Christmas Baking

Every year for as long as I can remember I do some marathon cookie and goodie baking for Christmas.  When working I didn't do a lot of baking during the year but outdid myself for the holidays.  I have been making some of the same recipes since the 1960's and I think my family would revolt if I didn't continue the tradition every year.  So much more relaxed this year since I am no longer working.  Below are the usual suspects complete with recipes and pictures.  Please let me know if you try any of these yourselves as I would love to know how you like them.  Here is a picture of all the containers.  The majority of the tins are from the Swedish Peppakokor (thin ginger snaps) that we buy at World Market every year.  We obviously like those cookies a lot and I have not found a recipe to duplicate them (and would probably be too much work anyway).  One secret I have learned is always use real butter when making cookies.  They taste so much better and since I generally only do this once a year how bad can 5 pounds of butter be??

 

Meringue Kisses
• 2 Egg Whites, room temperature
• 6 Tbs. Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Tbs. Sugar
• Chocolate Chips
Heat oven to 250.  Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Beat egg whites until stiff and dry.  Beat in, 1 spoonful at a time, 6 Tbs. sugar.  Continue mixing until mixture holds its shape when you left a spoon.  Add vanilla.  Carefully fold in 2 Tbs. sugar.  Fold in chocote chips.  Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheet.  Bake 50 minutes.  Remove from paper and cool. These are very light and airy and fat free (well maybe without the chocolate chips)!  They have to be made on a perfectly clear and sunny day.  If you try to make them on a cloudy humid day they will be chewy and not crisp - don't evey try it!

Nut Brittle
• 1/4 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Cups Nuts (I used mixed, no peanuts)
Combine all in large heavy skillet.  Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar melts and mixture is golden brown, 15 - 20 minutes.  Pour quickly onto buttered cookie sheet, spreading thinly.  Cook, then break into small pieces and blot off excess grease. I found this recipe in a TV Guide in 1968 when preparing for a Christmas party while I was a senior in high school.  Very simple to make.

Spritz Cookies
• 1 Cup Butter
• 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 2/3 Cup Sugar
• 2-1/4 Cups Flour
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tsp. Almond Extract
Cream butter, then add sugar then beaten egg.  Add sifted dry ingredients, then extract.  Color if desired with food coloring.  Put through cookie press.  Decorate as desired with nuts, cherries, chocolate chips, colored sugar, sprinkles.  Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  My mother used to make these using a hand crank gadget for shaping the cookies.  I did that for a while too but have now progressed to the Wilton cordless battery operated model.  Love it! Chocolate Dipped Cookies • 1 Cup Butter or Margarine, softened • 3/4 Cup Sugar • 1/8 Tsp. Salt • 1 Tsp. Vanilla • 1 Cup Finely Ground Nuts • 2-1/2 Cups Unsifted All Purpose Flour • 1/2 Small Bag of Chocolate Chips, Melted • Choice of Sprinkles or Colored Sugar Cream butter with sugar and salt until light and fluffy.  Stir in vanilla and nuts.  Gradually add flour, mixing well.  Cover and chill until firm, about 4 hours.  Using a rounded teaspoon of dough for each, flatten and press into a cone shape, round and wide at one end and pointed at the other.  Bake on ungreased baking sheets at 350 for 12 minutes or until golden.  Cool on racks.  Dip wide end of cookie into melted chocolate then in choice of sprinkles or colored sugar.  Place on waxed paper until chocolate is firm.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies. I found this recipe on a Maxwell Coffee can in the 1970's and it has been a favorite ever since!

Nut Balls
• 2/3 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Tbs. Vanilla
• 3 Tbs. Sugar
Cream butter, add next 4 ingredients and with fingers until blended.  Roll into small balls (marble size).  Bake on greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 375.  Roll in sugar, cool. I believe this recipe came from my Grandma Wills.  It is my friend Kristi's favorite!

These are new this year -  cream cheese sugar cookies.  I got the recipe from a great little cookbook that Pillsbury sent me via email to make up for a mistake they made.  I am sure if you want the recipe you can find it on their website.

I made this fudge using a box mix by Carnation.  I have made it before by buying all the ingredients separately but the box mix sure was easy and I'm all over easy!

I make Chex Party Mix every year - usually 2-4 batches since we all eat it so fast.  I generally follow the recipe on the box but I use mixed nuts with no peanuts and almost double the butter and Worcestershire Sauce since everyone complains if I don't doctor it up.

I got this recipe from Jill who I worked with at Michaels.  It's one bag of microwave popcorn (popped) mixed with 4 squares of melted almond bark, about half a can of salted peanuts and about half a bag of plain M&M's.  Obviously exact measurements aren't necessary.  Just make sure you have picked out all the unpopped kernals prior to mixing with almond bark.  Your friend's and family's teeth will thank you!  The container I have it in in my new favorite clear "paint can" from Michaels with a child-proof lid (at least they haven't figured it out yet and I'm not telling the secret!).

Christmas would not be complete without the customary Swedish and cardomon coffee cakes for breakfast.  I started making these when the girls were in grammar school and I gave them to the teachers as presents.  I was very popular!  They do require yeast, kneading and rising but that is half the fun of it.  There is nothing more stress relieving than kneading dough!  Each recipe makes 4 of each variety.  You can email me for the recipe if you would like it since it is a little complicated and might need some explaining.

One of my new favorite traditions is decorating gingerbread houses with the grandkids.  I started 2 years ago with Lacie and continued this year adding the triplets to the mix.   They had a great time and did a fabulous job!   Once they started to get finished with their houses we went on to making cookies using a box mix.  It is always good to keep them busy!  The one secret I have learned is to purchase the Wilton box mix at Michaels and erect the house (or houses) ahead a time.  That way they are already set and won't fall apart when the kids decorate them.  Trust me, that was learned the hard way!  I always use canned goods from the pantry to prop up the walls until set.  This year I apparently attached the roof prior to removing the can - Jennifer loved the bonus can of tomato soup after Lacie started eating her house!  LOL

I hope you have enjoyed my blog and these recipes - again please let me know either by following me or via Facebook.  I enjoy writing it and hope someone enjoys reading it!

Merry Christmas to all.  The next post will be after Santa has arrived.   :-) 

Collections

Yes, collections, not Hoarders (although that is one of my favorite shows)!  My little house collection started when I did a crewel needlework picture of Charles Wysocki's Peppercricket Farms.  Shortly after that he came out with a collection of small house sculptures.  My mother-in-law delighted in giving me one every Christmas and I believe I have everyone that was was made.  They are extremely detailed and some are battery operated with lights.  I house them in my curio cabinet along with my collection of vintage cut glass from my and Rich's family and vintage Toby Jugs from my family. 

Another little house collection is Hallmark ornaments that I have been collecting for 25 years.  I have every one but sorry to say I never thought to save the boxes.  Not that I would ever sell them - they are very special to me.  Once again, my mother-in-law grasped onto the collection idea and bought one every year for me.  Since she is now gone so I have to remember to buy my own since the collection is still continuing.  A couple of years Hallmark released some bonus houses that we were not aware of.  I was able to find them on Ebay and paid dearly for them.

My next collection of little houses is an assortment of houses that Rich has bought for me.  Some are from his travels to England, Holland, Germany and Canada.  The smallest are houses that Dillards put out in the 1990's.  For the first three years they would offer one house every week for about 6 weeks.  Unbeknownst to me Rich would sneak to Dillards on Saturday mornings (along with lots of crazy women) and would buy one a week for me.  He did this for 2 or 3 years before he finally got tired of fighting the women.  I so treasure the thought that he would do that for me!!

The last collection of houses are Sheila's houses.  She creates wooden houses from real places.  I have some from Charleston, SC; Williamsburg, VA; Savannah, Georgia; Disney World, and Jennifer's grammar school in Bangor, Pa.  All places I have been to. 

I have also collected Santas's for a number of years.  Many were obtained at Michaels sample sales over the years that I worked for them.  The picture shows just a few.  The grandkids love looking at them every year.  I do have 2 from the 1950's that were given to me by my Aunt Betty.  One is a stuffed Coca Cola Santa with two left hands and the other is a metal bank.  Neeless to say the grandkids don't get to touch them!

In my bedroom I have a collection of original artowork of my beloved Deer Lake.  Deer Lake is a small private lake club in Boonton, NJ, a small town in northwest Jersey.  My grandparents joined when my mom was a teenager (she is now 90), I grew up there and my kids grew up there.  The 3 large pictures are original watercolors by Ruth Taaffe, a long-time member and good friend of my parents.  The four smaller pictures are pen and inks that my father did many years ago (he's been gone for 25 years).  He was a wonderful artist and very detail oriented.  Any of my Deer Lake readers will recognize these scenes.  It is a very special place and I love looking at these pictures every day

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Now is when you are are really going to laugh at me for the computer nerd that I am!  Have you ever gone onto Google's homepage only to find a different and strange logo?  Well I have and have been facinated by them.  Everytime I found one I would do a print screen and save it.  I know I didn't get them all but I have quite a few.  Goggle even has a website decitated to these logos - www.google.com/logos.  I wish I had thought to date each of them and name them with the occasion.  Maybe I am not that much a nerd after all!

I think my collecting days are over since I now need to think about purging.  I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I have enjoyed collecting these items. 

My Grandchildren

Lacie

 
There is nothing more exciting than the birth of one's first grandchild and ours was no exception.  Lacie was born on February 19, 2002.  Jenn was a single mom so her labor coach was her sister Cindy.  Rich, my mom and I were patiently waiting at the hospital when Cindy came out with the news of Lacie's birth.  There wasn't a dry eye in the house! 

Lacie was a beautiful and exceptionally good baby.  They lived with us for almost two years until Jenn and James married.  We feel so blessed to have spent such quality time getting to know her and still have a special bond with her.  She is now almost 9, in the third grade in accelerated classes and has begun horseback riding lessons (just like her mom).  She has turned into a beautiful young lady who thankfully still loves to spend time with us. 

Gabbie, Grant and Georgia

 After Jenn and James were married they really wanted children together.  After much trying Jenn finally had her wish.  But you do have to be careful what you wish for.  What a shock it was for all of us to find out that she was pregnant with triplets!  No one was more surprised (and I think still in shock) than James.  She had a pretty easy pregnancy considering how many babies she was carrying.  Rich and Cindy were not able to be there for the births but my mom and I along with a great deal of the Moore family were there.  When James came out of the delivery room with the big news there were cheers, lots of tears and sighs of relief that all had gone well.  Everyone was healthy and all weighed over 5 lbs. at birth.  Three days later they all went home at the same time.  Let the craziness begin! 

For probably at least the first 6 months James worked full time and went to school full time.  That didn't leave much time to enjoy or help out with three babies.  There were quite a few of us who arranged our schedules to pull overnighters so Jenn could get some much needed rest.  The first year was pretty much a blur.  So many diapers and feedings.  Jenn had lots of input from other mothers of multiples and had them all on a really good schedule of sleeping and eating at the same time.  She is like Wonder Woman!

The "babies" are now 4 years old and are adorable and quite active pre-schoolers.  Definitely a challenge for mom and dad.  They are each totally separate personalities - so different from each other. 

Gabbie (at right) - the oldest and most verbal of the three (very appropriately named).  You can tell the attitude just by looking at her picture!  Quite sassy, smart and can come up with the funniest things to say and do.  Although not always quite so funny for mom and dad.  I will save the funny things they do for another blog.

Georgia (middle) - born last and the smallest, even now.  She is the quiet one but those are the ones you need to watch.  She is extremely smart and can be a little sneaky.  Always the first one to ask to play on my IPhone and excels at most of the kids games I have downloaded.   Very dainty and loves the color purple.

Grant (left) - born in the middle.  He is boy through and through and can break anything he touches (without trying).  You can tell from his picture that he is ready to get up and run!  He loves to help his dad and Pop Pop work on cars.  Of the three he is probably the most lovable - always first to run into my house with a big hug. 

Rich and I are so blessed to have these kids in our lives.  We love when they come to visit and look forward to watching them grow.  They seem to change every time we see them.

Daphne

Just when we thought we had all our grandchildren, we were surprised with the news that Cindy was pregnant.  She was also a single mom, one who has had a few challenges over the years.  Jennifer was her birthing coach (returning the favor).  Daphne was born September 25, 2009.  We were all there for the arrival, another exciting day in our lives.

Daphne is just precious.  Of course they all grow up way too fast and is already a year old.  She walked at 10 months and hasn't stopped yet.  She now runs everywhere.  Through some unfortunate turns of events Cindy has not been able to care for her so she is now living with Jennifer.  Yes, 5 children now!  She loves all her sisters and brother and follows everything they do.  She loves coming to Grammy and Pop Pop's for visits and we look forward to seeing her grow. 

Rich and I are so fortunate to have all these grand kids.  We love each and everyone of them and look forward to their visits.  They of course have done and said some funny things.  That will be great fodder for another blog.