OT Holiday Baking

Slinky toy it is wonderful to see the difference in the baking for your
cold weather and our hot weather. For instance the pies - our Christmas
desert is a fruit flan - I just make a pastry base and then poach some of
all the stone fruit which we have at Christmas - peashes, plums,
apricots,cherries. I drain the fruit then arrange them in a pattern in
the pie crust. I add a little sugar and a dash of cointreau to the juice
from the poaching and thicken it with some arrowroot and pour over the fruit
as a glaze. and serve with cream or ice cream or both !! I have to say
that most Australians still have hot plum pudding with brandy sauce-
ignoring the fact that it usually is at least 30 degrees c and in the west
more like 42. God Bless Gwen

--

Gwen Kelly


"SlinkyToy" wrote in message
...
I make snickerdoodles (which are just sugarcookies rolled in
cinnamon-sugar before baking), quickbreads (pumpkin, banana, zucchini
if somebody in the neighborhood is running a hothouse and foolishly
lets the zucchini move in for the winter), and sour cream sugar
cookies. Sometimes I make meringue cookies, but they're more work
than they're worth IMO and too similar in character to marshmallows,
which I despise.

I also make pie (pumpkin, fruit, pecan, pecan-custard and
pecan-pumpkin). Very occasionally I get really ambitious and make my
own chocolate truffles, but with a "helper" around that's difficult to
do effectively.

I also make yeast bread, yeasted rolls, cornbread, blah blah blah

Oh wait, these are all things I make year-round!

Michelle
Munching on yesterday's banana bread and contemplating entirely too
much knitting yet to do by Xmas...

But the house is (nearly) clean!

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 20:13:55 -0500, "seaspray" seaside stitcher @
yahoo. com wrote:

What does everyone bake for the holidays? Is there a dish that you are
famous for or always make every year? For me, I make Italian Cookies.
I
do not know if they are from Italy, but that is the name of the cookie.
They are soft rounds that are iced and decorated. It just wouldn't be
Christmas without them. How about you?

Katherine that sounds like my kind of Christmas - all calorie free of
course. God Bless Gwen

--
Kelly


"Katherine" wrote in message
...
I love snickerdoodles!
And I guess I should add my own specialties to this list.
I make Kahlua fudge, snowballs, truffles, and rum balls. Delicious!
Katherine

"SlinkyToy" wrote in message
...
I make snickerdoodles (which are just sugarcookies rolled in
cinnamon-sugar before baking), quickbreads (pumpkin, banana, zucchini
if somebody in the neighborhood is running a hothouse and foolishly
lets the zucchini move in for the winter), and sour cream sugar
cookies. Sometimes I make meringue cookies, but they're more work
than they're worth IMO and too similar in character to marshmallows,
which I despise.

I also make pie (pumpkin, fruit, pecan, pecan-custard and
pecan-pumpkin). Very occasionally I get really ambitious and make my
own chocolate truffles, but with a "helper" around that's difficult to
do effectively.

I also make yeast bread, yeasted rolls, cornbread, blah blah blah

Oh wait, these are all things I make year-round!

Michelle
Munching on yesterday's banana bread and contemplating entirely too
much knitting yet to do by Xmas...

But the house is (nearly) clean!

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 20:13:55 -0500, "seaspray" seaside stitcher @
yahoo. com wrote:

What does everyone bake for the holidays? Is there a dish that you are
famous for or always make every year? For me, I make Italian
Cookies.
I
do not know if they are from Italy, but that is the name of the cookie.
They are soft rounds that are iced and decorated. It just wouldn't be
Christmas without them. How about you?

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 04:40:48 GMT, G.Kelly wrote:

Katherine that sounds like my kind of Christmas - all calorie free of
course. God Bless Gwen

What? There's CALORIES in Christmas goodies? Yeesh, first they try to
tell me there's no Santa, and now THIS?
Next you'll be telling me that Cupid doesn't shoot arrows at people and
make them fall in lust.......errrrrrr... I mean LOVE!
VBEG,
Hugs,
Noreen

--
STRIP * tease * to email me.

Oh ! Seaspray i had to laugh at this after the terrible blunder I made when
posting the "specials " I bake for Christmas. You may have seen the post
( and the blunder)
If not - and you would like the recipes they are still on the group ( on my
server anyway)dated 4th December under the heading"Cooking for Christmas"

For the "After Coffee Cherrie slice read 250 gr of copha and not 500 gr
and all will be well !!

Rhonda also put a recipe for truffles on the group which I made a couple of
days ago and they are just above this world - you must try them.

--God Bless Gwen

Gwen Kelly


"seaspray" seaside stitcher @ yahoo. com wrote in message
...
What does everyone bake for the holidays? Is there a dish that you are
famous for or always make every year? For me, I make Italian Cookies.
I
do not know if they are from Italy, but that is the name of the cookie.
They are soft rounds that are iced and decorated. It just wouldn't be
Christmas without them. How about you?

Kolache, of course. Which reminds me, Claire and maybe someone else wanted
my recipe for those... I finally found my personal recipe book, lying out in
plain sight where I never looked for it, so now I can type it up! LOL

Pumpkin and apple pie, too. g Mom used to make mincemeat pies, too, but I
don't think I ever copied that down, alas. (I hate mincemeat, unfortunately.
y'know, I'd never *make* it, so...) Her recipe was adapted from her mother's,
which originally used venison; you can imagine how old *that* was. I do
remember even when she cut it down to make only enough for about 2-3 pies, it
still used about half a fifth of brandy! Mom would make it up a week or so
ahead of time, and my brother would snitch tastes every time he passed the bowl
that was sitting on the counter, covered, fermenting away. Naturally, as we
were Catholic, this had Mom yelling half-seriously at him for eating meat on
Fridays. bg Never stopped 'im, though. ::snicker::

Oh, and those lovely little cookies that seem to be pretty universal, known by
umpteen different names - French Jewels, Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding
Cakes... You know; the ones with ground hazelnuts (filberts up here), butter,
flour, powdered sugar, and a little salt, that's about it. That was also the
only time of year we made stuffed dates, but I'm not that big a fan of those,
so I don't bother.

But mostly kolache. g At least 3 different varieties for Christmas, 5 if Dad
wheedled Mom into making the 2 types the rest of us hated. And maybe a third
batch of the kolache dough to make sticky-bun style cinnamon rolls. Hey, a
sweet dough's a sweet dough; what works for kolache works for cinnamon rolls!

You can imagine how stuffed we were before Midnight Mass. We always had our big
dinner on Christmas Eve, then opened presents after. Good thing, as after
following the Czech custom of eating one bite of *every* kind of food served at
the meal, to insure good luck through the new year, we needed the exercise!

Monica - who desperately needs some new baking sheets. Yeesh, gotta remember to
go get some...
CMMPDX2 at aol
remove 'eat.spam' to email me
---------
"No, that isn't me you saw - I'm not here, I'm incognito!" (Me, Myself & I)
Support our Troops!!
http://www.wtv-zone.com/kjsb/bataan.html

Well, of course calorie free! Would I make anything else? g
Katherine

"G.Kelly" wrote in message
...
Katherine that sounds like my kind of Christmas - all calorie free of
course. God Bless Gwen

--
Kelly


"Katherine" wrote in message
...
I love snickerdoodles!
And I guess I should add my own specialties to this list.
I make Kahlua fudge, snowballs, truffles, and rum balls. Delicious!
Katherine

"SlinkyToy" wrote in message
...
I make snickerdoodles (which are just sugarcookies rolled in
cinnamon-sugar before baking), quickbreads (pumpkin, banana, zucchini
if somebody in the neighborhood is running a hothouse and foolishly
lets the zucchini move in for the winter), and sour cream sugar
cookies. Sometimes I make meringue cookies, but they're more work
than they're worth IMO and too similar in character to marshmallows,
which I despise.

I also make pie (pumpkin, fruit, pecan, pecan-custard and
pecan-pumpkin). Very occasionally I get really ambitious and make my
own chocolate truffles, but with a "helper" around that's difficult to
do effectively.

I also make yeast bread, yeasted rolls, cornbread, blah blah blah

Oh wait, these are all things I make year-round!

Michelle
Munching on yesterday's banana bread and contemplating entirely too
much knitting yet to do by Xmas...

But the house is (nearly) clean!

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 20:13:55 -0500, "seaspray" seaside stitcher @
yahoo. com wrote:

What does everyone bake for the holidays? Is there a dish that you
are
famous for or always make every year? For me, I make Italian
Cookies.
I
do not know if they are from Italy, but that is the name of the
cookie.
They are soft rounds that are iced and decorated. It just wouldn't
be
Christmas without them. How about you?

"Noreen's Knit*che" wrote
On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 04:40:48 GMT, G.Kelly wrote:

Katherine that sounds like my kind of Christmas - all calorie free of
course. God Bless Gwen

What? There's CALORIES in Christmas goodies? Yeesh, first they try to
tell me there's no Santa, and now THIS?
Next you'll be telling me that Cupid doesn't shoot arrows at people and
make them fall in lust.......errrrrrr... I mean LOVE!
VBEG,

And you thought this was a friendly ng? That'll teach you! g
Hugs,
Katherine

Oh !!NO !Never ,Noreen - I love all these Calorie free goodies and I
definitely believe in Santa and as for cupid - well - having only known
Frank a week when he proposed ( and he had 4 days away in New Guinea during
that week ) and having since served over two life sentences - translated
into 50 years of married bliss - I cannot but believe in that little guy
with the arrow God Bless Gwen

Gwen Kelly


"Noreen's Knit*che" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 04:40:48 GMT, G.Kelly wrote:

Katherine that sounds like my kind of Christmas - all calorie free of
course. God Bless Gwen

What? There's CALORIES in Christmas goodies? Yeesh, first they try to
tell me there's no Santa, and now THIS?
Next you'll be telling me that Cupid doesn't shoot arrows at people and
make them fall in lust.......errrrrrr... I mean LOVE!
VBEG,
Hugs,
Noreen

--
STRIP * tease * to email me.

Monica I love you description on Christmas Eve with the big dinner and all.
We never did it that way if for no other reason than I would never have all
my baking etc done in time. The girls still phone me about 11 pm on
Christmas Eve and ask if I have finished coating the chocolate covered
marshmallows !!

We always go to Midnight Mass and then come home and open the presents and
party on until around 4 or 5 am, when our DD's were tiny they were only
allowed to open one little present and then off to bed, which meant we were
hardly asleep when they were up to see what Santa had brought. We always
have the big meal for lunch on Christmas Day as most Australians do. When
we had a white Christmas in Zermatt and again in Saltzburg we were amazed
that the hotel put on their main Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve - but we
really enjoyed it just the same
God Bless Gwen

--

Gwen Kelly


"CMM PDX2" wrote in message
...
Kolache, of course. Which reminds me, Claire and maybe someone else
wanted
my recipe for those... I finally found my personal recipe book, lying out
in
plain sight where I never looked for it, so now I can type it up! LOL

Pumpkin and apple pie, too. g Mom used to make mincemeat pies, too, but
I
don't think I ever copied that down, alas. (I hate mincemeat,
unfortunately.
y'know, I'd never *make* it, so...) Her recipe was adapted from her
mother's,
which originally used venison; you can imagine how old *that* was. I do
remember even when she cut it down to make only enough for about 2-3 pies,
it
still used about half a fifth of brandy! Mom would make it up a week or so
ahead of time, and my brother would snitch tastes every time he passed the
bowl
that was sitting on the counter, covered, fermenting away. Naturally, as
we
were Catholic, this had Mom yelling half-seriously at him for eating meat
on
Fridays. bg Never stopped 'im, though. ::snicker::

Oh, and those lovely little cookies that seem to be pretty universal,
known by
umpteen different names - French Jewels, Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican
Wedding
Cakes... You know; the ones with ground hazelnuts (filberts up here),
butter,
flour, powdered sugar, and a little salt, that's about it. That was also
the
only time of year we made stuffed dates, but I'm not that big a fan of
those,
so I don't bother.

But mostly kolache. g At least 3 different varieties for Christmas, 5 if
Dad
wheedled Mom into making the 2 types the rest of us hated. And maybe a
third
batch of the kolache dough to make sticky-bun style cinnamon rolls. Hey, a
sweet dough's a sweet dough; what works for kolache works for cinnamon
rolls!

You can imagine how stuffed we were before Midnight Mass. We always had
our big
dinner on Christmas Eve, then opened presents after. Good thing, as after
following the Czech custom of eating one bite of *every* kind of food
served at
the meal, to insure good luck through the new year, we needed the
exercise!

Monica - who desperately needs some new baking sheets. Yeesh, gotta
remember to
go get some...
CMMPDX2 at aol
remove 'eat.spam' to email me
---------
"No, that isn't me you saw - I'm not here, I'm incognito!" (Me, Myself &
I)
Support our Troops!!
http://www.wtv-zone.com/kjsb/bataan.html

I give a lot of food gifts to clients and friends and neighbors and family.

Candied Ginger Shortbread -- goes wonderfully w/ a glass of scotch (or
whiskey) on Christmas night
Cream Cheese Poundcakes -- made as large pound cakes, loaf pound cakes, mini
loaves, mini bundts, and going to try muffin-tops this year
Paul Bunyan Cookies -- have molasses, cinnamon, ginger, oatmeal, raisins,
chocolate chips, walnuts
Green Tea Shortbread
Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread
Pumpkin bread

Last year I made fruitcakes and kept them sprayed w/ dark spiced rum for
about 2 weeks -- they were wonderful!

Some years I make a lot of biscotti -- I have a recipe for fruitcake
biscotti that is really good.

Susan in N Indiana

Also, last night, back on topic, I took the knitting pattern for the DNA
scarf (found the article in a knitting magazine this fall & got the pattern
off the internet) and translated it into a crochet pattern -- I can crochet
in the car during our Christmas travels (need the scarf for a gift the first
week of January), DH doesn't like for me to knit in the car. Ha! Something
about 2 sharp long things moving in a moving car
SGC
"seaspray" seaside stitcher @ yahoo. com wrote in message
...
What does everyone bake for the holidays? Is there a dish that you are
famous for or always make every year? For me, I make Italian Cookies.
I
do not know if they are from Italy, but that is the name of the cookie.
They are soft rounds that are iced and decorated. It just wouldn't be
Christmas without them. How about you?