How to bake yummy things for the holidays

Wow this sounds good, my grandmother made one that soaked in rum for awhile before being eaten
 
This I made for Thanksgiving barely lasted the day(Pumpkin-Cheesecake Pie)

The recipe is presented without resizing, providing 10 servings

The perfect ending to Thanksgiving dinner, but wonderful any time...

Ingredients:

1 pastry for single-crust pie partially baked ( i used a vanilla wafer type crust - you can buy it )
1 8-oz package full-fat cream cheese room temperature ( used the real thing )
1/2 cup Granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
2 large EGGS
1 large Egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
lemon zest one of one lemon, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Canned pumpkin
2/3 cup Half-and-half

Preparation:
Prepare, bake, and cool the pie crust.

Heat oven to 350 degrees (F). With an electric mixer or food processor, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugars and blend until smooth. Then add whole eggs and yolk, vanilla, lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, pumpkin and half-and-half. Blend until smooth and evenly mixed. Pour the filling into the pie shell.

Place pie pan on center oven rack and bake 25 minutes. Rotate pan 180 degrees and continue baking 20 minutes, or until the top has puffed slightly. The center may still be a little wobbly, but it should not be soupy. Transfer pie to cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Cover loosely tented with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Makes 10 servings.
 
Rum Cake

Servings: 8

Ingredients:
2 qt Rum
1 c Butter
1 ts Sugar
2 lg Eggs
1 c Dried fruit
Baking powder
1 ts Soda
Lemon juice
Brown sugar
Nuts


Instructions:
Before you start, sample the Rum to check for quality. Good isn't it? Now go ahead.

Select a large mixing bowl, measuring cup, etc. Check the Rum again. It must be just right. To be sure the Rum is of the highest quality, pour one level cup of Rum into a glass and drink it as fast as you can. Repeat.

With an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add 1 seaspoon of thugar and beat again. Meanwhile, make sure the Rum is of the finest quality. Try another cup. Open second quart if necessary.

Add 2 arge leggs, 2 cups of fried druit and beat till high. If fruit gets stuck in beaters, just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the Rum again, checking for tonscisticity.

Next, sift 2 cups of pepper or salt ( it really doesn't matter). Sample the Rum again.

Sift 1/2 pint of lemon juice. Fold in chopped butter and strained nuts. Add 1 babblespoon of brown thugar (or whatever color you can find). Wix mell. Grease oven and turn cake pan to 350 gredees. Now pour the whole mess into the boven and ake.

Check the Rum again, and bo to ged.

Sappy Frolidays....

:D

LOL should make an interesting time in the kitchen.

Other great recipes on here as well!
 
Bring on the chocolate!

This is a super dense, nearly flourless chocolate cake. A lil bit goes a long way.

Chocolate Truffle Cake

1 lb semi or bittersweet chocolate
2 tsp flour
4 eggs, separated
8 Tblsp butter
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp hot water

Grease and line an 8 inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Melt the chocolate and butter together and put into a larger bowl. Add the flour, sugar, and water and mix well. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and mix until well combined. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold them gently into the batter. Spoon into the prepared pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 min.

Cool and remove from pan. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream.

(Can be done as minis in mini muffin tins. Line with mini muffin papers, and reduce cooking time to 10 min.)
 
Oreo Balls

1 package Oreo Cookies
1 block cream cheese, softened
1 package Chocolate Almond Bark or Bakers Chocolate Baking Squares


Place Oreo Cookies in a baggie and smash until it is the consistency of dirt. Mix softened cream cheese into smashed cookies. Form into balls. (I like to put mine on wax paper.) Melt chocolate according to package directions in microwave. Cover balls in chocolate. Place in refrigerator.



Pete Schweddy: Well, there's no beating my Balls. They're made from a secret Schweddy Family recipe. No one can resist my Schweddy Balls.
 
Thanks to everyone for posting! Some great recipes on here.

Welcome Ace and Teaforme. :)

Something Savory for your buffet table.

Crab Cheesecake
shell:
2 cups Italian breadcrumbs
1/2 cup melted butter

filling:
1 lb crab meat, cleaned
1 1/2 lbs cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 Tblsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tps seafood seasoning (old bay-ish)
2 Tblsp chopped fresh chives
2 Tblsp chopped red pepper
2 Tblsp lemon juice

Combine bread crumbs, and butter. Press 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Reserve the last 1/4 of mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixer, beat the cream cheese, eggs, and mustard until fluffy. Add the seasonings, chives, pepper, and lemon juice and beat until combined. Fold in the crab gently. Spoon into the shell and smooth the top.
Sprinkle the top with the remaining bread crumbs. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool completely, and then chill over night. Remove from pan, and serve with toasted bread rounds, veggies, and or crackers.

Freezes well for unexpected guests. Can also be done in muffin tins if you want to do individual servings. Just cut baking time to 15 - 20 minutes.
 
Doing a chocolate cake with a Kahlua sauce is also rather tasty :D

I don't have a recipe on-hand, but I can make one up if people are interested. I'm more of a spontaneous and experimental chef, with baking and tex-mex being my specialties.

I will say that if you normally make cakes with a box mix, add an appropriate flavor of pudding mix to it and either use jumbo eggs or an extra egg yolk to give it the moisture box mix cakes tend to lack in.
 
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Next time I'm at my mother's house, I'll have to raid her recipes for all the Christmas cookies she used to bake. In the meantime, here's a wonderful standby.

Cut-out Cookies
1 cup sugar (I've been cutting this to 3/4 cup lately, and it still works)
2 eggs
3/4 cup margarine or butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream sugar, eggs and butter.
Add vanilla.
Blend in flour, baking powder and salt.
Chill at least two hours. Roll out dough to 1/4-1/2 inch thick on floured surface.
Cut out and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake until just set. Do not overcook.
Place on cooling racks and frost (or not) when cool.


These are great any time of year and freeze very well. At Christmas, we've hosted many a cookie decorating party using this recipe.
 
i just wanted to say thank you for this post. i've got the oreo/cream cheese mixture in the fridge firming now.

Oreo Balls

1 package Oreo Cookies
1 block cream cheese, softened
1 package Chocolate Almond Bark or Bakers Chocolate Baking Squares


Place Oreo Cookies in a baggie and smash until it is the consistency of dirt. Mix softened cream cheese into smashed cookies. Form into balls. (I like to put mine on wax paper.) Melt chocolate according to package directions in microwave. Cover balls in chocolate. Place in refrigerator.



Pete Schweddy: Well, there's no beating my Balls. They're made from a secret Schweddy Family recipe. No one can resist my Schweddy Balls.
 
Bet you won't be able to eat just one!!:)

please pray that i don't! i rolled out 27 balls and that will give me enough to give out as gifts with three left over for myself. cross your fingers that i don't "accidentally" leave a few more out. :eek:
 
Goat Cheese, Onion, & Thyme Potato Bread

I have made this every Christmas for the last 10 years. I make 2 loaves minimum, 3 for larger gatherings. There is never any leftover.

Goat Cheese, Onion and Thyme Potato Bread

one 4 oz round of firm goats’ cheese
4 green onions, finely sliced
1 medium (approx 6 oz) red potato
1 rounded teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus a few additional sprigs
1 1/3 cups self-raising flour, plus some extra for the top of the loaf
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 large egg
2 Tbsps milk
1 heaping teaspoon grainy mustard

1) Grease a small baking sheet and pre-heat oven to 375 ° F
2) Cut Goat cheese into 1/2” cubes
3) Sift flour, salt and cayenne into a big, roomy mixing bowl
4) Peel potato and grate directly into flour, using coarse grater
5) Add green onions, chopped thyme, and 2/3 of the cheese to the bowl. Blend everything together well, using the back of a wooden spoon.
6) Beat the egg gently with the milk and mustard, then pour into the bowl. Using the wooden spoon, bring all ingredients together in a loose, rough dough.
7) Transfer to the baking sheet, patting mixture into a rough 6” round.
8) Press remaining cheese cubes into the surface of loaf, dust with a bit of flour, and place remaining thyme sprigs over the loaf.
9) Bake on middle rack for approx 40 to 50 mins, until nice and golden brown.
10) Remove to cooling rack.

Best served same day, slightly warm.

** If you don’t have self-raising flour, just add 1 heaping Tbsp of baking powder to 1 1/3 cup plain white flour
 
Very Easy Coconut Macaroons

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 package shredded coconut
1 teaspoon flavoring {Most recipes call for almond extract, but since I don't like it, I use vanilla.}

Mix all ingredients together and drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray. You can skip the parchment paper, but it's so much easier to use it. Bake at 325 for about 15 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

And now a little story I posted a few years ago at Thanksgiving...:cattail:


KABOOM! And then the oven door blew open...
My husband is baking pumpkin pies at my mother-in-law's house this evening. He decided to use Alton Brown's pie crust recipe which calls for vodka instead of water, but "improve" it by using Everclear instead.

Ten minutes at 425 degrees and there was a great KABOOM! The oven door blew open and WHOOSH! Hot air and pretty blue and yellow flames shot out of the oven. The door hit my husband in the hip, causing the superheated gas to inflate his shirt and singe the most of the hairs off his belly. My mother-in-law, an innocent bystander, received a complimentary depilatory treatment on her wrist. (They're both fine and have a great story to tell at dinner tomorrow.)

And how's your Thanksgiving preparation coming along?
 
KABOOM! And then the oven door blew open...
My husband is baking pumpkin pies at my mother-in-law's house this evening. He decided to use Alton Brown's pie crust recipe which calls for vodka instead of water, but "improve" it by using Everclear instead.

LOL, You wouldn't think it would have enough fume concentration to ignite like that. Gas or electric oven?
 
And that's why I stay out of the kitchen, if I can avoid it!
Scary!
 
Since my cookie extravaganza weekend is coming up . ..

My mom's sandtarts
1 lb flour
1 lb confectioner's sugar
3 eggs
1/2 lb butter, softened


Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Add the flour gradually. Dough will be sort of stiff. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic and chill overnight. (Can also be frozen at this point for later.)

Take 1/2 of dough and let sit for about 10 min. Break off a piece and roll out very thin on a floured surface. Cut into desired shapes (can use cookie cutters or you can just cut into diamonds with a knife.)

Place on cookies sheets lined with parchment paper. Decorate with colored sugar or other cookie decorations. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 - 10 min or until just starting to brown around the edges. Let cool on sheet for 2 minutes and then move to rack to cool.

Makes a whole bunch of cookies but they never last too long. Store in a tin at room temp. Best if made a few days ahead but good still warm too. ;)
 
Molasses Sugar Cookies
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

Additional sugar for rolling cookies in

Melt shortening over the low heat. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp. Add the sugar, molasses, and the egg. Beat well. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add to the egg mixture and mix well. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. From into balls and roll in additional granulated sugar. Bake on an un-greased cookie sheet for 8 - 10 minutes.
 
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