Holiday Baking...Recipes, anyone?

I was going to post about my decorations today and update you on my mantle progress.  But, I mentioned to my sister about some holiday baking I was doing and she wanted me to post the recipes.  I told her I thought it might be too late for this year and that I might wait until next year, but she said she was running late and needed some good ones.  So, I agreed to post them now...for her sake.  So, here you go, Aunt Pea.  This one's for you!  And if any of the rest of you need some last-minute recipes, I hope you enjoy this!

The recipes I'm going to share with you are from Gooseberry Patch's magazine "Christmas 2009."  I picked up this magazine last Christmas, and I LOVE IT!

It is NOT a book (Gooseberry Patch has those, too, and I have some of them)....it is a magazine, and I found it on a magazine rack last year.  I found a link to where you can still buy it.  I bought one for my mom last year, too.  (I see they want about $28 for it, so maybe that one's a hard cover book.  Mine says I paid $10.99 on it, which I thought was expensive for a magazine, but it was sooooo worth it.)

I like this because it has great baking recipes, but it also has recipes for things like cheese balls and other stuff you might want for entertaining.  It has brunch recipes, etc.  It also has really cute ideas for packaging up your treats and for some little decorations, etc.  Of all my Gooseberry Patch books, I like this one the best.

I see they have some new ones out now.  Book 12 looks pretty good.  I haven't seen the new ones in my stores here.

Afterword:  My cousin, Terri, is a Pampered Chef consultant, and she said she posted a bunch of easy recipes on her website, too.  If you are interested, go visit her website and check it out!  (I fixed this link if you tried earlier.)

Here's what we made.  I think it's okay to share a few recipes.  I won't share photos of their packaging ideas, but they are really cute.  I think you should get the book/magazine if you are interested.

This is the Chocolate -Peppermint Bark.  (I think I pulverized the candy canes too much.  Maybe leave yours in bigger chunks.)

Chocolate-Peppermint Bark

1/4 C almonds, finely chopped

8-oz package semi-sweet baking chocolate squares, chopped (we used semi-sweet chips and it was fine)

6-oz package white baking chocolate squares, chopped (we used white chocolate chips and it was fine)

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

red food coloring

1/3 C peppermint candies, crushed (my store was all out of starlight mints, so we pulverized 4 candy canes, and that worked great)

Line an 8x8" baking pan with aluminum foil (we used the non-stick foil).  Spread almonds in pan; set aside.  Place semi-sweet chocolate in microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high setting for one minute; stir until smooth.  Microwave an additional 10 to 15 seconds, if needed.  (Be careful here...It's easy to overcook your chocolate and have it get lumpy.  I found if you keep stirring it for a few seconds after you take it out, it continues to melt.  So about 60 or 70 seconds was plenty.  Any more and you really risk burning your chocolate.)  Pour semi-sweet chocolate over almonds.  Allow to harden.  (I put it in the fridge to speed up that process.)

Repeat microwave melting instructions for white chocolate.  Stir peppermint extract into white chocolate.  Pour half of chocolate into another bowl and tint pink.  Slowly pour white and pink chocolate over semi-sweet chocolate; gently swirl with a knife.  (This all has to be done pretty quickly, as the chocolate tends to set up quickly.  I found that some of the darker chocolate sometimes melted into the white and got some brown in it.  No matter.  It still looks good.)  Sprinkle top with crushed candies.  Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Use foil to lift candy from pan; break into pieces.  Store tightly covered at room temperature.  Makes about one pound.

We also made this Toffee.  It is really easy and SOOOOOO good.  I think we need another batch of it.  :-)

Toffee

1 C chopped walnuts

1/2 C butter

3/4 C brown sugar, packed

1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Butter an 8x8" baking pan; spread walnuts on the bottom.  In a saucepan, heat butter and sugar; bring to a boil, stirring constantly (this is important, because it's really easy to burn the butter and sugar).  Cook until mixture darkens, about 7 minutes (it will almost turn into a little ball); immediately pour over walnuts.  (I found I had to spread it a little with my spoon.  If the walnuts get mixed in a little, that's fine...maybe even good.)  Sprinkle chocolate chips over top; cover with a baking sheet to hold in heat until chocolate begins to melt.  Spread chocolate over top.  (This works really well and really keeps you from burning your chocolate.)  Refrigerate; break into pieces when cool.  Makes about one pound.

And here is one of my favorite things that's not chocolate (there aren't many of those).  Cherry-Almond Bars.  Mmmmm-mmmmm.  My mom made these at Thanksgiving and my brother apparently chowed them all down.  I don't think they look all that pretty in the pan, but when you cut them up, they are quite pretty.

Cherry-Almond Bars

1 C shortening (I used those little Crisco bars that look like butter; one bar is 1 C)

2 C sugar

3 C all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon salt

21-ounce can of cherry pie filling

Blend shortening and sugar together; add next 5 ingredients and mix well.  Pour (this is a little funny...you can't pour this stuff...it's like cookie dough...I spoon it on and spread it with my fingers to cover the bottom) 3/4 of the batter into a greased 15"x10" jellyroll pan; spread cherry pie filling over the top.  Dot with remaining batter (I drop it by teaspoonfuls all over the top); bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.  Drizzle with Almond Glaze (below) while still warm; cut into bars to serve.  Makes about 3 dozen bars.

Almond Glaze

1 C powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 to 3 Tablespoons milk (I only needed 2; start small)

Stir all ingredients together until well blended.

We are going to package some of these treats (along with the Spice Cookies, which I posted the link to the recipe for yesterday) on these cute plates and wrap them in cellophane for our neighbors.  I'll post photos of that when we are done.  I got these plates at the Hallmark shop.

To give you an idea of some of the other recipes in this magazine, there is a shrimp ball, sweet potato casserole, wild rice soup, roasted turkey breast with vegetables, reindeer chow, elf gorp, chocolate thumbprint cookies, popcorn cake, farm-fresh spinach quiche, chicken salad croissants, blueberry coffee cake, best beef brisket, etc. etc.  There are just TONS of recipes.   There are ideas for decorating jars and boxes for putting your treats in.  There are ideas for wreaths, tags, gift cards, fabric package wraps (I really like these and want to make some), stockings, aprons, etc.  Just great.

I hope you enjoy these recipes.  Sorry I am so late in thinking about providing them.  I'll post again when we have some of our treat plates put together.

Enjoy!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[Aunt Pea]

Mint and chocolate together, my favorite! Use candy canes for the mint and I'm in heaven. I'll be making those delicious looking treats today. Will let you know how it turns out! Kristie would probably love that toffee too. With how it's been raining out here I might just have a baking marathon! Thank you <3

[Lynn]

Baking is just not on my list this year. We have made several batches of the Pillsbury Shapes sugar cookies, but that is it for me. My P. has asked to make cookies but we made bread instead yesterday. I use a bread machine for the mixing, so P. just got to measure and dump the ingredients into the machine. We baked it in the oven though.

Your goodies look delicious though! Wish we lived closer!

[CarlaSue]

Thanx for the recipes! I`d like to check out your cousin`s also but the link doesn`t work? Could you tell us the name of her site?

[Linda]

Wonderful baking recipes. Your photos are awesome. I'm thinking I'm going to make the toffee. It just looks too good!

[Mama Pea]

HI CarlaSue,

Thank you so much for visiting my blog! I am so sorry the link didnt work. I dont know what happened. I think I fixed it, but so you dont have to go back and click it again, here it is:

http://www.pamperedchef.biz/terribudke

Thanks again! Hope you enjoyed!

Stephanie

[Caroll D]

You are soooooo bad. I wasn't going to bake any more. Now I have to try that toffee. Looks awesome. I think I saw that book at the library the other day. I'm going to run down and check it out. Thanks for the links too. Merry Christmas!

[sisLH]

Cute star dishes.
Since we don't like chocolate (I know, I know -we're almost unAmerican)I have made the peppermint bark with just the white chocolate from the 'Taste of Home' book-delicious!
The cherry looks great. I have to tell you about my cherry blunder today. (actually wasn't me-it was a recipe mistake) The dough said 1 stick butter, 2 Tbl sugar, bake. I doubted it but still tried. Well, I got VERY melted butter-no crust! (you should have heard mom laugh)-at least I fixed it.

[Gooseberry Patch]

Thanks for sharing our recipes...glad you're enjoying the bookazine! :)