Here is the official TIP Holiday Recipe Swap post. It's open to all, and all you need to do to participate is post a favorite holiday recipe that you and your family enjoy, especially for treats like cookies, candies, cakes, and pies.
It doesn't have to be a "secret family recipe" or your great-great-great-great-great-great grandma's potato candy recipe she brought over on the Mayflower anything, just something you and your family look forward to having every year. If you have a story that goes along with your recipe, feel free to share it!
Someone requsted that this post be made a sticky so hopefully one of our All Powerful Mods can do that for at least the next week or so.
Here's one of my favorites - I gave these out as gifts at work last year and people REALLY enjoyed them. And forget rum balls -- I'm from Virginia! These are definitely NOT for the kids.
BOURBON BALLS
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch process cocoa 1/4 cup bourbon (or more :Y:) 2 T light corn syrup 2-1/2 cups Nilla wafers 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Sift together 1 cup of the sugar and the cocoa in a medium bowl. Whisk the bourbon and corn syrup together and stir into the cocoa mixture. Crush the Nilla wafers in a food processor or whatever you use to crush things and mix with the chopped pecans. Stir the pecan mixture into the cocoa mixture and roll with two hands into 1-inch balls (like you're making meatballs). Roll balls in 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Store between layers of parchment or waxed paper in an airtight container up to 3 weeks. These get better after a few days.
This is the Apple Crisp I'm not allowed to show up to family gatherings without.
INGREDIENTS 6 whole Medium Apples, Peeled, Sliced And Cored (Macoun Are The Best, But Macintosh Work Well Too) 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice 2 Tablespoons Water ¾ cups Firmly Packed Dark Brown Sugar ½ cups All-purpose Flour ½ cups Rolled Oats 1 teaspoon Cinnamon ½ cups Salted Butter
DIRECTIONS Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine water and lemon juice in a small cup.
To make the topping: combine the brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, cinnamon and butter in a medium bowl. Using two knives, cut together the ingredients until crumbly.
Place half of the apples in an 8 or 9-inch square pan. Sprinkle half of the lemon juice and water mixture over the tops of the apples. Sprinkle 1/3 of the topping over the apple layer.
Place the remaining apples on top of the apple and topping layers.
Sprinkle the remaining lemon juice and water mixture over apples.
Sprinkle the remaining topping over the apples. Make sure to cover the whole pan evenly; this is going to turn into the top crust.
Red Velvet-Swirl Cake with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting
I make this every year on demand.
1 (18.25-ounce) package white cake mix 3 egg whites 1 1/3 cups buttermilk 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 (9-ounce) package yellow cake mix 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 large egg 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
Beat first 4 ingredients according to cake mix package directions. Beat yellow cake mix and next 6 ingredients according to package directions. Spoon red batter alternately with white batter into 2 or 3 greased and floured round cakepans. Swirl batter gently with a knife. Bake at 350° for 22 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks. Spread Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.
Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at low speed until smooth. Add extract, beating until blended.
ETA: To garnish, smash some mini candy canes and sprinkle the pieces on top.
Nanaimo Bars (or as my grandma calls them "kill me quicks") are our family's favorite holiday treat. I think it's because they are such a pain in the butt to make, so we only make them at Christmas. I've found that making them in the "perfect brownie pan" makes it easier to cut them because they chocolate on top usually breaks apart strangely.
1/2 cup butter 1/4 cup white sugar 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1 cup shredded coconut 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1/4 cup butter 2 cups powdered sugar 2 tablespoons vanilla custard powder 3 tablespoons milk 4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped 1 tablespoon butter
1.Mix 1/2 cup butter or margarine, white sugar, cocoa, egg and vanilla in a heavy sauce pan or double boiler. Stir over low heat until it has a custardy appearance. 2.Mix graham crackers, coconut and walnuts and add to the melted mixture. Pack into buttered 9 inch square cake pan. 3.Cream 1/4 cup butter, powdered sugar, vanilla custard powder (jello pudding mix) and milk. Beat until creamy and spread over melted base. 4.Refrigerate till hardened. 5.Melt semi-sweet chocolate with 1 tablespoon butter and spread over custard icing. Refrigerate. When totally hard cut into square bars.
Mmmmm.... My mom always makes bourbon balls, but I never have. It could be time to change that. We long ago relaced the pumpkin pie in our house for chocolate chess.
Chocolate Chess Pie
2 eggs 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 stick butter pinch salt 1 t vanilla small can of evaporated millk 6 T cocoa
Cream butter and sugar. Mix in remainder of ingredients. Pour into uncooked pie crust and place in a cold oven. Bake at 370 for 10 minutes and 350 for 45.
Deliciousness. And simple. (Unless you forget to add the eggs, like I did this year. Oops!) I plan on playing around with adding different extracts to it, but I never have. If anyone gives it a shot, let me know!
Mmmmm.... My mom always makes bourbon balls, but I never have. It could be time to change that. We long ago relaced the pumpkin pie in our house for chocolate chess.
Chocolate Chess Pie
2 eggs 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 stick butter pinch salt 1 t vanilla small can of evaporated millk 6 T cocoa
Cream butter and sugar. Mix in remainder of ingredients. Pour into uncooked pie crust and place in a cold oven. Bake at 370 for 10 minutes and 350 for 45.
Deliciousness. And simple. (Unless you forget to add the eggs, like I did this year. Oops!) I plan on playing around with adding different extracts to it, but I never have. If anyone gives it a shot, let me know!
Welp, this is going to happen in my house asap. Maybe I'll try it with almond extract...
YES TO PIEROGI RECIPE!!!! ------------- White Chocolate Mousse Torte prep time: 4+ hours; 10 minutes hands on
base: 30 amaretti cookies 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
filling: 14 oz white chocolate 2c heavy cream, room temp 1/4c milk, room temp
(9 in springform cake pan, greased & lined with a collar of wax paper) ------------- Crush the cookies in a food processor until they're fine crumbs, then transfer to a bowl and mix in the melted butter. Put the mixture in the prepared pan and press firmly to make the crust.
melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Set aside until lukewarm.
Put the cream and milk in a bowl and use a hand mixer (or just a stand mixer) and beat until it leaves a ribbon-like trail on the surface when the mixer is lifted.
Using a large spoon, stir a spoonful of the cream mixture into the chocolate to slacken, then immediately pour it into the remaining cream mix. Stir until smooth and mousse-like. Don't worry if there are tiny lumps of chocolate, it'll still taste good.
Pour into the pan and swirl the top. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. When set, remove the pan but leave the base on and peel off the paper collar. Let stand for a few minutes to soften, then cut into thin slices and serve. ------------ my alterations: you guys know I don't fuck around with a springform pan or buy amaretti cookies for this shit, right? I just do a standard graham cracker crust in a regular pie plate. You may have too much of the cream/chocolate mix as a result. I like to serve this with raspberry sauce and a cup of coffee to cut the sheer crazy richness.
raspberry sauce: 1 bag frozen raspberries 1/2c sugar like 1/2c water
just dump everything in a saucepan and cook it until the fruit pretty much disintegrates (like 10 mins of simmering), then pass through a strainer to remove the seeds.
Here is my recipe. My mother in law makes the best sugar cookies. So I now make her recipe.
Ingredients
1-1/2 - cups of white sugar
1 –cup of shortening (I prefer Crisco)
2-eggs
1-teaspoon of vanilla
1-teaspoon of lemon extract
2-teaspoons of baking soda
1/2- cup sour cream
4- cups of flour
Extras:frost with vanilla frosting and top with sprinkles
Cream together 1 ½ cups of sugar and 1 cup of shortening.
Add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of lemon extract and mix.
Combine 2 teaspoon of baking soda with one half cup of sour cream in separate bowl and then add it to first bowl.
Add 4 cups of flour. Slowly until it is all combined.
On a pastry cloth roll it to about ¼” to ½” thick. I usually make them closer to ½”.
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. If you want them chew don’t wait until they are brown on top. Just get them light brown on the bottom.
These make excellent cookie cutter cookies. Once cookies have cooled you can frost them and top with sprinkles.
Post by wrathofkuus on Dec 5, 2012 12:23:51 GMT -5
Real, authentic Slovak pierogi recipe:
For the dough: regular flour eggs water
For the filling: red potatoes, peeled and boiled dry curd cottage cheese (one tub for about 5 pounds of potatoes) salt to taste lots of freshly ground black pepper (adding chopped chives, while not strictly authentic, is tasty as all hell)
Mash all of the filling ingredients together really well, no potato lumps.
Mix the dough at proportions like a couple of cups of flour, one egg, a cup and a half of water, adding more flour until the dough is stretchy but not particularly sticky.
Roll out the dough until it is slightly thinner than you would roll a pie crust. This will be tricky, since it stretches and bounces and will look rolled out only to spring back to a much heavier thickness. Really, I recommend using the dough-rolling attachment for a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It's a lifesaver.
Cut the dough into around four-inch squares, and put a tablespoon of the filling in the middle. Fold it over so it's now a triangle, mash the sides together with a fork, and then sort of roll-fold them in so that they don't burst apart and leak all the innards. You know what I mean, right?
Drop the pierogi into a pot of water at a rolling boil, and wait until they float before draining and rinsing. Rub them with a little butter so that they don't stick together in the meantime.
To serve them, melt a shitton of salted butter in a skillet and stir vigorously until all the butter solids are a nice golden brown. Toss the hot pierogi in this to serve, and garnish with more browned butter and, if you're extra festive, some caramelized onion.
Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet (I use parchment paper instead of greasing the cookie sheet).
Combine the peanut butter, 1 cup sugar replacement, the egg, and vanilla, and stir well. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. With a fork (dipped in splenda to prevent sticking) press a crisscross design on each cookie.
Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven, and sprinkle the cookies with some of the remaining splenda. Cool slightly before removing from pan.
I usually end up with 12-18 cookies, depending on the size I make the dough balls.
H's crazy Italian aunt (she's basically Marie Barone without the DIL to harass) flips when I make these. The first time I met the woman, she stopped me right inside the door, shoved a fork in my face and told me to "try this and tell me if it needs more salt". I got fancy lotion from Italy for Christmas that year and she always brings a small bowl of these meatballs that she makes (they're really freaking good) if she knows that I'm going to be where she's going.
She's about 70 years old and I think she owns a bedazzler. All of her clothes have sparkles and studs and stuff on them. Even down the outside seam of her jeans.
1 cup chopped pecans (I love candied pecans for this) Fold in, beat well
Grease & flour 2 cookie sheets. Place batter, by tablespoons, down two long sides of each pan (sort of smooth together each grouping once you've done so to almost create little "loaves"). Bake at 350*F for 20 minutes, turning pans after 10.
Remove from oven. Cut 1" diagonal slices on each roll/loaf. Turn each slice on its side. Bake 7 minutes. Remove. Turn slices on other side (carefully, they're hot, but we use our hands anyway). Bake 7 minutes. Remove & cool on rack.
These are delicious dipped into coffee for breakfast.
Post by starrieskies on Dec 5, 2012 13:39:16 GMT -5
Jess, have you ever tried pistachios and dried cranberries in your biscotti? This would be rather festive looking with the red and green, and dipped in white chocolate, no?
Sadly, I forgot my recipe's this morning. Apparently I forgot to zip my pants as well. (I'm FULL of awesome today). I will grab them tonight and present myself for flaming as I add to the thread tomorrow.
Jar of baby dills (if you love the sour pickle taste, get regular-sized dills)
Couple bricks of cream cheese, light or regular
Couple packages of Carl Buddig beef or ham
Place the pickles on a plate covered with paper towels. Put more paper towels over the pickles and let them dry for a few hours.
Set the cream cheese out to thaw.
When pickles are dry(er) and cream cheese is soft, take a piece of the beef or ham, smear a bunch of cream cheese on it, and roll a pickle in the whole thing. Cut them up into bite-sized pieces or leave them whole for a penis-on-a-plate look.
Sounds gross but they are AMAZING and I bring them everywhere. What I get in weird looks is vastly overshadowed by "holy crap I love these penises so much"
I'm originally from Michigan and Polish/Czech and we make pierogis too. My recipe for the dough is a bit different but the way you cook them is the same.
We also make mashed potato/onion/cheese and ground meat/ and goat cheese one. My grandmother makes prune and sauerkraut but I never got into those.
You know the thing your grandma would make w/ the leftover bits of pie crust? called 'plut' in the Mr's family? This is a cookie recipe based on that:
Cinnamon Spirals, AKA 'plut' cookies (They are better if you glaze them (just a simple milk + powdered sugar glaze--so that's not 'officially' in the recipe'
Directions 1.In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour and salt until well mixed, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.
2.On sheet of plastic wrap, pat dough into small rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until dough is firm enough to roll. (Or freeze dough for 30 minutes.)
3.Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
4.On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll dough into 15" by 12" rectangle. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over dough.
5.Starting from a long side, tightly roll rectangle jelly-roll fashion. Brush last 1/2-inch of dough with water to help seal edge. Cut log crosswise in half. Slide logs onto cookie sheet; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or until dough is firm enough to slice. (Or freeze dough for 45 minutes.)
6.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove 1 log from freezer; with serrated knife, cut log crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place cookies, 1/2-inch apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet (on parchment paper is better)
.7.Bake cookies 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining log. Store cookies in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 3 days, or in freezer up to 3 months.
(ICE-I don't have a recipe for this...mix powdered sugar & some vanilla and milk to make a glaze. dump over the top.)
PITA Peanut-Butter stuffed Chocolate cookies. These are, obviously, a PITA. But they're worth it.
1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup dutch cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup peanut butter 1 egg 1 tablespoon milk 1 teaspoon vanilla
Peanut Butter Filling 3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup peanut butter 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Preheat oven to 350
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl beat together butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and 1/4 cup peanut butter until well combined. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Beat well. Gently mix in the flour mixture about 1/3 at a time until incorporated. Form the chocolate dough into 32 balls.
For the filling
Combine confectioners' sugar and 1/2 cup peanut butter in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Form into 32 balls.
Working on a silpat or parchment, gently flatten each chocolate ball. Top with peanut butter ball. Carefully fold chocolate dough over the peanut butter ball and seal the edges. Roll dough into a ball.
Place balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. (if you have a cookie stamp/press thing, it works too :-p)
Bake cookies for about 8 minutes,until the surface begins to slightly crack. Let cool for 1 minute on the sheet. Transfer to wire racks and cool
1/2 c of cooked mashed potatoes 1 lb Jack Frost sugar (powdered sugar) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/8 teaspoon salt 2/3 c. of peanut butter
Directions:
Cook and mash potatoes, then add salt. Gradually add the sugar and stir. Save enough sugar to roll out candy on with rolling pin. Roll out until less than 1/4 inch thick. When rolled out, spread with peanut butter.
Roll up candy into a long tube, and cut into slices. Keep refrigerated.
Grandma always said " add sugar until it looks right."--the recipe is VERY non-exact. The type of potato, the humidity, the stars' alignment--all of them affect the amount of sugar you need. It's 'right' when it's the consistency of a good dough--play-doh like.
Something weird happens when you add the sugar--some sort of chemical reaction w/ the potato. It turns into liquid--(like a thick syrup) Then as you add more sugar, it becomes thick.
These are incredibly sweet. VERY sweet. Like turn your face inside out like it's sour level of sweet. I swear if you eat to many, you see sugar plums dancing. Or maybe that's just because we normally eat them w/ booze at 2 am.
OMG I think Baby Fuss would LOVE these. He pretty much destroyed the pickle platter at his school holiday party last year (the owners are Hungarian), and he loves ham and cream cheese too!
2 eggs plus one yolk 1 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon cloves
Cream butter, sugar, and honey until well mixed.
Beat eggs with cinnamon and clove; add to butter mixture
Mix flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Add to butter and egg mixture, mix until well combined.
Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Heat oven to 325. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies and place on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies start to brown around the edges.
OMG I think Baby Fuss would LOVE these. He pretty much destroyed the pickle platter at his school holiday party last year (the owners are Hungarian), and he loves ham and cream cheese too!
My husband's family does something similar. It's pickled wax peppers and cream cheese wrapped in salami. I don't like peppers so I usually pull them out - but I could get behind a pickle!