Apologies if this thread already exists - the search function isn't working for me since I popped back in a few weeks ago. Just says 'searching' forever - no results.

Now, on to the topic at hand...

What are you making? What have you made? Traditions? Trying something new?

Me, so far...

I made the family 'Snack' recipe last week. It's better if it sits for a bit before you start eating it.

Yesterday I made...

Peanut Butter Cookies with peanut butter chips and Peanut Butter M&Ms

Dark Chocolate Cookies with Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips and Cherry Cordial M&Ms

Today I knocked out the...

Orange Twists (it's a Lemon-Lime Twist recipe, but I switched everything over to Orange instead - still citrus, but more festive)

Vanilla Cranberry Drops

For sure still have to make the Date cookies. I think I'm doing two of them, because I like both recipes. One is a light ginger cut-out sandwich cookie (home made date paste filling between the cookies). The other is a ball, where you flatten out the cookie, drop a bit of the date paste inside, then shape the cookie dough around it. I want to try the last one because it's a whole wheat dough, which sounds interesting. I like to do a couple random things like that each year.

Not sure if that will be all or not. Still have super tasty banana and pumpkin breads in the freezer from around Thanksgiving.

Have no idea what the Chistmas meal dishes will be yet.

This would've been a hit as an Imago thread.

Fauxie said:

This would've been a hit as an Imago thread.

There's a few people who will post in it during their "awake" hours. It's already 10 PM on the West SiiiIIIIde. Which means folks are asleep, or heading that direction, all across the land.

I only bake cookies/sweets during the holidays, and I give 90% of them to family and friends. The rest of the year my non-entre baking is just breads, rolls, muffins, etc.

An orger gave me a great recipe some years ago for a buttermilk pie. It's a simple project, so even an awful chef like myself can crank one out and come up with something darned impressive. My daughter has been my baking partner over the past couple years, and we've managed to perfect our output. During Christmastime, we amp up the cinnamon and spices for something really fantastic.

We've been asked to bake a buttermilk pie and a pumpkin pie for Christmas and New Years Eve dinner, respectively, this year.

i cant bake

but i do make

and i am making christmas hampers - 36 of them ~ filled with goodies and wine and cellophane

I'm not really putting too much focus on baking this year. I dont know...I'm just not feeling Christmas like I usually do. I start baking cookies about a month before Christmas and freeze them. I used to bake many extravagant things, but my husband and kids tend to really just like the basics, so I stopped torturing myself.

So far I've made Chocolate chip cookies (using that Neiman Marcus cookie recipe), peanut butter kiss cookies, dark chocolate crumb bars and molasses cookies. I still plan on making sugar cookies (got to have them), maybe buckeyes, maybe fudge. It seems like I need something else, but I really have no plans.

Christmas Eve is our biggest and most expensive meal of the year. It's just my husband, our three kids and me, but we still go all out. I do a buffet. Again, I used to go crazy with it, but then get my feelings hurt when my husband would complain. We're still having a lot, but not so many gourmet items as in the past.

Homemade Summer sausage

Cheddar cheese fondue (copy cat recipe from The Melting Pot)

Cocktail weiners in BBQ sauce (request from my son)

Wings (husband request)

Spiral sliced ham

lamb chops

sausage and spinach stuffed mushrooms

smoked salmon

sweet and spicy nuts

veggie/relish tray

crackers

I toyed with the idea of making peking duck, but upon checking out many recipes, decided it was too involved and didn't want to spend that much time with it on Christmas Eve. We usually have one main meat (ham, prime rib, etc), then the other little things.

Last year, I also made hot toddies with milk for me and the kids (they're teen agers and I figured a spoon of alcohol in a drink was fine). This year, I've made home made Kaluha. A quart of it with only about a 1/4 cup of alcohol in it. I'm not supposed to drink alcohol with the meds I'm on. I really miss all the fun holiday drinks! So I make my own super-reduced alcohol versions. Still looking for an alcohol free wine that actually tastes like wine!

ZombieKitten said:

I kind of gave up baking when I stopped with he sugar and crap I've been making fruit smoothie Popsicles each day though!

You could bake with stevia leaf powder or agave syrup though...and use spelt flour in place of white flour ! It's Christmas time, we gotta have baked sweets somehow !

I usually make either a sugarless apple or pumpkin pie because there are several diabetics in the family. I've made gingerbread cookies for a few years and everyone loves them. I also made a pumpkin gingerbread for thanksgiving this year and will probably make another loaf for Christmas.

Yum yum yum!!!!

I generally don't bake over Xmas at all as I just can't afford the calories and I simply don't have the will power to give it all away. I would have that as the intent and I'd still eat half a dozen cookies before they left the house.

Baking cookies with a close family friend is one of my favorite childhood memories. When I started decorating for Xmas at my new house this year with a tree and all I REALLY wanted to start baking but I simply can't do it.

Almond cookies are my favorite. Anything with almond extract and I'm in heaven. I sometimes just pull the bottle out and take a good whiff.

Christmas Baking

Sweet Potato Pie

Black Walnut Cake

Pound Cake with sauce

Buttermilk Pie

Christmas Cookies, it's a receipt I discovered in the Chicago Tribune 20 years ago... they consist of coconut, cranberries, nuts, and raisins.

I absolutely despise buttermilk; to the point that I will not make something that requires it if I can't succesfully substitute it for something else. So Buttermilk Pie probably wouldn't be at the top of my list. I did look up some recipes, though. I'd try it if somebody else made it, because I'm adventurous that way. But I'd want to try a small piece. If I could detect even the slightest little bit of the thick, bitter tang, I probably would not be able to finish it.

Sweet Potato Pie

Black Walnut Cake? Don't know about that one. I put it on the list to check out.

Ooo! Spiced Nuts! I forgot about those. My Grandmother made those every year until I took over for her. Haven't made them in a couple years, though. Since she passed this year maybe I'll make them as a remembrance. Folks have been asking for her Spritz cookies, too, but I hate using the cookie press.

We always have some stuff mushrooms, too.

Homemade Summer Sausage sounds interesting. I don't eat it (veggie and all), but it's something that everybody else in my family looks forward to. I bet the homemade stuff is WAY better.

CarrieMpls said:

I generally don't bake over Xmas at all as I just can't afford the calories and I simply don't have the will power to give it all away. I would have that as the intent and I'd still eat half a dozen cookies before they left the house.

If it's recipes I'm familiar with I can make BATCHES of cookies and never even try them. Friends will come over while I'm baking and ask, "are they good?" And I'll be like, "I don't know. Try them." I've never had a huge sweet tooth, though. I just genuinely enjoy carrying on the tradition of giving somebody something that I actually made with my own hands.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask...

Do cookies freeze well? I've never frozen them. I'd be afraid they softer ones would be harder after the defrost.

Ottensen said:

ZombieKitten said:

I kind of gave up baking when I stopped with he sugar and crap I've been making fruit smoothie Popsicles each day though!

You could bake with stevia leaf powder or agave syrup though...and use spelt flour in place of white flour ! It's Christmas time, we gotta have baked sweets somehow !

I could, but it's been too hot to go running round town to find ingredients that our supermarkets don't stock let alone turn on the oven

ZombieKitten said:

Ottensen said:

You could bake with stevia leaf powder or agave syrup though...and use spelt flour in place of white flour ! It's Christmas time, we gotta have baked sweets somehow !

I could, but it's been too hot to go running round town to find ingredients that our supermarkets don't stock let alone turn on the oven

I completely forgot you're waaay on the other side in the southern hemisphere!!!!

Okay, then that means we have to come up with no-bake Christmas dessert for you!

Cerebus said:

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask...

Do cookies freeze well? I've never frozen them. I'd be afraid they softer ones would be harder after the defrost.

Yes. I freeze all of my cookies. Just let them naturally thaw out and they will be fine. I mean, I wouldn't freeze Divinity probably. But I've been successfully freezing cookies for years.

I'm hoping to hook up with my parents and make some traditional Norwegian lefse and krumkake

Jess will be home from college next week and she and I will be trying Gluten Free Holiday baking for the season

She is also going to eat a GF meal plan with me for the winter break weeks she is home ~ to experience my lifestyle change with me

Looking forward to it !

I'm working on Christmas but decided to cook late on he 24th to hve dinner to take in to work. I scrapped the usual fare(ham, mac & cheese, etc.) and settled on making Chicken Adobo, Giniling and Adobong Kangkong and for dessert brownies with macadamia nuts. Going to get my inner filipino on in the kitchen.

Also plenty of white rice(goes without saying).

Mach said:

Jess will be home from college next week and she and I will be trying Gluten Free Holiday baking for the season

She is also going to eat a GF meal plan with me for the winter break weeks she is home ~ to experience my lifestyle change with me

Looking forward to it !

Fabulous gluten free choc cake; so good you don't need to frost it.

Moist Chocolate Cake

2/3 cup quinoa
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 min. Turn off the heat and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow to cool.

Preheat oven 350. lightly grease two " round or square cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper.

Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Add 2 cups of cooked quinoa and the butter. Blend to smooth.

Whisk together sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Add the contents of the blender - mix well. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans and bake on the center oven rack for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan before serving. Frost if desired.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.

Red said:

Mach said:

Jess will be home from college next week and she and I will be trying Gluten Free Holiday baking for the season

She is also going to eat a GF meal plan with me for the winter break weeks she is home ~ to experience my lifestyle change with me

Looking forward to it !

Fabulous gluten free choc cake; so good you don't need to frost it.

Moist Chocolate Cake

2/3 cup quinoa
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 min. Turn off the heat and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow to cool.

Preheat oven 350. lightly grease two " round or square cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper.

Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Add 2 cups of cooked quinoa and the butter. Blend to smooth.

Whisk together sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Add the contents of the blender - mix well. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans and bake on the center oven rack for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan before serving. Frost if desired.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.

Thank you !

breese said:

I'm hoping to hook up with my parents and make some traditional Norwegian lefse and krumkake

I just had these a couple of months ago!

tinaz said:

breese said:

I'm hoping to hook up with my parents and make some traditional Norwegian lefse and krumkake

I just had these a couple of months ago!

They're really good if done right, which I've never come close to doing

So far...

Chocolate chip cookies

Quadruple chocolate cookies

Bittersweet brownies

Chocolate orgasm brownies

Peanut butter cookies

Peanut butter cookies with brownie chunks

Vanilla sandwich cookies with holiday colored sugar

Whoopie pies with holiday colored filling

Vanilla cake with buttercream, blackberry preserves and fresh blackberries

Assorted cupcakes and muffins

I'm giving baked goods for Christmas, and having a bake sale this weekend.

PunkMistress said:

So far...

Chocolate chip cookies

Quadruple chocolate cookies

Bittersweet brownies

Chocolate orgasm brownies

Peanut butter cookies

Peanut butter cookies with brownie chunks

Vanilla sandwich cookies with holiday colored sugar

Whoopie pies with holiday colored filling

Vanilla cake with buttercream, blackberry preserves and fresh blackberries

Assorted cupcakes and muffins

I'm giving baked goods for Christmas, and having a bake sale this weekend.

Look who "came over"

I have a new cooking blog for you, btw:

Cheddar & Bacon Biscuits

[Edited 12/15/12 0:17am]

Cerebus said:

Apologies if this thread already exists - the search function isn't working for me since I popped back in a few weeks ago. Just says 'searching' forever - no results.

Now, on to the topic at hand...

My mom used to bake hundreds of cookies for Christmas. My favorite were those simple cookie press cookies. I think it's just a simple butter cookie recipe, but the dough was put through an aluminum cookie press in shapes of Christmas trees, snowflakes, etc. As a matter of fact, they looked exactly like the cookies on the right. She also made a sort of shortbread cookies called "walnut crescents," which were very delicate and covered in powdered sugar, It wasn't a very sweet cookie, even though it was covered in powdered sugar. They would melt in your mouth.

Shyra said:

Cerebus said:

Apologies if this thread already exists - the search function isn't working for me since I popped back in a few weeks ago. Just says 'searching' forever - no results.

Now, on to the topic at hand...

My mom used to bake hundreds of cookies for Christmas. My favorite were those simple cookie press cookies. I think it's just a simple butter cookie recipe, but the dough was put through an aluminum cookie press in shapes of Christmas trees, snowflakes, etc. As a matter of fact, they looked exactly like the cookies on the right. She also made a sort of shortbread cookies called "walnut crescents," which were very delicate and covered in powdered sugar, It wasn't a very sweet cookie, even though it was covered in powdered sugar. They would melt in your mouth.

For me that's the true measure of a delicious Christmas cookie: that buttery, melt in your mouth factor