Holiday Recipes

[mlm828]

Well, it's that time of year again, when even those of us who don't spend much time in the kitchen end up there. I thought it might be fun to share some favorite holiday recipes. I'll start with two of mine.

The first is the dessert without which my Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner would not be complete. Its "official" name is "Orange Dessert," but everyone who's had it insists on calling it "Orange Delight."

Orange Dessert

1 stick butter
juice of 3 oranges
6 eggs
1 c. sugar
3 pkg. lady fingers
½ pint whipping cream
Orange sections (the more the better)

Put orange juice and butter in top of double boiler and melt. Beat eggs and sugar and put in other mixture and cook until custardy. Before combining the two mixtures, “temper” the egg-sugar mixture by adding a little of the hot juice-butter mixture and stirring. Cook the custard over medium heat, stirring constantly. Do not overcook. The custard is done when it coats the spoon. There will still be foam on top when custard is done. If you cook it until the foam disappears, the custard will be overcooked. When custard is done, remove from heat and continue stirring until cool. You can stop the cooking and hasten cooling by running 1-2 inches of cold water into the sink and putting the top of the double boiler in the water. Break up lady fingers into 2-3 pieces and place in bowl. Pour cooled custard over the lady fingers, cover, and refrigerate.

When ready to serve, unmold from bowl and frost with whipped cream. (It is not necessary to sweeten the whipped cream). Place orange sections on and around the dessert and serve.

To section oranges: peel oranges, then separate sections from the dividing membranes. You’ll need a sharp knife. (The Joy of Cooking cookbook explains how to do this). You can section the oranges ahead of time.

Edited to add: The lady fingers called for in this recipe are the cake-like ones, not the cookie-type items which are sometimes called "lady fingers."

[mlm828]

If I'm absent from the board this weekend, it's because I'm doing this:

Famous Kentucky Whiskey Cake

Ingredients:

5 cups flour, sifted before measuring
1 cup brown sugar
1 lb. (2 cups) white sugar
6 eggs, separated
3/4 lb. butter or margarine
1 pint Kentucky bourbon whiskey
1 lb. (4 cups) shelled pecan nutmeats
½ lb. white or golden raisins, cut in half
1 lb. candied red cherries, cut in pieces
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder

Method:

Soak cherries and raisins in whiskey overnight. Cream sugar and butter until fluffy (if your mixer has dough hooks, they work very well for this part of the process). Add egg yolks and beat well. Add soaked fruit and remaining liquid. (These are the original instructions. I find it easier to strain the fruit and liquid and add only the liquid at this point). Reserve a small amount of flour for the nuts and add remaining flour to the mixture. Add nutmeg and baking powder. Beat egg whites and fold into batter. Add reserved soaked fruit. Add lightly floured pecans last. Divide batter among three loaf pans. (The recipe, which predates non-stick baking pans, says to grease the pan and line with greased paper; I still grease the pans but don’t use the paper). Bake in slow oven (300 degrees) until a straw or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1-1½ hours. Cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto racks to cool.

Storage:

When thoroughly cool, wrap in plastic wrap. It is helpful to keep the cake in a cool place as this facilitates thin, even slicing. I store the cake in the refrigerator and slice immediately before serving.

[shmeep]

Mmm! I really really don't cook very often, but reading through your recipes makes me kind of glad I stopped doing Weightwatchers! Are you trying to get me to gain back the twenty pounds I just lost?

[mlm828]

I thought of another one, which is a lot less complicated than the first two.

Gouda Cheese and Beer Spread

Ingredients:

Gouda Cheese
Beer

Method:

Cut Gouda cheese into chunks and place in food processor. Process until cheese is "grated." Continue processing and add beer until the mixture reaches a spreadable consistency. Keep some crackers handy so you can test this. Put spread into container(s) for storage or gift-giving. Drink any remaining beer. ;D

If you buy 6-8 oz. Goudas in the red wax(?) shells, they can be used for gifts. Just cut off the top of the shell and carefully remove the cheese. You can put the spread back into the shells (mounding the spread above the top of the shell to make it like a cheese ball), wrap in plastic wrap, and tie with ribbon to make gifts.

[mlm828]

admin said:

Mmm! I really really don't cook very often, but reading through your recipes makes me kind of glad I stopped doing Weightwatchers! Are you trying to get me to gain back the twenty pounds I just lost?

Congratulations on dropping the lbs. No, I'm not trying to sabotage you, but it wouldn't be the holidays without a little indulgence.

[rducasey]

Not a recipe, but a great, and easy, holiday centerpiece (and food related). Fill a glass vase (ginger Jar shape is good) about half full with fresh cranberries, (2 bags should do it.) Add water to almost cover the cranberries and then just pop about 3-4 branches of holly in the vase. The ones with the berries look the best. The contrast between the green shiny leaves and the bright red cranberries in the vase is striking. It always get compliments. And , Oh, so easy. It will last through the whole holiday season. Just every week or so change the water.

[maggiethecat]

mlm88, you are what I call a real cook. I am definitely going to try your Orange Delight. I have no fear of the custard, which sounds quite close to the very Southern Boiled Custard I do at Christmas. (It's the perfect accompaniment to Angel Food Cake, and the best way to use the egg yolks left from the cake.)

I get very root-oriented at the holidays, and my roots (on my mother's side) are as Southern as it gets. The family joke has always been that all the men in the family died of butter-induced heart attacks, with big dreamy smiles on their faces as they looked back over all those wonderful meals.

Would you like a spectacular Cream Cheese Poundcake recipe? (Sliced thin, serves 24 --perfect for a holiday buffet table) Or Pecan Pie?

And I think I am going to have to try your Kentucky Bourbon Cake as well. I hope you don't mind if I bop across the border into Tennessee and use Jack Daniels?

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may diet.

Or not.

Mags

[mlm828]

maggiethecat said:

mlm88, you are what I call a real cook.

Not really -- only at this time of year.

maggiethecat said:

I am definitely going to try your Orange Delight. I have no fear of the custard, which sounds quite close to the very Southern Boiled Custard I do at Christmas.

That's exactly what the custard is -- a variation of the basic boiled custard. Really, the only tricky part of the dessert is making sure it's cooked just enough, but not overcooked.

maggiethecat said:

I get very root-oriented at the holidays, and my roots (on my mother's side) are as Southern as it gets.

Me, too. And my roots are Southern, too (Tennessee) on both sides.

maggiethecat said:

Would you like a spectacular Cream Cheese Poundcake recipe? (Sliced thin, serves 24 --perfect for a holiday buffet table) Or Pecan Pie?

Both sound wonderful. Please post them for everyone.

maggiethecat said:

And I think I am going to have to try your Kentucky Bourbon Cake as well. I hope you don't mind if I bop across the border into Tennessee and use Jack Daniels?

Well, my personal preference (for the cake) is Jim Beam. If you want to try Jack Daniels, by all means, go for it. I haven't sipped on any Jack Daniels for a while, so I'm not sure how different it would be from bourbon. Just be aware that the predominant flavor in the cake is the booze (mainly because the cherries and raisins are soaked in it). If you try it, please be sure to let us know how it turns out. Of course, how can you go wrong with a cake in which the only liquid ingredient is bourbon (or Jack Daniels)?

maggiethecat said:

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may diet.

Or not.

Mags

Probably not.

[maggiethecat]

As Doobrah says, ask and ye shall receive. Pecan Pie recipe to follow this weekend (killer easy, killer good).


Aunt Phyllis’s Best Pound Cake Ever

3 sticks margarine (I use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter: others seem too heavy): or 2 sticks margarine and I stick butter ― or all butter if you have a death wish
1 8 oz. package Philadelphia cream cheese
3 cups sugar
6 jumbo eggs
3 cups Swan’s Down cake flour, sifted then measured
1 1/2 tsps. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract

1. Have everything at room temperature, including the eggs.

2. Cream the margarine and cream cheese. Add the sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

4. Gradually fold in the flour by hand until well incorporated, then the flavorings. (If at any point the batter looks slightly curdled, don’t worry—it won’t affect the outcome.)

Spoon into a 10” tube pan, greased (Pam Spray is fine) and lightly floured. Bounce a spatula up and down through the batter to remove any air bubbles.

Bake at 325º for an hour and a half without opening the door. You can check ten minutes before it’s done, however.

Run a long table knife around the edges immediately. Remove from pan while still quite warm, about oh, say, fifteen minutes?

Yield is approximately 24 thin-ish slices, which makes this great for a party. It also freezes beautifully, but that will not stop you from eating it — it is amazing frozen, like a kind of vanilla fudge.

When Aunt Phyllis gave me this recipe about ten years ago, she swore once I tasted it I'd never make another pound cake recipe. And I haven't. I believe it is originally from a church cook book from McMinville, Tennessee. To the uninitiated, this bears NO relationship whatsoever to that fluffy stuff Sara Lee manufactures.

ENJOY!

[anna]

Since I'm in Tennessee, I compared to see if this was the same Cream Cheese Poundcake recipe that I have. Yup - stuck right between the Sour Cream Poundcake and the Coconut Poundcake recipes. We're all about the poundcake down here - except at Christmas, when we're all about the Jam Cake and the Hummingbird Cake.

[carl1951]

I'm asking Lucy for a recipe to add to this tread.

Later, Carl

[hoosier]

I make a butterscotch pie every Thanksgiving from my great grandmother's recipe. Sorry, its secret. If I were to accidently divulge it I would be forced to call Mark Watt and ask him to pay you a "visit" However, I do have one to share that is real easy--

Apple Crisp

4 medium apples, peeled, cored, sliced-4 cups
3 tablespoons margarine softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup Grape Nuts flakes

heat oven to 375-arrange apples in a 9 inch square baking dish-beat margarine, mix with flour,sugar, cinnamin-stir in flakes-sprinkle mixture over apples-bake 35-40 minutes

I substitute fruit filling for the apples and have used cherry and pineapple and also sub oatmeal for the flakes and usually add ginger and allspice so you can tweek it to your heart's desire! Oh my gosh, its good!!!

[maggiethecat]

hoosier said:

I make a butterscotch pie every Thanksgiving from my great grandmother's recipe. Sorry, its secret.

Totally, absolutely, not fair!

[carl1951]

Not really a recipe, but a Holiday addition.

Lucy suggested this for coffee drinkers: Egg Nog-flavored coffee (Brothers, Starbucks, etc)
instead of creamer, use egg-nog.
top with whipped cream;
sprinkle with nutmeg;
use cinnamon stick to stir;
enjoy.

Later, Carl

[awlrite4now]

Maker's Mark Bourbon Eggnog

1 Liter Maker's Mark
1 Quart milk
1 Quart heavy cream
2 Dozen eggs
1 1/2 Cups sugar
Nutmeg for garnish

Separate eggs and beat the yolks until creamy. Whip sugar into the
yolks, then bat the whites until they stand in peaks, adding a 1/2 cup of
additional sugar if desired. Beat the yolks and Maker's Mark together
and add the whites. Beat cream into a froth, then add milk and cream to
the egg mixture. Add nutmeg to taste and garnish each cup with a dash of
nutmeg for a dash of color. The recipe makes 2 1/2 gallons, plenty to share!