Teacher Appreciation Week (from the night kitchen)

I wanted to take advantage of all of my new baking recipes and donate some goodies to Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's schools.  There were two late nights (into the wee hours if I am being honest) of making maple pecan sticky buns and another night (where at least I was in bed before midnight) of cupcakes and dipped pretzels.

So what I learned is that no one deserves this more than the teachers and it was my pleasure to make stuff from scratch.  However, it is no small achievement.  By its very nature, making things from scratch is truly a labor of love.  Unless you do it professionally, it is done after work, dinner and laundry.  When the house is quiet you pull out the recipe folder and independently get to work.  Luckily for me there was a "Housewives of Orange County" marathon that provided company and required me to pay attention once every 10 minutes, fitting together perfectly with the KitchenAid mixer's schedule.