A quick narrative recipe I wrote as a kind of epilogue to  helixthefallen's Naughty and Nice story where there's a scene starring Ryker himself. It's pretty short and sweet just a tad over 1000 words. It picks up right where  helixthefallen leaves off Ryker's scene.

Plus its a quick little Christmas treat for y'all. I know I haven't written a ton this year and some stuff just hasn't been able to get done when I wanted it to because life is busy. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy and have a merry Christmas season!

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A Christmas Treat

The freshly minted polar bear blinked at his reflection in the mirror. Instead of the emerald green eyes that he had grown accustomed to, there were icy blue eyes shimmering back at him, a lingering affect of the Christmas magic.

Deep inside David knew he wouldn’t last, like Frosty the Snowman. When the sun rises in the morning, he’d melt away and revert back to the crocowolf, Ryker. In the brief time he was around, he knew what the wolf craved, the lingering, aching sweet tooth of a wolf longing for the simple sweetness of holiday treats.

The bear smiled and turned on his heel toward the kitchen. At least Ryker kept a well-stocked pantry. There were plenty of ingredients to pull from to begin his baking marathon.

He’d start with preparing a fresh batch of muffins with a holiday twist. In a flurry, David collected a series of ingredients from the pantry and fridge.

1 STICK (1/2 CUP) Unsalted Butter
2 TBLS Vegetable Oil
¾ CUP Granulated Sugar
1 TSP Peppermint Extract
2 TSP Vanilla Extract
3 LARGE Eggs
2 ¼ CUPS All Purpose Flour
2 ½ TSP Baking Powder
1 TSP Salt
¼ Cocao Powder
6.5 OZ. Peppermint Bark
4 Candy Canes

Now that his ingredients were layed out before him, the bear got to work. He quickly started up the oven, bringing it to a roaring 425°F. He quickly got to lining a muffin tray with liners and greasing the ledges so that the muffins wouldn’t stick once they had baked.

The bear quickly set to combining the BUTTER, SUGAR, OIL, PEPPERMINT EXTRACT, and VANILLA EXTRACT in a large bowl. Since it was awfully late, he opted to cream together his ingredients by hand. He carefully plucked a wooden spoon from the utensil caddy and set to work. Without an electric mixer, it took a bit longer, but it was a fine enough workout.

Once everything was well combined, he added the EGGS one at a time, beating them into the forming batter between each new addition.

In a smaller bowl, he sifted the FLOUR, BAKING POWDER, SALT, and COCOA POWDER together, giving it a light mix just to combine.

Slowly he began to combine the FLOUR MIXTURE, MILK, and BUTTER MIXTURE in parts, starting with a third of the flour, followed by half of the milk, and so on until the batter was finished. It was almost ready to put into the muffin tin and bake, but there was one more thing to add.

The bear quickly pulled out a cutting board and roughly chopped the peppermint bark into bite-sized pieces and folded them into the batter. Now it was ready for the oven!

He quickly filled the muffin caveties all the way with batter and placed the tray on the bottom rack of the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes.

While the muffins were baking, he crushed the CANDY CANES into pieces and set them aside.

Once the 10 minutes were up, he reduced the oven’s temperature to a cooler 375°F and continued baking the muffins for another 10 minutes. The muffins rose tall, a classic bakery-style muffin.

But the muffins weren’t quite done yet. He pulled the tray from the oven and sprinkled the crushed candy canes over the muffins and returned them to the oven for another minute or two, just long enough for the candy to stick to the muffins without falling off.

Now that the muffins were done. Their dark, chocolaty exteriors were now peppered with candy canes and specks of peppermint bark. They’d need some time to cool before Ryker could eat them when the sun rose.

As he began to clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes he had generated while baking, David began to wonder. Wait. If Ryker is part dog, wouldn’t the chocolate be toxic to him?

After a moment of thought he realized that it wouldn’t be a problem for the hybrid. After all, there was a shocking amount of chocolate in the pantry. If it were fully toxic, surely the wolf wouldn’t keep it handy? With a shrug, David figured that if anything the chocolate might act more like a mild intolerance.

With the dishes clean and the kitchen clear once more, David looked at the time. It was still a few hours until morning. He could continue baking and give Ryker the gift of more sweets to sate the wolf’s ever-present sweet tooth, but the bear decided to give the wolf a better gift. He’d leave instructions for how to make the chocolate-peppermint muffins as well as a few extra recipes so that the wolf could learn how to bake his own treats.

The bear quietly padded into the office, grabbed a few pieces of paper, and began writing out a handful of recipes for the wolf to learn. The bear’s handwriting was elegant and smooth as the pen glided across the paper. The recipes shared a unique cursive script one might use to write a letter to Santa himself. Penmanship was always a strong suit for the bear.

As the embers of the oncoming sunrise began to peek through the window, David wrote a short letter for Ryker before the Christmas sunrise would melt him away and bring the wolf back to his senses.
Dear Ryker,

Though my time was short, I hope these muffins find you well. Maybe they’ll last a bit longer than the store-bought ones.
Although, I presume your sweet tooth will get the better of you and they’d hardly last the day. Not to worry, I’ve left behind the recipe should you want to recreate them yourself. A little present from me to you.

I’ve also written down a few other recipes for you to try. I promise they’re just as good.

Alas, as I write this, the sun has begun to rise an my time is at an end.

Have a merry Christmas and know that you can always take comfort in the love of a warm treat.

Sincerely,

David the Polar Bear

David set down the pen and walked back to the living room, watching the sunrise on a new, beautiful Christmas morning. He smiled as the magic melted away, reverting his body back to the red, wolfish form of Ryker.

To Ryker, it was as if he was waking up from a pleasant dream. He felt well-rested and warm. His long tail curled onto his lap and into his arms, its comforting fluffiness making the crocowolf feel safe and secure, despite the pain of his time with Intramorph.

Slowly, his eyes fluttered open and his canine muzzle opened in a wide yawn. His sharp teeth shone in the golden glow of the morning sun.

He stretched his limbs and stood up from the couch. His nose caught the scent of something sweet in the air and his stomach growled. He groggily trudged into the kitchen and found the sweet treat that David had left for him, alongside the note and a few recipe cards.

Quietly, he read the letter and smiled.

It would be a good Christmas.