The Recipes of Christmas

[SnowAngel]

Sugar cookies, spritz cookies, ginger snaps, fudge (with nuts!), hot chocolate, apple cider, and the list goes on and on of things we eat and drink during the Christmas season. Everyone has their favorites, things that make this time of year special for them. One of my favorite things to do is make Christmas cookies; spritz, sugar, ginger snaps, chocolate, etc. I always hate the end of the Christmas season and putting away the sprinkles and special Christmas recipes. But since it's just started I am not think about the end, but about how many cookies I need to make!

Below is one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. I hope to make some this week and use the new sprinkles we got from my grandparents. Few things are more Christmasy to me than Christmas sprinkles on Christmas cookies.

Christmas Spritz Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Food coloring, optional
Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 375F. Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla, almond; beat well. Stir together flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough. Do not chill.

Place dough into cookie press and press cookies on to ungreased cookie sheet. Top with sprinkles or sugar. Bake 9-10 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Remove cookies from cookie sheet; cool on rack.

Can be made without cookie press, just shape and bake.
Makes 7-8 dozen cookies depending the amount of dough that gets "tested".

What is your favorite cookie?
Favorite baked good?
Favorite drink?
Favorite recipe to share?
What do you have for Christmas day?

Merry Christmas!!!
SnowAngel

[ValiantArcher]

The only real food I associate with Christmas time is pizzelles; I remember my grandfather always made them when we were visiting for Christmas. Thankfully I got to make them with my grandfather a time or two before he passed, and now I like to make them to give to people at our church at Christmas when I have time. The funny thing is that I used to hate them when I was little and my elder sister used to love them; now it's reversed, with me loving them and her not touching them.

[fantasia]

REAL Hot Chocolate (step away from the box mixes... )

Ingredients:
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate chips.
2. When melted, pour in the milk and whisk constantly until smooth.
3. Add whipping cream and vanilla.
4. No need to bring it to a boil. Only to steaming hot. It should be served at around 170-180 degrees.

This stuff is thick, rich, and oh so tasty.

[SnowAngel]

I love real hot chocolate, too, fantasia!

I made spritz cookies yesterday with my siblings. We had a great time, and the cookies were delicious. There are a few left, but I don't think they will last very long.







***Drum roll please*** I made marshmallows for the first time yesterday! I saw this recipe on A Beautiful Mess and had to try it! I'm not sure if I will ever eat a store-bought marshmallow again. These are amazing! So soft and they totally melt in your mouth.




SnowAngel

[johobbit]

I will answer the questions another time, but for now want to briefly comment on the posts. The spritz cookies are so attractive, SnowAngel, as are those homemade marshmallows, wow! I would like to try to make those sometime. *also makes a note of fantasia's amazing hot chocolate recipe, yum!*

Valia, I had never heard of a pizzelle, and want to taste them! They'd be extra-delicious with hazelnut spread, methinks. Or real whipped cream.

We had the tradition for years of making gingerbread with the kids, and shaping the dough into triangles to build into gingerbread trees (about 5" high). The trickiest part was measuring every single triangle a bit smaller than the previous one, but when they were all put together with royal icing and decorated with candy, they sure looked wonderful. Tasted great too.

Another treat I would make at Christmas (but haven't for a few years now) is a chocolate yule log. That is not my own recipe (which was my grandma's), but it's very close. Sooo good!

Oh, wait, maybe I do have time to respond to those questions now.

What is your favorite cookie?
I am not a huge cookie fan, but I remember having Belgium (or Empire) cookies around Christmas, and I really ♥ them.

Favorite baked good?
Probably the Christmas yule log

Favorite drink
I prefer cold drinks (milk, water, apple cider, and juices), but for hot, a nice spiced apple cider is pleasant on a cold winter's night

Favorite recipe to share?
Aside from the yule log, I will have to consider this.

What do you have for Christmas day?
Turkey or ham. If the former, mashed potatoes to go with the bird; if the latter, scalloped potatoes to go with the pig. Always lots of veggies and condiments. And for dessert, well, it depends what the family brings. I've made the log, cream puffs, cookies ... depends on the year and how much time I have. Others bring pies, cakes, cookie trays.

For years, I made gingerbread muffins for our Christmas breakfast ... warm out of the oven with a dollop of whipped cream, mmmm! I should get back in that habit again.

EDIT: Some scrumptious, super sweet, terribly addicting cookies I often make at Christmas are meringues. And decorating them with red and green M & Ms can make them nice 'n festive.

[fantasia]

@SnowAngel, hooray for marshmallows! I've not made them myself, but someone in my family has and they are GOOD. But if I recall correctly you have to use them up fast or they turn into little rocks.

@Jo, how can you not be a fan of cookies!?!?! There aren't many cookies I don't care for, but my favorite has to be my husband's chocolate chip. A close second is the recipe on the back of Reese's peanut butter chip bag for Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cookies. (Can you tell I like chocolate? )

And speaking of cookies, I'm in the market for a good recipe for Soft Sugar Cookies. All the recipes I've tried end up being hard, crispy cookies which I don't like as much.

[johobbit]

but my favorite has to be my husband's chocolate chip.

Chocolate chip is a definite favourite cookie of mine, especially warm from the oven, but I tend to see those as all-year-around cookies, rather than just at Christmas.

One Christmas cookie I definitely do not care for is ... shortbread. I think I am in the minority.

[fantasia]

Ah, I see what you're saying Jo. I guess I think of whatever cookies we make over the holidays as Holiday cookies, irregardless of whether or not they're a truly holiday cookie.

So on that note, my two fav holiday cookies are probably soft molasses cookies (gingerbread) and my recipe for Eggnog snickerdoodles.

[SnowAngel]

@SnowAngel, hooray for marshmallows! I've not made them myself, but someone in my family has and they are GOOD. But if I recall correctly you have to use them up fast or they turn into little rocks.

These are still pretty good. Although I think we will finish them tomorrow, that way I can try another flavor soon.

Just put Christmas sprinkles on the chocolate chip cookies, fantasia! If something has Christmas sprinkles on it, it has to be a Christmas food!

I love ginger snaps with white chocolate and sprinkles. Yes, I am slightly obsessed with sprinkles; chocolate, rainbow, Christmas, sprinkles galore.

I am planning to make chocolate doughnut holes tomorrow...with green glaze and sprinkles they will be very Christmasy! I found a recipe for baked ones, I think they will be fun to make with the younger kids.

*quietly takes her sprinkles and exits the thread for the night.*
SnowAngel

[SnowAngel]

I made those donut holes for breakfast the day after I last posted in here. They were delicious! I am definitely going to have to make them again soon. I did take some pictures, but they are still on the camera.

I haven't been baking as much the last couple weeks as I did early in the month. My younger sister has been doing the majority of the cookie baking. Right now I am eating a ginger snap with almond bark drizzled across the top that she made yesterday.

I did make our Christmas dessert, a death by chocolate trifle. The entire dessert was made from scratch, no store bought cake mix or pudding mix here. For the cake layer, I made my great-grandma's chocolate cake. Mmmm....best chocolate cake ever. The pudding was Alton Brown's chocolate pudding recipe, I use special dark cocoa - it was so good. Lastly the cream was whipped fresh with just a little bit of green food coloring! It was all very festive and delicious of course!

SnowAngel