spice things up

Christmas time in my family is kind of a big deal. I don't just mean that we are enthusiastic. I mean we might be certifiably insane. As the holiday season nears, and yes I am one of those people who consider the day after Halloween to be the holiday season, I'm sure you will get a better understanding of our craziness.

Last Christmas (I gave you my heart but the very ne....oops back to my story) I got a set of spices from my God Mother. Now a normal girl probably wouldn't have been very excited about these, but I am not your average girl. I was stoked! I couldn't wait to get home and make a loaf of her banana bread with my new cinnamon. The funniest part about this is that I'm not even kidding. Exotic cinnamon has rocked my world. I've always been a baker but I hadn't gone into more fun flavor notes. I had just started using sea salt! Mmm...sea salt caramel - remind me to post that recipe sometime soon, it is SO good. 

I have nothing but AMAZING things to say about these spices. Back in April my mom went to Colorado for a long weekend to visit some family. While there she stopped at the Penzeys retail store and picked me up a magnet for my car that says "Love people, Cook them tasty food." I LOVE it. 

I made a triple batch of delicious pumpkin bread this morning and I wanted to share my love affair with my penzeys spices with ya'll. We are talking seriously delicious.

Do you have any secrets to your baking? I'd say that the Ceylon cinnamon has become a secret in most of my baked goods, it makes for the best banana, pumpkin or zucchini bread. The China cinnamon has kicked some major tush in some killer oatmeal raisin cookies!

Are there any other special baking ingredients I should splurge on?