Crown Roast with little chef-hat thingies on the end of every bone. Is there a reason for that? It just looks - well - too frou-frou, you know?

Bread bowls.

Big in the 80's. I cringe seeing it again. All that good crusty bread, soggy on the inside, ...going into the garbage.

Everything on pintrest......

They all look so clever and delicious and impossible.

I was watching an old Nigella Lawson Christmas show on YouTube and she made chocolate covered Christmas pudding truffle things. Then she cut out teeny tiny pieces of candied cherries,green and red, to make dinky little holly leaves on the top of each one. So fiddly. But adorable. Depending on my mood I MIGHT do something like that. Maybe. Probably not. But maybe. I might make some oreo balls and pipe the holly berries with frosting before I do that.

Oh, I also saw someone make a serving tray by melting a bunch of peppermint candies in the oven until they fused together. It was very pretty, BUT, I can imagine how many attempts that took before it was right. And what a mess it made on the attempts that didn't work out. And wouldn't that be too fragile to really serve anything on? What about ants? Will it stick to the table?

I've had these darling penguin olive appetizers pinned forever. But when I imagine making them, I know that trying to put white cream cheese into black olives would be messy, frustrating task. I just can picture gooey cream cheese fingerprints on the olives, not pristine like these. I think it could be done, but would be a slow process to try to make enough for a party.

Olychick, I tried making just plain cream-cheese stuffed black olives once. What a mess! They looked awful - but did taste good.

The first thing that comes to mind are checkerboard cookies like the ones here. I spent forever one Christmas making them as gifts for friends and coworkers. Waaaaay too much time for not many cookies. Never made them again...but they were cute and tasty!

Olychick, those are adorable, for sure. Yes, could definitely be frustrating! I do love cream cheese mixed with black olives and a little diced red onion as a spread for various things. Tasty but not exactly cute!

I've wanted to make those olive penguins, too, but I know mine wouldn't look like that, plus when do I have less time than during the holidays?

Biscuits-in-a-tube.

Took out a frozen tube of butter biscuits and put it on the floor next to the radiator to warm it up. Came back later and found the dog licking the emptied tube. I guessed dogs do enjoy butter, but such a small dog and that was a large tube of biscuits!

Many months later, I had to change a light bulb in the kitchen pendant fixture. Behind the fixture on the ceiling, there was that big tube of biscuits, solidly glued on the ceiling, and completely dried up.

dcarch

I'm happy to get dinner on the table! No fanciness here!

The only thing I do do is a pumpkin/gourd centerpiece. DH is a professional pumpkin carver and part of his pay is a huge sack of gourds for me!

Well, I've been known to make a cheese ball shaped like a Christmas tree with a piece of yellow pepper cut like a star for the top, and I decorate Christmas cookies every year.

It's not food related, but we live on an old Christmas tree farm and every year I swear I'm going to make my own wreath and some swags from freshly cut branches, but somehow I never do. Heck, last year I didn't even put up a tree. And every year I think I'll find time to help Makayla have a bake sale at local holiday craft sales, and we never do that either.

Annie

Believe it or not, those stuffed penguins were very easy to make and just use a clean damp towel to clean up any cheese that overfilled the olive cavity. My guests loved them and I had many compliments & 'how did you make them' requests. They are as cute as pictured.

dcarch, you must have heard me laugh just now all the way from this coast ;0)

I haven't really tried anything creative in a while now. I know my limitations and accept that I can make things taste good - but not magazine photograph material.

I did make cream puffs in the shapes of swans one year for little girls grade school graduation that turned out pretty cute. I probably won't do it again.

Those lacy cookies shaped just so while still warm adn filled with ice cream....nope...tried it once and had many many delicious crumbs to put on top of the dish of ice cream.
And I have a friend who was "famous" for her turtle shaped loaf of bread...
I used to make Bunny Buns for Easter....and was glad to do it when there was just one cute little grand child....but then the family grew and it became a huge chore....and I said just imagine they look like rabbits!

Bûche de Noël. I’ve been wanting to try making one for decades. Too time consuming though; I’ve seen some sloppy ones but my goal is nice. My daughter just asked me if we could make one (surprised me as she doesn’t like chocolate) so maybe this is the year.

chloebud - My mom blasts out those checkerboards as regularly as chocolate chip cookies; I’m guessing once you have the knack it’s easy. I picked up a cookie platter at a local bakery recently and the squares were literally about 1/8 inch. Now that impressed me, but I’m guessing there’s a reasonable method for that also.

Chloebud, my Mom used to make Icebox Cookies - one batch vanilla and one batch chocolate, roll them into logs, cut the logs in half lengthwise, put them back together half chocolate & half vanilla, turn the logs halfway, cut them again & flip one half end to end. Made pretty slices, and took her less time to do than it took me to type this! Now I'm going to have to see if I still have her recipe!

FOAS, it was easy enough but just more time consuming than I realized. It involved forming 9 little squared off logs of dough pressed together into one large log for slicing. LOL, maybe I was just too picky with forming perfect little squared off logs! I think the recipe also included making spirals, but I stuck with the checkerboarding.

Edie, I'd love to see your mom's recipe. The one I used came from Martha Stewart Living.

Lars, I'd be very appreciative of those chocolate turtles. :-)

One thing I do love spending more time with is decorative pie crusts. I've been meaning to try this delicate leaf lattice crust for a long time. My fear is the whole thing could shatter when setting it on top of the pie. Maybe slide a removable tart pan pan bottom under it, then slide it onto the pie...?

I think the way to make those olive penguins is to put the softened cream cheese in a piping bag with a small round tip so the cream cheese can be squeezed into the opening. That should do it without finger prints and mess. I haven't made them (don't particularly like black olives), but I've piped cream cheese for other things.

Cloud Swift, that makes sense! I was doing a quick check and found the following. This one says to cut the olives in half, then attach the two halves to little balls of cream cheese. Likely easier than stuffing the olives, although it could still take some time...depending on how many you need.

https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/its-5-oclock-somewhere-friday-party-animals/

Oh, that is a beautiful pie crust. So you bake it separately, then place it on a finished pie? It does look pretty breakably delicate.

If I find Mom's recipe I will post it. I think I remember her doing swirls, too, where you roll the doughs out thinly, stack one on top of the other, roll up, then slice & bake.

Thanks, Sol. That's gorgeous crust work...too pretty to eat! Yes, I would definitely chill it well first whether I was baking it on the pie or by itself. In this case, I would assemble it on the parchment-lined sheet, bake it, then slide onto the baked pie. It was the handling after baking that concerned me since it looks particularly fragile. Seems the "sliding" is key regardless. With your beautiful crust, I would have done the same thing you mentioned..."former for the crust and latter for the leaves." I'm going to copy and save your photo. :-)

Sol, as always, that's just beautiful, I'd hate to even cut it, I'd just want to sit it on the counter and admire it!

Annie

Somehow, I would not be surprised that the same person who weaved that perfect crust on the pie is also the same person who weaved that gorgeous placemat, and the same person who always can weave words into eloquent sentences.

What do you think?

dcarch

Sol, without doubt, that is the most beautiful pie crust I've ever seen, or ever will see. Something like that takes, time, talent, love, and an artist. Just lovely!

There are lots of things I won't bother with now, but that has more to do with not enough time and my age... I've posted these before:

One year I made several items to pass around for the holidays - chocolate and marzipan penguins...

Sugar and fondant tea cups...

And my favorite among the truffles (for flavor) were lemon confit. Fussy to make those spheres. Fussier to chocolate-glue the added lemon confit on top, and a dot of chocolate on the bottom so they wouldn't roll! I even wore cotton chocolate gloves to keep fingerprints off. I can't believe I ever did that.

I will never, ever, do anything like that again! (one should perhaps be careful in saying 'never'!)

However, I'll most likely studd a couple oranges with cloves and place them on the counter and table for the scent. Anything fussier than that, well, no thank you : ) And yes, I can see how a pretty waffle cornucopia would be lovely, but I'd want to eat it rather than let it sit, accumulating dust! So, I agree with you, plllog!

Wow, 2Many, those are all just beautiful! LOL, I hear you with the clove-studded oranges. ;-)

I was on a holiday home tour several years ago, and the kitchen featured a large pot filled with water simmering on the stove with cinnamon sticks, orange peel, whole cloves, bay leaf or two, and a few other niceties. It filled the home with such a wonderful scent. And it was easy enough to concoct, but in the midst of holiday entertaining, I always forget to set this up. Plus, it's another thing to keep an eye on.

I do, however, simmer citrus peel and other aromatics on the stove after the holidays, in the dreary months of Jan-March.

Whoa! Sol and 2Many, thanks for the pictures! I guess some of us really do make the things the rest of us only dream of. :)

2many, I wouldn't even want to eat those, I'd just want to admire them. I make homemade candy, with homemade being the operative word there. It tastes good, but it's not beautiful.

Annie