed the waking-up part back to a more conventional hour. Nope, no, nada. For many years, my siblings and I would convene in one of our bedrooms at one, two, three in the morning and whisper excitedly. Wed stare at the clock as it ticked by at a glacial pace, willing it to become six AM so we could open our loot. Eventually, my parents would hear us tinkering about and wed all gather around the tree in the middle of the early morning to open presents. Wed open them all and then go nap within the piles of shredded wrapping paper until it was time to go to my Grammie Pats house at nine AM.

Even though, as adults, my parents would say, Dont get up early because the presents we got you arent even that good, I was still so excited to wake up and spend time with my family. On Christmas Day after we opened our presents, Id get in the kitchen and start baking cookies and candies for all of us to share. Christmas is just my all-time favorite holiday for that reason: sharing and spreading the joy!

When I started my blog, The Domestic Rebel, in January 2011, the holiday season had just passed, but I was also already planning what I was going to share on my blog for the following November and December. Not only do the holidays bring excellent traffic to my website, but I love that everyone is so eager to bake for friends and familyand that people discover my website and choose to make some of the recipes that I created in my little kitchen. Its humbling and truly flattering!

Since the holidays only happen once a year, Out of the Box Holiday Baking will act as your year-round resource for finding and creating the best holiday recipes. Of course, theres no hard and fast rule about when you should make each recipeIm always down for a peppermint cupcake in the spring or a gingerbread cookie in the summerbut I hope youll enjoy flipping through the pages all year long! Whether youre an avid planner like I am and are seeking out the best recipes for your holiday cookie swap parties, or if youre just in the mood for some festive flavors, Out of the Box Holiday Baking will serve as your inspiration to baking up whimsical holiday desserts any time of year.

The aesthetic behind Out of the Box Holiday Bakingas well as my other two books, Out of the Box Desserts and Two in One Dessertsis simple: take everyday, ordinary ingredients like boxed cake mix and transform them into unique, extraordinary desserts! Of course, there are some scratch-made recipes in here, too, but I want baking to be FUN and exciting... not stuffy and full of rules. If youre wrinkling your nose at the idea of a cookbook calling for boxed cake, I guarantee youll be converted with one bite!

One of the questions I get asked the most often is: What do you do with all of your treats? And the answer is, when Im not scarfing them down at record speed, I enjoy giving them away to friends, family, neighbors, random strangers, ghosts, and really anyone willing to take a large quantity of desserts off of my hands. Of course, I try everything I make (quality control, obviously), but I cant eat everything I make because, frankly, they dont make pant sizes as large as Id be. Also, I would love to be famous one day, but not for being the star of the newest reality show Hayley: The Giant Dessert Lady, in which a camera crew follows me as I waddle around eating cupcakes by the bakers dozen.

So how am I qualified to be writing my third cookbook, you ask? Despite my wildly popular website, I am a home cook just like you are. I am entirely self-taught because frankly, I didnt grow up with home-cooked meals. I was a self-proclaimed drive-thru diva who knew of all of the specials on all of the drive-thru menu boards. My parents loathed cooking, and I probably had microwave hot dogs for dinner three times a week. My chef skills came out of necessity, because yes, you can eat so many hot dogs in a week that you start to become a living, breathing hot dog yourself.

I turned on the Food Network and caught an episode of a famous thirty-minute meal show and raced to the store to buy the ingredients. I taught myself how to chop, dice, boil, and saut and realized I truly loved cooking. I have always loved expressing myself, whether it be through my eclectic fashion choices or my crazy-colored rainbow hair, and cooking was just another way to express myself and share my love through food.

So whether youre a home cook like myself or an experienced pastry chef, I guarantee youll find something you love in this book! From (page 43), theres truly something for every palate, age-group, and experience level. Everythings made simply and with lovewhich, frankly, is what the holidays are all about.

Enjoy, and Happy Baking!

XO, Hayley

Tips and Tricks

* To make cleanup a breeze, I line my pans with foil or parchment. To easily line a pan with foil, flip over the pan so its upside-down. Take a piece of foil thats larger than the pan and gently wrap the foil around the bottom and sides of the pan, making the foil into the shape of the pan. Gently remove the foil and flip the pan, and then slide the shaped foil easily into the pan.

* To make cakes easier to remove from pans, line the springform or round cake pans with parchment rounds. Simply trace the pans outline onto a piece of parchment paper and cut out the circle. Most stores sell parchment rounds, which are even easier as they already come in a 9-inch circle!

* Muffin liners are a must-use for cupcakes and muffins. The best part is, you can customize the cupcake with a fun printed liner!