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If you love food as much as we do, you might not be satisfied with decorating your tree with metallic balls and figurines of ice skaters. Those things are cute and all, but they’re just not very … you. You want to do your food-lover’s tree up right! With personality and ornaments and flourishes that reflect your obsession with all things baked goods and the thrill of a well-planned dinner.

Here’s how you decorate your tree — and the presents underneath! — in a totally classy way and still do your food-loving tendencies justice.

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Chocolate Coconut Cake

(Image credit: Christine Han)

If coconut oil has a regular place in your pantry, you may already know what a treat it can be to bake with. While it’s a staple in vegan desserts, you certainly don’t have to follow a special diet to work this fragrant oil into your cakes, cookies, and muffins. Coconut oil is a versatile baking staple; here’s what you should know about making it work for you.

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(Image credit: Adrienne Breaux)

From Apartment Therapy → The Safest Conversation Starters for Any Social Situation

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Chocolate is pretty darn good on its own. Add nuts, bits of cookie, or other candies to the mix and it’s game on, people. “Bark” is, by far, the least appealing name in the holiday treats portfolio, but these irregularly shaped shards of heaven more than make up for it once you take a bite.

These days there are plenty of bark flavors to choose from, so if you’re not a white chocolate kind of person, no biggie — there’s still a bark for you and everybody on your list. These are the best of the best.

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Despite the restrictions that come with a Paleo diet, you can still enjoy baked goods. The key to cooking up successful sweets is knowing how to make the right ingredients work for you. Here are five important tips all Paleo bakers need to know.

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When what you’re after is the ultimate edible gift that will win hearts (and stomachs), it’s time to go straight to nostalgic comfort food. Assembled in a tall jar, this DIY instant mac and cheese goes way beyond anything you’ll find in a box, and cooks up into an ultra-creamy dinner to feed the whole table.

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You could put oranges, socks, and scratch-off lottery cards in a holiday stocking. Or, you could go with some (or all) of these fun-yet-inexpensive gifts and you might get a better reaction. You know, something more like, “Woah, cool!” and less like, “Thanks, I’ve been meaning to get a new toothbrush.”

Here are 11 surprising stocking stuffers that won’t break the bank.

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From Apartment Therapy → Simplify Your Gift Giving This Year with Four Words

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Spritz cookies are a busy baker’s best friend. The ingenious contraption of a cooke press allows you to create different shapes of cookies so that you have a wide variety of cookie designs, all with very little effort. While the standard vanilla-flavored spritz cookies are delicious, simply adding some fresh lemon juice and zest to the dough gives it a bright flavor that’s welcome on any cookie plate.

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(Image credit: Bakers Royale)

If you’re hosting brunch this weekend, promise me you’ll stop at your local bakery and pick up some croissants today. Leave them out to get a little stale, and then use them to make the best bread pudding ever.

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