The Great Holiday Recipe Exchange and Hotline!

[3113]

As we say a fond farewell to Thanksgiving, we see up ahead the holiday season. Holiday parties, holiday gatherings, Hanukah, solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's...

Ack! Is it time to panic yet?

Well here you go! A place to panic. And exchange cookie recipes

Need ideas for cocktails? How to make the ultimate crown roast for Xmas dinner or perfect potato latkes for Hanukah? You've come to the right thread! We'll try to handle any problem or question you've got from keeping your holiday ornaments safe from the cat to making dreidels.

http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TOH/Images/holidays/hanukkah-meal.jpg

 

[glynndah]

http://www.northpole.com/

A fun site for kids. If you click on the kitchen, there are oodles of recipes for Christmas cookies and other goodies.

 

[Cikali]

So I'm allowed to post Christmas images again then?

 

[3113]

So I'm allowed to post Christmas images again then?

So long as you combine them with recipes, advice on holiday decoration, entertaining or getting people dug out of a snow bank.

For example, I'd be very interested in a good recipe for a traditional Finnish Holiday drink--preferably one with alcohol

 

[lance gt]

Is there a way to transfer these recipes and the Thanksgiving ones to the AH Recipe Book? Without having to re-type them I mean

 

[3113]

Is there a way to transfer these recipes and the Thanksgiving ones to the AH Recipe Book? Without having to re-type them I mean

Copy and paste? Well, the easiest way would simply be to link this thread and the Thanksgiving one to the Recipe thread and let interested parties sort 'em out for themselves. But if it's not to much of a chore, someone can copy-and-paste 'em from one thread to the other.

 

[Cikali]

So long as you combine them with recipes, advice on holiday decoration, entertaining or getting people dug out of a snow bank.

For example, I'd be very interested in a good recipe for a traditional Finnish Holiday drink--preferably one with alcohol

http://www.finnguide.fi/finnishrecipes/cat.asp?c=1&o=54

Here is a link with things from Finland.Red wine glogg is best,I think.
I buy the food ready from the store.

Winter And Christmas Images Thread

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=680422

 

[3113]

Eggnog

Eggnog. Yea or nay? Home-made or out of the carton? With rum or not--or something else?

 

[matriarch]

Can we include decoration tips and traditions? I love hearing about how other people spend their christmases.

 

[OneLustyWench]

Holiday Cut out Cookies

This recipe came from my aunt. They are delicious on day one but better day two. Easy, no chilling required and can be cut and decorated anyway you'd like. I made three dozen for Thanksgiving and they were all gone.

Holiday Cut Out Cookies

3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Butter, softened
1 Egg
1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Tablespoons Light Cream
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat oven to 400 deg Fahrenheit

Mixing Directions
Cream all ingredients except flour, scraping bowl to ensure all are well combined. On low speed, add in 1/2 of flour, mix well. Add in remaining flour until a soft dough forms. Roll out to about 1/8" -1/4" thickness and cut into desired shapes.

Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are firm. Do not overbake! Cookies will be very light in color. Cool on pan 3-4 minutes before removing to a rack.

Frost and decorate as desired.

 

[3113]

Can we include decoration tips and traditions? I love hearing about how other people spend their christmases.

Most assuredly! Just about anything goes here at the holiday hotline, so long as it has to do with the holidays!

 

[matriarch]

Tree decorations that can be made with/by kids:

Take an egg box, cut out the individual wells, and trim until they resemble bells.
Paint in bright colours, use glue and glitter to decorate, and with the help of mum/dad make a hole in the top and insert the open ends of a doubled over thread. Either make a knot on the inside with the open ends (if the thread is thick enough), or fix the ends to the inside with sticky tape. Hang on tree.

Cut out simple shapes - bell, star, christmas tree - from card, use that template to cut out shapes from felt. Either glue or stitch the edges together, leaving a space to lightly fill the shape with either soft toy filling, or cotton wool, or even beads (for weight). Close the final edge, then affix a hanging thread. On the outside, use glue and glitter, ready cut foil shapes, twisted sparkley thread.....anything desired. Hang on tree.

 

[vrosej10]

I came by this recipe which I plan to serve at summer soltice, but with some changes would make a lovely little treat to serve at Xmas. It's really delicous and moreish.


Maeve O'Meara's Coconut cardamom burfi

A simple and quick cheat's version of the reduced-milk sweet burfi. This is a lovely end to an Indian
feast and is often served at special occasions.
Ingredients:
250g desiccated coconut
395g can sweetened condensed milk
10 cardamom pods - grind/crush seeds into a powder
Handful of pistachio nuts, roughly crushed
Mix 200g of the coconut and the remaining ingredients in a bowl.
Heat a non-stick pan on low heat and add mixture to the pan. Stir over low heat until the mixture
starts to dry and rolls easily into a ball. Remove from the heat. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes until cool
enough to handle.
Place the remaining coconut onto a plate. Using damp hands, roll the mixture into balls and then roll
in coconut to coat. The coconut balls can be refrigerated for up to a week.

 

[glynndah]

Cinnamon-Applesauce Ornaments (non-edible)

Mix bulk ground cinnamon (the cheap stuff, add a little ground cloves, if you like, too) with enough applesauce to make a thick dough. I add white glue to the mix but it really isn't necessary. Roll out and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Use a straw to punch out a hole for hanging. Allow to air dry for several days or speed the process along by transferring to a cookie sheet placed in a low oven.

Decorate with glitter glue if desired and tie a ribbon or string through the hole. Write names on the cut-outs and they can be gift tags or place cards.

This is a good project for kids. All the ingredients (even the white school glue) are non-toxic and the cleanup is fairly easy, too.

Oh, and your house will smell wonderful for weeks!

 

[3113]

Maeve O'Meara's Coconut cardamom burfi

A simple and quick cheat's version of the reduced-milk sweet burfi. This is a lovely end to an Indian
feast and is often served at special occasions.
Ingredients:
250g desiccated coconut
395g can sweetened condensed milk
10 cardamom pods - grind/crush seeds into a powder
Handful of pistachio nuts, roughly crushed
Mix 200g of the coconut and the remaining ingredients in a bowl.
Heat a non-stick pan on low heat and add mixture to the pan. Stir over low heat until the mixture
starts to dry and rolls easily into a ball. Remove from the heat. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes until cool
enough to handle.
Place the remaining coconut onto a plate. Using damp hands, roll the mixture into balls and then roll
in coconut to coat. The coconut balls can be refrigerated for up to a week.

You had me at coconut

 

[driphoney]

Make your own English Christmas Crackers

Yanks are going to be hard pressed to get the 'cracker rollers', and I don't know what the heck 'cracker snaps' are, but a British friend sent this to me and it looks like fun.

Also, here's a link to help with the traditionally included jokes: Top Ten Worst Cracker Jokes

All Americans trying to do this tradition, please note the hat the boy is wearing in the link. I am told this is essential to the Happy Christmas merriment.

 

[3113]

Also, here's a link to help with the traditionally included jokes: Top Ten Worst Cracker Jokes

O-kkkkkay. Living on an island really does make you a little strange.....

And what IS with the paper crowns? Any Brits care to explain?

 

[matriarch]

Make your own English Christmas Crackers

Yanks are going to be hard pressed to get the 'cracker rollers', and I don't know what the heck 'cracker snaps' are, but a British friend sent this to me and it looks like fun.

Also, here's a link to help with the traditionally included jokes: Top Ten Worst Cracker Jokes

All Americans trying to do this tradition, please note the hat the boy is wearing in the link. I am told this is essential to the Happy Christmas merriment.

The cracker rollers are easy........the cardboard tubes from inside toilet rolls, and kitchen paper. I have a box of them saved ready to make into crackers. The snaps are the explosive that makes the 'crack/bang' sound when it explodes. A bit like the caps kids use in guns.

This is what I found about the paper crowns:

We wear paper hats on special occasions like Christmas Day and birthday parties. The tradition of wearing hats at parties goes back to the Roman Saturnalia celebrations (celebrated around 25 December) when the participants also wore hats.

The idea of wearing a paper crown may have originated from the Twelfth Night celebrations, where a King or Queen was appointed to look over the proceedings.

The paper crown hats we wear today are found inside the Christmas crackers. Crackers are very traditional items to have at Christmas. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people and each one contains a small toy, a joke or motto, and a tissue-paper crown hat, usually a crown.

Hope that helps.

 

[matriarch]

O-kkkkkay. Living on an island really does make you a little strange.....

And what IS with the paper crowns? Any Brits care to explain?

LOLOLOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

I LOVE those jokes. So christmassy.

 

[matriarch]

What are christmas crackers?

Who invented the Christmas Cracker?

Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith in 1846.

During a visit to Paris he came across the bob-bon, a sugar almond wrapped in tissue paper (with a twist either side of the centrally placed sweet). Thomas decided to try selling similarly wrapped sweets in the lead up to Christmas in England. His bon-bons sold well at Christmas but not at other times of the year.

In the early 1850s Thomas came up with the idea of including a motto with the sweet. As many of his bon-bons were bought by men to give to women, many of the mottos were simple love poems.

In about 1860, Thomas added the banger, two strips of chemically impregnated paper that made a loud noise on being pulled apart. At first these novelties were called 'cosaques', but they soon became known as 'crackers'.

Unfortunately for Thomas, his 'cracker' idea was copied by other manufactures and so he decided to replace the sweet with a surprise gift.

When Thomas died his two sons took over the business. The paper hat was added to the cracker the early 1900s and by the end of the 1930s the love poems had been replaced by jokes or limericks.

 

[_Lynn_]

Cinnamon-Applesauce Ornaments (non-edible)

Mix bulk ground cinnamon (the cheap stuff, add a little ground cloves, if you like, too) with enough applesauce to make a thick dough. I add white glue to the mix but it really isn't necessary. Roll out and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Use a straw to punch out a hole for hanging. Allow to air dry for several days or speed the process along by transferring to a cookie sheet placed in a low oven.

Decorate with glitter glue if desired and tie a ribbon or string through the hole. Write names on the cut-outs and they can be gift tags or place cards.

This is a good project for kids. All the ingredients (even the white school glue) are non-toxic and the cleanup is fairly easy, too.

Oh, and your house will smell wonderful for weeks!

A very simple project for kids for sure.

I add them to my Christmas storage totes and the smell is still wonderful a year later.

 

[3113]

Has anyone ever made a buche de Noël?

http://www.herdaily.com/blogimg/recipes/buche_de_noel%20foto.gif

How hard are they to roll up and such?

 

[driphoney]

The cracker rollers are easy........the cardboard tubes from inside toilet rolls, and kitchen paper. I have a box of them saved ready to make into crackers. The snaps are the explosive that makes the 'crack/bang' sound when it explodes. A bit like the caps kids use in guns.

From the looks of the pics and the wording, I thought the 'roller's were the end devices used to keep it all neat as it was rolled. Toilet paper rolls we have plenty of in this country! From the photo, the 'rollers' look like toilet paper rolls with thingies inside them to hold them to the central roll.

As for the 'snaps' ... might be able to mail order them from someplace, but I haven't looked.

Thanks for putting the history behind the crackers here.

 

[3113]

Waldorf Salad

In the Thanksgiving Thread, someone asked about the Waldorf Salad. I just saw this new Waldorf recipe. Might be lovely for the Yuletide (From Victoria Magazine):

Waldorf Salad:

2 medium, firm apples (such as honey crisp), cored and sliced
1 small celery root, peeled and julienned
1 small head frisée lettuce, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup red grapes, sliced in half
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups shaved Asiago cheese
1 cup toasted pecans
1/4 cup torn fresh dill
1 recipe Creamy Honey-Dill Vinaigrette
Garnish: microgreens

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine the apple slices, celery root, frisée, grapes, lemon juice, pepper, and salt; toss to combine.
2. On salad plates, create layers of the apple mixture, Asiago, pecans, and dill. Drizzle each salad lightly with Creamy Honey-Dill Vinaigrette. Garnish with microgreens, if desired, and serve immediately.

Honey-Dill Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
In a medium bowl, combine the vinegar, mayonnaise, honey, dill, salt, and pepper; whisk to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Remaining dressing can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Eggnog altered slightly for your diabetic relatives . . .


“Eggnog Alton Brown”

Prep Time: 15 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 6 to 7 cups

Ingredients
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/5 cup agave syrup, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 pint whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 ounces bourbon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 egg whites*

Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/5 cup syrup and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Add the milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg and stir to combine.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat to soft peaks. With the mixer still running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Whisk the egg whites into the mixture. Chill and serve.