As you all know I was hosting my first event on Tasty treats - Santa's Holiday Challenge. It was an event all about desserts for Santa and indeed it turned out to be an impressive array of desserts. I am happy to let you all know that "Santa is pleased!!". Thanks a lot for each one of you for the overwhelming response to my event.
I received a rush of entries, 69 to be exact! There were cakes, cookies, cupcakes, muffins, pies, puddings, tarts and anything else one could think of. I sure was excited to see the enthusiastic response of all my fellow bloggers, some of whom are new to me. Many of the entries were from my friends from the blogsphere, whose blogs I adore! But this event made me familiar with some extraordinary blogs of which I was not aware of previously. I am also elated about the diversity of the desserts that you all had whipped up.
I should give a special mention to Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes, who sent in 8 entries, followed by Soma of eCurry with 4 entries!! A few of the other talented bakers follow with 3 entries each! Thanks a lot for your enthusiastic support, dear friends!
As you all know, this was intended to be a competition- a Santa's giveaway, and it will be. Once the round-up is up and everybody gets a chance to go through it, the judging will start. Whats better than choosing your own favorites and giving a New Year's gift to your friends! More details at the end of the post.
Lets not wait any further! Here's the round-up of the awesome and creative desserts that I received from all of you. Thank you once again for making my wish come true and making this event a great success!! Please dont forget to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts and suggestions!
Creative Cookies :
All the crispies, chewies, cuties, crinklies, decorated and non-decorated ones.... There's one for everyone! Many of them are Oatmeal cookies, there are eggless ones too. Decorated ones, chocolate ones, novelty cookies, you name it, its here!! Cookies which we have grown to love, and those which are a great new addition to our favourites.. All of them make great Home-made Holiday treats to one's friends and family!
2. Almond Coconut Cookies from Anu Sriram of Chandrabhaga.
3. Cookies filled with jam and nuts from Happy Cook of My Kitchen treasures.
4. Vegan Rice Krispies Oatmeal Cookies from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
5. Vegan Choco-oats Cookies from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
6. Oatmeal Cookies in a Jiffy!! (No-bake) from Sukanya of Sukanya's Musings.
7. Snowflake cookies from Soma of eCurry.
8. Benne biscuits from Kalai of Samaithu Paarkalaam.
9. Eggless Oat Cookies from Kalai of Samaithu Paarkalaam.
10. Oats and Dates Cookies from Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen.
11. Oatmeal Cookies with a surprise from Preety of Preety's Kitchen.
12. Peanut Butter Cookies from Sukanya Ramkumar of Hot n' Sweet Bowl.
13. Walnut Crunchies from Poonam of Poonam's Kitchen.
14. Christmas Cookies from Uma of Essence of Andhra.
15. Eggless Butter Cookies from Renuka of Fusion.
16. Chocolate Crinkles from Harini of Tongue-ticklers.
17. Eggless Pudding Cookies from Madhuram of Eggless Cooking.
18. Jam Thumbprint Cookies from Mansi of Fun and Food Cafe.
19. Chocolate Nutella Cookies from Mansi of Fun and Food Cafe.
20. Eggless Chocolate Cookies from Gayathri Gopinath of My Adigemane.
21. Holiday Lights Cookie tree from Aquadaze of Served with Love.
22. Cranberry & Apricot Swirl Cookies from Purva Desai of Purva's Daawat.
23. Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies from Yasmeen of Healthnut.
24. Thumbprint Cookies from Sowmya of Creative Saga.
Decadent Cakes :
Since it was the Christmas season, there are a lot of Christmas Fruit Cakes which seems to be very popular among our bloggers! But there are other options too, ranging from Stocking cakes to Red Velvet Cakes to Yule logs to Cheesecakes, even including a microwave cake! One could take a tip or two from some of the elaborately decorated cakes, but it also gives an idea that simplicity is also fantastic, especially for fruit cakes! There must be something here to please everybody, dont you think!?
1. Christmas Fruit Cake from Cham of Spice-club.
2. Spiced Cranberry Raisin Bundt Cake from Soma of eCurry.
3. Red Velvet Fruit Cake from Roopa of My Kitchen treats.
4. Fruit Cake from Aparna of Sumi's Weblog.
5. Chocolate Christmas Cake from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
6. Vegan Date Cake from Laavanya of Cookery Corner.
7. Apple Cake from Kalai of Samaithu Paarkalaam.
8. Rich Fruit Christmas Cake from Swapna Mickey of Swapna's Cuisine.
9. Eggless Vanilla Cake from EC of Simple Indian Food.
10. Eggless Tutti Fruity Cake (in microwave!) from Ramya of Pennin(g) my Cooking.
11. Christopsomo from Soma of eCurry.
12. Pineapple Upside-down Cake from Susan of Foodblogga.
13. Rich Rum Fruit Cake from Soma of eCurry.
14. Christmas Fruit Cake from Chandani of Chai's Corner.
15. Christmas Stocking Cake from Aquadaze of Serving with Love.
16. Christmas Cake from Divya Kudua of Easy Cooking.
17. Yule log from Aquadaze of Serving with Love.
18. Tropical Cheesecake from Gopi Shah of Health N Taste.
19. Rich Fruit Christmas Cake from Swapna Mickey of Swapna's Cuisine.
20. Apple Tatin Cake from Ranjeetha of Ranji's Kitchen Corner.
21. Christmas Fruits & Nuts Savarin Cake from Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
Delicious Custards & Puddings:
Hmm... Who could not love the Custards and Puddings, ranging from the all-time favourites like Caramel custard to bread pudding to creative originals like berrylicious desserts and ones dunk in chocolate!! There are quick ones, easy ones and elegant ones, one for every occasion!!
1. Very Berry Surprise from Purva Desai of Purva's Daawat.
2. Bread Milk Pudding from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
3. Layers of Chocolate Delight from Anupama of Food-n-more.
4. Fruit Custard from EC of Simple Indian Food.
5. Caramel Custard (Flan) from Vandana of Cooking up something nice.
6. Caramel Pudding from Sudeshna Banerjee of Here I Cook.
7. Quick Pudding from Renuka of Fusion.
Cuddly Cupcakes, Muffins, Tarts & Pies:
Christmas spirit had the creativity flowing in our dear friends with cute Christmas-sy snow-y cupcakes, healthy muffins (seems like orange flavor is a hit among us!), elaborate tarts and the famous Lemon Meringue Pie. There is also a healthy challah bread and home-made cinnamon rolls from our friends!!
1. Christmas Cupcakes from HappyCook of My Kitchen Treasures.
2. Christmas Cupcakes from Uma of Essence of Andhra.
3. Let It Snow Cupcakes from Bharti Khemani of Veggie Foodist.
4. Christmas Morning Muffins from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
5. Home-made Cinnamon Rolls from Kara Stevenson of What's Kookin'.
6. Fruit Challah from Yasmeen of Healthnut.
7. Eggless Orange Muffin from Archana Pritish of Archy's Recipe Book.
8. Almond Orange Muffins from Yasmeen of Healthnut.
9. French Apple Tart from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
10. Lemon Meringue Pie from Swapna Mickey of Swapna's Cuisine.
Irresistible Fudge, Bars & Brownies:
Chewy, sticky, gooey fudges, bars and brownies are the best medicine for a sugar-sick soul! But many of our friends prove that there can be healthy options too! There are ones with fruits, chocolate, nuts - eggless ones and sugar free ones - ones that can be made quickly in the microwave too - familiar ones and new flavors!!
1. Dates and Nut Fudge from Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen.
2. Khajur (Dates) Ladoo from Chandani of Chai's Corner.
3. Rice Krispies Bars from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
4. Decadent Eggless Cookie Bars from Madhuram of Eggless Cooking.
5. Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies from Navita Hakim of Zaayeka.
6. Banana brownies from Navita Hakim of Zaayeka.
7. Chocolate and Walnut Brownies from Purva Desai of Purva's Daawat.
8. Sizzling Brownies (in the microwave!!) from Preeti of Khaugiri.
Santa's Holiday Challenge giveaway - details:
Because of the high number of entries, the judging will be done in two stages. The entries would be classified into 5 as in the round-up. There will be a voting poll on my blog next week for each of these 5 categories. Please pick 3 from each category - the ones you find to be the best. At the end of the first poll, the top 3 entries from each category will be put to vote again, to decide the winners.
The first prize winner will get a $20 gift card, the second place winner will win a $10 gift card and the third place winner will be featured on Tasty treats!
In short:
1. Vote for your 3 favourite entries in each of the five categories.
2. Please check back for the final voting list with 15 entries.
3. Vote again to pick our winners!!
The first voting starts on 12:00 AM Tuesday, 13 January and will be open till 11:59 PM Sunday 18 January. The date for the second voting will be announced as soon as the poll is compiled.
Thanks again for all the support. Have a great day!!
