Holiday baking poll

What are you baking this year? I usually make nut and other breads. But I haven't even started yet.

I spend all weekend making them, usually about 8-10 different kinds. We pack them in gift boxes for the neighbors and friends.

but I usually run out of time! My mom used to bake 4 or 5 kinds. Yum.

probably 8 to 10 batches.

is it hard to make?

I don't have a candy thermometer either.

once the sugar is up to temperature, it's just blending the other ingredients.

3 cups sugar
1 cup milk
dash of salt

stir in a saucepan. then over medium heat, boil to one notch above "soft ball" stage (do not stir when mixture is over heat).

remove from heat, and stir in:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup marshmallow fluff
3 tbs. butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

pour into greased 13x9 dish and allow to set.

that's it.

My mother's been using it for 45 years. Would you like it?

I could go out and get a candy thermometer, but what the hey!

Every year my mom sends the Stollen and my aunt sends the Swedish Bread.

Do you happen to have your mother's recipe?

Sooooo delicious. Every year it gets closer to tasting like my gramma's batches did. (But it never will be that good).

That was very sweet, thank you.

A delicious and fun no-bake tradition; the kind you can't buy at the store, ever! :)

maybe I am actually fishing for ideas, here... :)

http://www.joyofbaking.com/RumBalls.html

Although I don't bother to toast the pecans, I grind them up in an old fashioned meat grinder. And this recipe has you rolling them in white sugar, and I roll them in confectioner's sugar.

And, making these every year has lead to a serious tin box addiction. Putting them in little colorful Christmas tins is just perfect. But it's actually kind of hard to find cute, inexpensive tin boxes. So I'm a post-Christmas-sale tin-box hunting junkie now. :P

that there is a two ball limit. They have already finished the first batch this year, so I'll be making more soon along with cookies, fudge and other assorted goodies.

Sounds like he is eating good stuff, too.

my mom used to make those. Or was it the raisins soaked in bourbon for the mini-fruit cake cookies? They were pretty good.

My kid is kind of a picky eater, but he will pretty much eat anything that has chocolate in it.

Then I took them to my annual cookie exchange. It's fun because I ended up with 16 dozen cookies of 8 varieties. And I'll be making more next week.

but, maybe not. I admire your stamina though and you have all those great cookies to sample!

:thumbsup:

I'm going to try to make some fudge too, but that's not baking.

close enough.

Pumpkin bread. I love that and cranberry bread. My mom makes a killer apricot nut bread. Scrumptious.

and huge amounts of Sweet Potato Casserole for the family dinner! :9

I love that CD. That sounds good, what kind of cookies?

I've already made Molasses Crinkles. I usually make those, Tollhouse Cookies, Snickerdoodles, and some called Hobnails that have cinnamon, vanilla and raisins. They are hard to describe or compare to anything else but they are one of my favorites. Some years I make this complicated German spice cookie recipe with stuff like ground cardamom and ground anise that you heat on the stove in butter, sugar and honey. They are amazing, but I'm not sure if I will this year (although the SO has already asked about them. Hmmm, maybe I will!).

I usually make my grandmother's buttermilk pound cake as well!

One year my SO made Stollen with marzipan in it. He worked on it for three days! Another rare favorite is almond toffee with chocolate and pecan coating.

We don't have all of this every year or we couldn't walk by New Year's Day!

I think I have heard of Hobnails...

Those sound delicious!

Hint, hint:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=236

:7

Thank you. I will definitely test those waters. :)

Please feel free to post any and all recipes as soon as you can. :P :9

All made from scratch: Carmel pecan cinnamon rolls for the family and neighbors; pecan pie for the family at Christmas dinner; Exquisite Orange Cookies for the neighbors, too. If I had a candy thermometer, I'd make "Divinity."

sounds scrumptious. I love pecans.

I would swap one for a hot cinnamon roll! :9

but I'm afraid the cinnamon rolls would get cold en route from Switzerland to the US.

But I'd be happy to PM you my recipe in the morning. Whatta ya say? :pals:

I'll make them and report my results to you. Intercontinental Cinnamon Rolls! MMMMM! :pals:

yum

Actually I've been making them pretty regularly, but the big night - decorating them for Santa with the kids... that's what I'm really looking forward to. :)

how are ya RQ? :hi:

i used to make cookies, and I have made the shaped sugar cookies with my kid, but usually I make the breads. (cuz I'm kind of lazy!)

How've you been? Hope your Christmahannakwanzikas season is going well. :P

I think bread's harder than the cookies... all that kneading... ugh! Plus the kids do most of the decorating, so I get to just point and laugh. (kidding)

My husband does that when he makes scones and breads this time of year.

:D

he also has huge hands (he's 6'4"), so that helps.

:evilgrin:

:silly:

Congealed salad is one of those awesome Southern things I like bringing to the good folks of NYC... apparently making a salad with Jello and Coolwhip is unheard of here!

You just dissolve the Jello power (any flavor, but I like lime) into the juice squeezed out of a small can of crushed pineapple. Mix the Jello juice, the pineapple, and 8oz container of cottage cheese and an 8oz container of Coolwhip together and refrigerate for a few hours and voila! Congealed salad! If you make the lime one and then put a ring of marichino cherries around it you get a very festive Xmasy look. :party:

I've already made:

Jam thumbprints - 4 dozen
Cherry almond cookies - 7 dozen
Eggnog logs - 4 dozen
Sugar cookies - 2 dozen
Peanut blossoms - 6 dozen
Molasses crinkles - 6 dozen
Russian teacakes - 4 dozen

That right there adds up to 33 dozen cookies.

I still have Betty Crocker's Merry Christmas cookies to make, as well as sandbakkelse and several batches of fudge. Yes, we do give cookies and fudge away! If I have time, I'll make rugalach as well.

eggnog logs, hmmm, they sound good!

I have made over 130 sugar cookies so far...and i only got like...7 left, egads!!! I better get back to the grind!...;)

if the propane holds out, but I need a good icing recipe.
does anybody have a good icing recipe?

Do you want something like a glaze? I'd just use powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.

but I wasn't really satisfied with it. I need to use butter or something.

Using butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk, and either just use extra milk to make it thinner, or spread it on thickly while the rolls are still warm and let the frosting melt. Butter makes it so nice and rich.

So...can I come over to your house? :)

if the propane holds out.

I just eat! :bounce:

devoured.

I may make a chocolate pound cake for New Year's Eve.

Also, I have a new caramel cake recipe I am wanting to try.


Every year my mom and I made German Chocolate Cake, Fresh Coconut cake and Jam Cake for the Holiday Season. We took platters of cake to all the family dinner parties, and we had cake for the inevitable company.

regular iced christmas cookies, tons of caramel corn and maybe gingerbread men.