So Christmas is this weekend. If you’re as confused as I am about where December went (and most of October and November, for that matter), you’ll be glad to know that there are some holiday baking recipes you can still squeeze in this week.

This blondie recipe is a great example. It’s a one-bowl recipe (or, it is now that I’ve lazified it), only needs about 30 minutes of oven time, and is bold enough in flavor to rank up against the holiday cookie greats like biscotti, sugar cookies, and toffee.

Well, maybe not the toffee. But for a recipe that’s about a fifth the work, I’d say these blondies hold their own pretty well.

Gingerbread-White Chocolate Blondies
Adapted from Martha Stewart

These blondies have a really nice balance of spice and sweet. I’m not always a huge fan of gingerbready treats, but these are fantastic. I’m not sure how well they’d ship, but I don’t think you’ll have any problem pawning them off on your in-town friends – or polishing them off yourself.

2 1/2 sticks (20 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
10 ounces white chocolate (or a bag of white chocolate chips), coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 by 13 inch baking pan (or two 8 by 8s, or something similar) with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

2. Melt butter with the sugars in the microwave (I use a pyrex measuring cup, and then dump the butter and sugars into a mixing bowl, but a microwave-safe bowl will work too). Add in the eggs, vanilla, and molasses, and stir. Add the baking soda, salt, and spices, and stir again. Add the flour and mix well. Add the white chocolate and stir.

3. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the center is almost set. Let cool, and then share with someone you love.

Around Thanksgiving, there’s always a whole lot of kerfuffle about “repurposing leftovers.”

Frankly, I don’t really get it.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the creativity of some of these suggestions, or that they don’t look delicious. Turkey tacos are fantastic, but I’d rather buy ingredients separately and make those in December. Same with turkey paninis and turkey casseroles, etc.

Because I’m a) lazy, b) a big fan of turkey and the fixings, and c) lazy, I like my Thanksgiving leftovers straight-up. Thanksgiving dinner was great the first time around, so why wouldn’t it be great reheated on Friday or (and) Saturday or (and) Sunday? Around here, the law of diminishing returns on leftovers doesn’t set in until day five or six.

Still, every once in awhile, I see a photo or get an idea that makes me totally okay with the idea of repurposing leftovers, even to the point of using the stuffing (gasp!) for something other than stuffing my face.

I saw some reference to a “scrapple-style” Thanksgiving leftover dish. Being almost completely ignorant of East Coast cuisine, I assumed scrapple was like scramble, so skillets and eggs and bread and bacon and things like that. Turns out I was way off, but other people have also had the same skillet-egg-stuffing idea.

Once I saw the Day After Thanksgiving Hash at How Sweet It Is, this dish was firmly on the menu.

This morning, we sautéed some chopped onions with dusky sage and sweet thyme, added a few generous dollops of stuffing, cracked some eggs on top, and stuck the whole pan in the oven for a few minutes.

Cary really gets the credit for this dish, as the baking part was his suggestion. I was going to get out another pan and fry eggs separately, much to the chagrin of the lazy part of me. Cary, as usual, is way ahead of me.

This dish is really good. Like, make more stuffing just to make this dish good. Seriously.

Thanksgiving Baked Eggs
Inspired by How Sweet It Is

Butter
1-2 onions, chopped
Fresh thyme, destemmed
Fresh sage, chopped
A few generous scoops of stuffing
Salt and pepper to taste
An egg or two per person

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In an ovenproof skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the herbs (save a few for topping the eggs when they get out of the oven) and the stuffing and continue sautéing until the stuffing starts to brown and everything smells delicious. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add eggs directly on top of the stuffing.

2. Bake eggs until cooked to your liking, probably 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with more herbs, and share with someone you love.