Christmas in the kitchen

It's exam week at Roanoke College and for most that means long nights, high stress and lots of Sheetz. But not for me. I had my two horrible seminar exams (10 hours total) last week and this week I only have Business Comm (finished this afternoon) and Spanish on Thursday. I took advantage of this light schedule by picking up extra hours working at the library. Between that and running, I still have some extra time on my hands, so I decided to delve into some pre-Christmas baking.

I had some extra pie crust in the fridge from my pumpkin pie-making and our kitchen is overflowing with apples so I combined a few recipes online and made three mini pies. (Lucky I only have 2 roommates!) I chopped and peeled a large apple and mixed in some cinnamon and about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  I used a small bowl to cut out three smaller round crusts 3-4 inches in diameter.  I made tiny pies in a cupcake pan, added my apples (there were some left over to nibble on), and used a few extra pieces of the crust to lay over the pies. Then I just baked them at 375 for about 20 minutes.  

While that was baking, I made some hot cocoa in the microwave.  I threw in some toffee bits to make yummy toffee hot cocoa! I will definitely be doing that again. I might even try it in my coffee!

Do you have any fun recipes you like this time of year? Or something new you've tried recently? I'm always looking for neat new things to try during this holiday.