A last-minute baking tip

Years ago I read a quilting magazine with a column by someone who called herself "The Goddess of the Last Minute." As a last-minute kind of girl myself, I could appreciate that sentiment. One day this week, I set aside a few hours to bake Christmas treats for some business clients. I was going to use some rectangular mini loaf pans, but at the last minute I discovered that I do not in fact own any mini loaf pans. I thought I did, but what I had was mini loaf pans shaped like Christmas trees, which is not what I had in mind. Then I remembered finding this Nordic Ware Christmas pan on clearance earlier this year. It would have to do. I had loaves of Cranberry Tea Bread to bake!

The mini loaves came out beautifully, but they sort of wobbled on the bottom because of that raised design featuring a bow, snowman, Santa, candy cane, etc. "If only I could cover up that indention," I thought, and then I realized I could! I simply snipped off pieces of parchment paper, plopped them into the pan as shown here, and voila, flat-bottomed mini loaves could be made in this pan. I was so proud of my solution to this latest baking blunder, I thought it was worth sharing here!