Christmas Baking - it begins!

annie1992

6 years ago

OK, it actually began before Thanksgiving, I've already put chocolate chip cookie dough and Grandma's molasses cookie dough in the freezer, all portioned out for baking later. Today I did the flourless peanut butter cookies and a double batch of maraschino cherry and white chocolate shortbread. Of course I remembered to take a picture of the peanut butter, but not the shortbread, LOL. I have some Jenaluca cookie scoops that I bought two years ago at Christmas after completely trashing some Wilton brand and a couple of the OXO ones. They're expensive, $50 for 3 sizes, but they have a lifetime warranty and I love them, best $50 I ever spent, and these cookies are just the right size to fit into a mini muffin pan, then press in a mini-peanut butter cup when they're done.

Somehow four of them wouldn't fit onto the freezing tray. "Oh, darn" said my husband, Elery. Ahem....

While I portioned the shortbread into rolls for slicing later, Elery packaged up the venison sausage. He'd promised his sons that he'd bring some for their Christmas party on the 16th, so we had to get that done:

It had also come to my attention that we were on our last jar of Habanero Gold. A dear friend sent me some Portuguese muffins, much like an English muffin, but sweeter and more dense. Elery likes them with cream cheese and Habanero Gold. That's fine, but I need some to fill the cheese thumbprints, so I had to make some more:

I still need to make Sherry's Santa's Helpers and Diane/Craftyrn's Cuccidati, and The Princess found a recipe for Red Velvet Thumbprints with Cream Cheese Filling that she'd like to try. After that, it's fudge, some toffee, maybe buckeyes or truffles.

Has anyone else started Christmas baking, or is it just me? You know there's only 25 days left until Christmas!

Annie

Featured Answer

annie1992
Original Author

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

CC, that's an 8 ounce Anchor canning jar, available at jarstore.com. I also get some at fillmorecontainer.com. I use the middle sized cookie scoop, they make a good sized cookie, but not huge. I put the frozen cookies on the parchment sheet and they sit on the counter until they are thawed, but still somewhat chilled.

PM, I also like my cookies to be fresh, which is why I freeze dough and then bake it as I need it. Fortunately, I have freezers, although not much space, and both the girls like plates of cookies. So The Princess will come over and do some baking and then take some dough out of the freezer and bake it to take to her "other Grandma's" family dinner. Madi and Maci do the same thing, and I've found that we get a greater variety because if you have to make each batch from scratch with a 4 and a 6 year old, well, you don't get much done, LOL.

The flourless peanut butter cookies are the ones I've made for years, before I even knew Amanda was celiac. They're pretty easy and In a pinch, you can use just the first three ingredients and they're still good. I like the texture better with the baking soda, but it's actually optional, as is the vanilla.

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

Mix everything together, portion out onto parchment covered sheets, bake 12 to 14 minutes at 350. I always criss cross the top with a fork, because that's what Grandma did, and I also sprinkle with sugar. Coarse sugar looks prettier but I didn't have any, I have to get some for decorating.

The cherry shortbread is a Better Homes and Gardens recipe, and it's pretty, so it "fits" on the cookie trays. My stepson loves them and I always bake extra for him.

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

½ cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped

2½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup sugar

1 cup cold butter

12 ounces white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped or 1 bag of good white chips, like Giradhelli

½ teaspoon almond extract

2 drops red food coloring (optional)

2 teaspoons shortening

White nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain
well.
In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut
in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained
cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in
almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead until smooth
and form into a ball (dough will be crumbly at first, but will come
together as you work the dough with your hands).
Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an
ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set.
Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the
shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into
chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on parchment or waxed paper until chocolate is set.

Now for my notes. (grin) I do it all in the food processor. First I dump in the white chocolate chips and chop them up, then add the flour, sugar and butter, pulse until the butter is well mixed in. Add the chopped cherries and the almond extract, mix until it's pretty well blended, although you'll still have crumbly bits. Dump it into a bowl, knead in the crumbly remaining pieces, form into a log and refrigerate or freeze. When you want cookies, slice them off and bake them. I don't try to dunk the cookies, it's too messy, I put them on baking racks and drizzle with melted white chocolate then sprinkle with red coarse sugar. Very pretty and pink, or you can use green cherries and get green cookies. If you want a more intense color, use the food coloring. I didn't in the ones below, so it'll give you an idea about the color.

They are the pink cookies on this plate from last Christmas and the peanut butter cookies are the little ones with the peanut butter cups. At the far right is Sherry's Santa's Helpers.

I think today I'm making "Mrs. Brandt's Date Nut Cookies", an old recipe from one of the girls' "church Grandma" friends. She's gone now, but her cookies live on!

Annie

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (57)

beth09
6 years ago
Annie, thank you SO much for typing all that out. I really appreciate it, especially the notes. ;) And yes, they really are pretty and festive looking. Thanks again!
beth09
6 years ago
I will share a very simple recipe, that gets rave reviews. You would not think so just looking at the recipe, but everyone loves these. And you can whip a batch up in literally no time at all.

Roasted Pecan Clusters

3 Tbsp. butter

3 c. pecan pieces

12 oz. chocolate candy coating/chocolate almond bark

Heat oven to 300.

Melt butter in microwavable bowl. Add nuts, stir to coat well. Spread on baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 to ensure even roasting. While roasting the nuts, chop/shave candy coating. Place in heavy pan or in double boiler (I use this method) and melt. Time this so it's melted when the nuts come out or close to. Let it cool a couple minutes. Add nuts and stir to coat.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment or wax paper lined sheets. Let cool completely and set up. Store in covered dish or tin in cooler area. Makes approximately 40-45.

Enjoy!
Related Discussions
Merry Christmas--demo beginning! AHHHHH!
Q
Comments (4)
Fun fun fun! Enjoy the ride. LOVE the sledgehammer comment. That was BY FAR the best part of my demo. Taking a sledgehammer to my vile countertop. I highly recommend it. Good catharsis as the frustrations of renovating start piling up ... I'm mid-reno too, got my cabs in just in time for Christmas. Now that's a great present!
...See More
The Baking Begins!
Q
Comments (3)
I brought the bread machine in from the garage today. I had to wash 10+ years of dirt off of it but it seems to be working. I have NO Christmas spirit this year.
...See More
How is Your Christmas Cooking or Baking Coming Along?
Q
Comments (23)
Black raspberries? YUM! ! ! Haven't seen those in many a year! Grew them on the farm when I was growing up. Red raspberries were added during my early teens. No raspberries at all down here in South Texas, until a few years ago, when the reds started showing up in the store. Ridiculously expensive, but once in awhile I splurge on a half pint, just to indulge myself. It's funny, when we first got them on the farm, I thought they were really good, better than the black, But now I would much rather have the black, if I could ever find any! ! ! I did no cooking or baking this year, a first time ever. But we had our Christmas yesterday at Grandson's house, 165 mi. drive from here. I went up early yesterday morning, and came back last night. He decided that getting myself and his Dad there was enough of a task for me, but I still felt bad about arriving with no food to contribute to the dinner. But there was more than enough there, and every bit was delicious! Rusty
...See More
Are you baking Christmas cookies? What kind?
Q
Comments (104)
I found the Eggnog Snickerdoodles on the cooking forum years ago. I made them last night and they were very good! I couldn't find Brandy extract so I just used cognac instead. I also added a little bit of cinnamon. Eggnog Snickerdoodles 2 3/4c flour 1 1/2c sugar 1 c butter, softened 2 eggs 2 tsp cream of tartar 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp brandy extract 1/2 tsp rum extract 1/8 tsp nutmeg Sugar mix: 1/4c sugar 1tsp nutmeg Mix butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add flour, cream of tartar brandy and rum extract, salt, soda and nutmeg. Mix well. Chill. Shape into 1 tsp sized balls. Roll in sugar mix. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350Â° or until cookies are lightly browned. Yields 2 dozen. Recipe easily doubles with no problem.
...See More
cloudy_christine
6 years ago
Thank you, Annie!
bcskye
6 years ago
Annie is a super woman and always amazes me with how much she does all the time. My cookie plans are not really planned out, let alone started. No family and most of my neighbors bake a lot. I will make a tray to contribute to my fire department's Christmas dinner. Usually I make cakes for all the fish frys and chili dinners they hold and they're gone quickly, but I'd like to do some less common cookies to treat them to.

Madonna
looney35905
6 years ago
Annie, thank you so much for posting the Mrs. Brandt's Date Nut Cookies recipe. 45 years ago, when I was a latch key kid, I would walk home from elementary school and stop to get the key to our house from a neighbor. (I had a bad habit of losing them). She was an elderly widow and each day she would have a treat for me. A cookie like this was my absolute favorite then. Thanks for bringing back a great memory of a lovely lady.
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
beth, that looks really good and simple, thanks!

looney, you are so welcome for the memories. My girls had several ladies from church who did not have families close, they called them all "Grandma". I have some wonderful memories of those lovely ladies and how they "adopted" my girls and doted on them. Mrs. Brandt had these cookies, Mrs. May always baked dinner rolls for any church function, Mrs. Ebenstein was the candy maker and they were all wonderful.

Annie
Lars
6 years ago
I'm not good at keeping track of dates, and so I guess I should start my baking today or tomorrow, but I do not make that much - mainly biscotti. I used to make candy, but I felt that the efforts I put into making that was not really appreciated, and so I have stopped, although I might make some toffee. I used to make chocolate turtles in a Madeleine mold, but that is pretty labor intensive, and I do not have pecans sent to me free each year any more.

Yesterday I finished making a huge batch of chocolate Habanero chili sauce, and that is what I usually give as presents. Kevin has two employees that love it - one is from Belize - and they would be disappointed if I did not make it. One of them wants to buy it from me, but I do not make enough to sell, and I'm not really interested in selling it anyway. It's fairly labor intensive also because we grill the chilies and garlic in the BGE, which Kevin does for me now, since he wants to give the sauce as presents. This year I made it in the Vitamix blender, which I guess I've had for less than a year now, and it was so much easier. Also, I added a bit more water to make the mixture go through the food mill more easily, but I still think it is thick enough. Last year I made it very thick, and I don't think that is necessary, especially since it is a lot more difficult. This year I put the pulp through the food mill in one pass and then threw out what was left in the mill, but in past years, I have added a bit of water and vinegar to the leftover pulp to put it through again, but I decided that was too much work, and I had almost half a gallon of sauce anyway. I was able to find chocolate Habanero chilies at the farmers' market last Sunday, and this helped me to make a larger batch. The plants I have now are almost two years old, and they do not produce as much the second year. Last year I had a massively huge crop, and I will replant again in March, when we get back from Fiji. I've been saving seeds from my chilies, and I'll keep those separate from the new seeds that I bought, to see if they grow true from seeds that I've collected. It would be nice not to have to buy seeds every year.

Thanks for the reminder about the Christmas baking! I'll make biscotti for sure, but I might also make chocolate crinkles. I only have one cookie scoop, and it is small.
tami_ohio
6 years ago
I made about 10 dozen, I think, of my aunt's ginger cookies today. I'm guessing at the count. I did count, but can't exactly remember. I'm getting tired, about ready for a nice warm bed. A single batch makes approximately 6 dozen, if I don't make them too big! Most will go to my niece's house tomorrow, for what she calls Family Baking Day, which she started about 3 years ago. We only do a little baking while there, but it gives the ladies of the family, and a few friends, time to get together for a fun afternoon. We all come home with a bunch of different cookies, so it's like a cookie walk. I usually mix up my mom's candy cane cookie recipe and take that, as my other niece can get the texture just right so they aren't hard to roll into canes. They are always so fragile, and hard for me to make, until Steph figured out that they usually need an extra egg white. Mom always had trouble with them also. I just don't feel like messing with them this year.
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
Tami, I'm glad to see you here again, welcome back!

Annie
colleenoz
6 years ago
I started my baking tonight, the stained glass window fruit cakes are in the oven, to be followed by DH's special fruit cake. It's weird, I'm not feeling terribly excited about Christmas baking this year.
party_music50
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I'm getting in mind of baking here because we keep getting snow! :p

My grandmother once made a non-traditional fruit cake -- I remember it containing nuts and dried fruit (not candied fruit!), and the batter wasn't dark, so probably no molasses in it. If anyone has a recipe like that, I'd love it! I tried once to replicate it (found a batter that looked right and sub'd fruits/nuts), but it wasn't the same.... and my mother complained saying it needed at least some candied cherries in it. lol! :p
Lars
6 years ago
Hmm... Maybe I should make ginger cookies.
party_music50
6 years ago
I've been thinking about making what my mother calls "shoe taps". lol! It's a molasses bar cookie she created containing raisins and nuts. They're good! :) Just not sure they'll convert well to gluten-free. :p
tami_ohio
6 years ago
Annie, thank you for the welcome back. I do peek in once in a while, just don't have much to say most of the time.

There was no cookie baking today, but we did decorate some sugar cookies and had a good visit, and baby snuggles! Had lots of different cookies to bring home. It started snowing about 1:00, just light flurries. By the time I started home, it was snowing enough to start sticking. I stopped at the market to pick up lunch meat and carrots, and ended up with chicken and carrots, and sour dough bread, and it was a a bit slippery when I got back on the road, but it was just in that 3 mile stretch. I made chili for supper, with corn bread. Now I am full, should be in the basement sewing, but am bundled under a blanket and here visiting with all of you!
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
Well, I'm happy to see you and hope all is well with you and your family!

Not much Christmas baking today, because tomorrow is Madison's 6th birthday and so, of course, I'm baking cakes. 24 chocolate cupcakes, using Colleen's recipe, 24 strawberry cupcakes and a two tiered/4 layer hot milk cake, all with buttercream frosting, decorated with chocolate guitars and stars. I made the decorations with candy molds and was happy with how they turned out.

Anyway, that baking/frosting/decorating took me about 11 hours, so no time for Christmas baking today. I'll start again Monday, as Elery's family Christmas is next weekend and I need to get fudge in the mail to California for his family there.

Annie
tami_ohio
6 years ago
Thank you! All is well with us, hope is the same for your family.

Happy Birthday to Madison! No wonder you haven't had time for Christmas baking. The cupcakes sound delicious!
party_music50
6 years ago
Annie, how many people are you feeding?! lol! Happy Birthday to Madi!
l pinkmountain
6 years ago
What are the cream colored, iced and sprinkled ones? I couldn't figure that out from the post. The ones just right of the cutouts.
colleenoz
6 years ago
I think those are the white chocolate cherry cookies Annie posted the recipe for.
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
L, those are the white chocolate and cherry shortbread, the pink color just didn't show up very well because I didn't add any food coloring, I figured the maraschino cherries added enough red dye, LOL.

PM, there will be approximately 75 people there today. I have a huge family, Kevin has an equally huge family and they all live locally, plus now Madison is in school she has friends who are coming, and Kevin and Ashley have friends from the police department, the fire department, the hospital, and they all have kids that are coming. So, 6 or 7 couples but they all have 4 or 5 kids! That adds up.....

Sloppy joes from our grass fed beef, chips and goldfish crackers, cake and ice cream and a pinata full of candy, the kids should be happy!

Annie
l pinkmountain
6 years ago
Oooh perfect, I have white chocolate chips and was wondering what to do with them!
Marilyn Sue McClintock
6 years ago
I don't do much cooky baking any more. I will at least bake a black raspberry pie for Christmas meal. Time and energy will tell me what more I can bake up, ha, ha.

Lots of good sounding recipes here though.

Sue
Marilyn Sue McClintock
6 years ago
I have a carrot cake in the oven and it is just about ready to come out of the oven. I will let it cool, freeze and put the cream cheese icing on when I take it out for Christmas. So far that is all I have baked.

Sue
bcskye
6 years ago
I have all the ingredients for so many goodies, including Annie's white chocolate and cherry cookies and AnnT's maple fudge, but haven't made anything. For some reason, I'm just not motivated this year.

Madonna
colleenoz
6 years ago
Well I found my mojo and got the butt into gear for a bake-a-thon these past three days. So far I've made speculaas, spritz, chocolate crinkles, Swedish wedding cookies, vanilla strips, date nut tortes, and raspberry chews. The Vienna whirls are baked and ready to be dipped in chocolate and the almond bread loaves are baked ready to be sliced thinly and dried out in a low oven, like biscotti. These are all to give away.

I might make DH some Florentines for a personal gift (he loves them, especially home made ones because the homemade ones don't have a pastry backing like the commercially made ones tend to) and some fruit mince pies, which he like to eat out of the freezer.

There's an icecream cassata ready to go in the freezer for the family dinner, and I'll be baking the clementine syrup cake posted by Islay Corbel (thanks, Islay! :-) ) and making a Nutella cheesecake. I also have some bananas that really should go in banana bread but I think they'll go in the freezer for another time.

Baking Friday was hellish because it was over 40C/104F. The AC was cranked up but I was still sweating buckets. Then yesterday afternoon a cooler breeze started up and today it's been unseasonally chilly and raining. Hope it's like this when I bake my ham and roast my turkey next weekend :-)
User
6 years ago
Looks good Annie. Enjoy

I baked yesterday. Dug out some OLD family recipes and made them for my sisters, with enough left over to satisfy our sweet tooth

Snickerdoodles and gingerbread from my grandmothers

Congo Squares and Krumkake from my aunts

English Toffee Bars from the wife of the former governor of MN, who used to live across the street.

It's very satisfying.

We do brunch on Christmas, so I'll probably make my grandmother's Butter Pie or maybe her Jelly Roll
Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
6 years ago
We're moderate consumers of sugar around here but I do go from standing into first gear during the holidays. I finally ran out of candied peel and decided I really needed to have it, so candied orange and lemon peel, using the Joy of Cooking recipe. I used the last of the old orange peel in a sweet bread I made as an experiment, basing the dough on a modification of Beard's recipe for Country Fair Bread and adding candied peel, grated orange peel and juice, and almonds. Even by my modest standards it wasn't quite sweet enough. Another time I'd add golden raisins marinated in the orange juice. DD's birthday is this month, so I made her her traditional birthday dessert of cherry pie, made from cherries we picked and pitted back in June and then froze. We're agreed that classic cherry pie is one of the world's greatest desserts. I'm considering ricotta cake, recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook, and DD plans on making Pan Nero from A World of Breads for Christmas. All my cookbooks are old. But they're good.
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
6 years ago
We are both off work together after months over-worked,...and have been having fun hilarious baking/cooking moments.

I had a crazy bee-in-the-bonet to make caramel corn. For the neighbor kids the last day of Hanukkah. Puffed quinoa, puffed rice, chocolate shavings, toasted nuts of pecan and pistachio, (what I had on hand), ...worked was a shock, after some seizing but added some water to re-cream it.
party_music50
6 years ago
I've been thinking about making some caramel corn lately! BF wants cookies with cherries -- bought 4 jars. I'm loaded up with everything I might need to make whatever cookie or candy I want... just waiting for the right time.
nancyofnc
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
British Fruitcake is mellowing in the pantry (brush with brandy - taste a bit - rewrap - repeat). Teen grands will get a box of tartlets - pear/ginger, caramel, chocolate cherry, buckeyes, and all of us will share a Raspberry Lemon Torte with homemade lady fingers (those were so easy!) and DH requested Martha Stewart's mile high apple pie. I have pre-made everything I could and can't wait to put it all together Christmas morning for the family's party at 3 (not at my house this year, thankfully).

Ladyfingers and Raspberry Lemon Torte

Martha's Mile High Apple Pie
beth09
6 years ago
I've been making lots of stuff for days now. And I have to say, there "may" be nothing better than shortbread cookies straight out of the oven. What meltinyourmouth loveliness....
colleenoz
6 years ago
I made some mincemeat tartlets for DH yesterday using Islay Corbel's short pastry recipe- it is definitely the best pastry I have ever made! So tender and crisp at the same time. Will always use that from now on. Thanks, Islay! I also made the Clementine Cake she posted a link to, but in a bundt pan. It looked great before it went into the freezer for Christmas Eve.
lizbeth-gardener
6 years ago
Colleenoz: Can you link or direct me to Islay Corbel's short pastry recipe? If it's that good, I want to try it!
colleenoz
6 years ago
It was in a thread that wasn't about pastry as such, iirc. I wrote down the amounts and used my usual technique. You need a scales that weighs in grams.

340g flour

290g butter, cut into cubes

60g cream

Process the butter and flour, work in cream until it comes together in a ball. Chill at least an hour before using.
lizbeth-gardener
6 years ago
Thank You, Colleen! I do have a scale that weighs in grams.
party_music50
6 years ago
yay! A perfect snow-storm day for baking and I started with the requested Cherry Blinks. :) Made with Einkorn and they came out great.
Solsthumper
6 years ago
Working harder than Santa's elves, but it paid off. Everything looks good Annie!

The Habanero Gold sparkles. I like sparkly things. Happy Holidays to you!

Sol
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
And very, very Happy Holidays to you too, Sol. Did you hear me hollering at you last weekend as we drove down 127 toward Lansing? Elery's son lives in Holt, and that's where we had our Christmas gathering with his family, and I yelled "Hi, Sol", out the car window. My Mother just shook her head, LOL.

The grandkids will all be here tomorrow for cookie decorating, and so I've been baking all day, we'll have some "new" cookies tomorrow. We took cookies and fudge to Elery's family last weekend:

The pink fudge is actually Cookies N Cream. I used the holiday Oreos, and the red filling melted and made the fudge pink, a completely unexpected outcome but kind of festive. (grin)

Annie
colleenoz
6 years ago
I've never photographed my Christmas baking before so I thought I would to show you what I get up to every Christmas :-)Stained glass window fruit cake- 8 of these liberally doused with brandy

Regular fruit cake- 1 large one 10" square for DH soaked with Jameson's
Cookies-

Top L-R Vanilla Strips, Almond Bread, Swedish Wedding Cookies

Middle L-R Chocolate Crinkles, Almond Spritz, Dare-Pecan Torte

Bottom L-R Raspberry Chews, Vienna Whirls, Speculaas

Fruit mince tartlets- 3 dozen for DH
I also made DH 2 1/2 dozen Florentine cookies, which are finely chopped candied fruit and almonds baked into discs of toffee, then cooled and the underside coated with chocolate, all gluten free; and an Orange Almond Syrup Cake which is based on the recipe for a Clementine cake posted here by Islay Corbel, but there are no clementines here ATM. I baked mine in a bundt tin as well :-) It was extremely moist and DH's brother and sister really liked it.
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
Yum, Colleen, everything looks delicious but those tarts just are calling to me!

Annie
jerzeegirl (FL zone 9B)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
This is the cannoli (cassata) cake soaked in rum with chocolate ganache and decorated with pistachios I made for my birthday (Christmas Eve). It tastes pretty good.
tami_ohio
6 years ago
Colleen, looks delicious!

Happy Birthday, Jerzeegirl!
lizbeth-gardener
6 years ago
Colleen, your cookies look delicious and some that are new to me. Would love the recipe for the date-pecan tortes, raspberry chews and the regular fruit cake. That's a lot of typing so don't feel obligated.

Happy Birthday, Jerzeegirl! That cake looks and sounds delicious!
jerzeegirl (FL zone 9B)
6 years ago
Thanks!
colleenoz
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Lizbeth, I can give you the fruit cake recipe (I'll post it on its own thread) but the other two are my Mom's recipes and she made me promise not to give them to non family members. Sorry.

Happy birthday, Jerzeegirl! The cake looks delish, but doesn't it suck having to make your own birthday cake?
jerzeegirl (FL zone 9B)
6 years ago
haha! When your birthday is on Christmas Eve you get used to it. Actually, baking the cake was the most fun part of the day. I was trying to channel the sensation of growing up above my grandfather's Italian pastry shop.
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Happy belated birthday, jerzeegirl!!! I kind of like baking my own cake, then I get exactly what I want. (grin) I'm kind of envious, though, I grew up on a farm and spent most of my time in the barn with my pony, I think an Italian pastry shop would have smelled much, much better. The cake looks amazing, by the way.

Colleen, we aren't family? Oh dear, I'm hurt. (snicker) I'm still thinking of those tarts and I have jars of home canned pear mincemeat just begging to be used and my Mother loves anything made with pie crust...

Annie
colleenoz
6 years ago
To be honest, I suspect that one day I'll just throw the recipes out into the internet as DD has zero interest in baking. Most of the recipes I've seen pretty much the same thing but different names (the Swedish wedding cookies are called Mexican wedding cookies here- those cookies get around :-) - and also Russian Teacakes) but I've only found the Vanilla Strips recipe once, on an obscure Maltese recipes website. How my mother got it is anyone's guess.

SonIL has indicated he'd like to do them -he cooks! :-)- but so far that's as far as it's gotten. :-(
annie1992
Original Author
6 years ago
Colleen, I can only say that you should be sure they are at least written down. My family had/has several "secret" recipes that no one knows how to make because they were family secrets and younger generations just aren't interested enough to ever obtain them before elderly family members died. I was guilty of that myself with some of Grandma's recipes, but fortunately she shared them and so I found other family members that still had them years after Grandma was gone and I finally decided I wanted to make them.

I have a cousin who, when her Mother died, just rented a dumpster. When I asked about old family movies, hoping to have them put onto DVDs, she told me that she didn't think anyone was interested in all that "old stuff" and they went into the dumpster with pretty much everything else that wasn't worth money. (sigh)

I know we've had this discussion here before, but today's generation just isn't as interested in "family heirlooms", they are more mobile and have less space and different lifestyles. Someone might want those recipes later, though, and hopefully they'll be preserved in some way.

Annie
tami_ohio
6 years ago
I am fortunate in that DD likes to bake, and DGS Arriana at almost 4 loves to help, DS took baking and pastry in school and his youngest loves to cook. They are all getting the old recipes! Colleen, please do at least make sure they are written down.