Here it is, middle of the holiday season and no holiday treats item!!

What kinds of treats do you all find traditional in your home??  And
what about recipes for your favorites??  [Sure wish I was local to y'all
so we could do a cookie exchange...]

75 responses total.

It's not too late to plan next year's cookie exchange, Denise. ;-)
(Sorry, in joke.)

True, Mary, its not too late for next year!

But what about ideas for holiday  traditions for this year??

My stepfather usually buys a Buche de Noel for our Xmas Eve
party.  I actually made one one year.  It was fun, though quite
a bit of work.

For the uninitiated, a Buche de Noel is a cake made in the shape
of a log, and frequently decorated with fake mushrooms made from
meringue.  It is made from a large but thin sponge cake that is 
spread with yummy filling, rolled up, and then iced with chocolate.

We usually also have a pumpkin pie, and sometimes another sort of cake
(we usually have about 10-12 people over for dinner).

We should have had a cookie exchange this year.  I'm sorry I didn't
organize it.  One Slovak delicacy we make is nut roll and poppyseed
roll.  My sister is the master, but I'm not too bad.  

You can find the recipes in the _Romanchik Family Slovak Cookbook_,
due out before the end of the century from R-Squared Press.  Or, if 
anyone really want the recipe, I'll post it.

Please post it, especialy the nut roll.  Sounds yummy.

Ya know, a few days before Christmas I was thinking how neat it would
have been to do a Grex cookie exchange, but I figured there wasn't
enough time to get folks together for one.  Let's definitely do one
next year.

Count me in!

re #6: Definitely!

Here's the recipe for nut roll:

Dough:
1-1/3 cup milk      1-2/3 pounds flour (about 5 cups)
4 teaspoons sugar   1-3 cup sugar
4 teaspoons yeast   2-1/3 teaspoons salt
4 egg yolks         2/3 cups soft butter

Filling
1-1/3 pounds walnut meats   1/4 cup soft butter or margarine
2 egg whites                1 cup sugar

To proof the yeast, heat to lukewarm 1/3 cup mild. Add 4 teaspoons
sugar and 4 teaspoons yeast. Wait 10-15 minutes and look for bubbles.

Separate the yolks from 4 eggs and add teh yolks to 1 cup milk. Save
the whites for the filling.  Set both mixtures aside.

Mix like pie dough, 1-2/3 ounds flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 2-1/2 teaspoon
salt, and 2/3 cup soft butter or margarine. Combine the two  milk
mixtures and add to the flour mixture at a steady pace.  You can use a
blender with dough hooks or a food processor with a bread blade for
this step. If the dough feels sticky, you may have to add a little
more flour. Set aside in a mixing bowl covered with a damp cloth. Let
rise for about an hour.

To make the filling, grind the walnuts and add the butter, egg whites,
and sugar. The filling should be loose enough to spread. If not, add a
little more egg white or a little milk.

Check the dough by pressing your finger into the dough lightly. If it
springs back, it's ready to roll. Punch down the dough and separate
into four equal parts. Roll out on non-floured 11 .in x 14 .in
surface. Spread one quarter of the filling onto the dough, leaving 1/2
.in on the short edge so you can seal it after rolling.

Roll lengthwise, rub water along sealing edge, and pinch to seal. Lay
rolls on sealed edge on a greased pan. Let rise for a half hour. 

Brush tops with a mixture of 1 egg, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1-1/2
teaspoon of milk. Pierce tops with fork. Bake at 340 degrees for about
a half hour. After baking, cool on rack.

To make poppyseed rolls, substitute poppyseed for walnuts. You must
use ground poppyseed, not the whole seed that are easier to find.
Whole poppyseed does not make a good enough paste. At some stores, you
can find canned poppyseed filling. I've used this with good results.

That sounds wonderful!  (Insert the sound of ProCom's clip-n-paste.)

They are pretty good. :)  You can also use the dough for a sweet bread.
My grandmother used to serve the bread on Christmas Eve.

So what's on the Thanksgiving menu?

I had butternut squash with apple-raisin-walnut stuffing, 'maters and
sprouts, cranberry sauce, low-fat dill biscuits, some of the roasted
potatoes, onions, and celery from sweetie's Tofurky, brown
nutritional-yeast-flakes gravy, and dessert was pumpkin custard.

We had the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings [mashed potatoes,
stuffing, 2 kinds of cranberry sauce, 'solient green', and cole slaw.
H'dorves [I have no idea how to spell this] were served while the food was
cooking and later there were 3 kinds of pie.

Hors d'oeuvres.  :)

Thanks! We'll see if I can remeber that. :-)

Anyone doing any special holiday cooking/baking yet?

I've been baking banana bread and pumpkin bread.  But I have a huge list
of stuff I have to get started on.

I will do all my baking next weekend.
My nephew comes and bakes with me every year for the last 6 years.  
I'm mixing it up a bit this year from my usual standards

Two that will stay (too high of demand to change. ;) ):
Chocolate covered cherry cookies
Peanut butter kisses
Buckeyes

All new to the repertoire (though I have made most before in the past at
some point):
Lemon Whippersnappers
Oreo Truffles
Russian Tea Balls (with peppermint candy cane bits)
Candy Cane Cookies
Pinwheels
Peanut Brittle
English Toffee


I'm making lots of "kinds" but lowering the overall volume considerably
from last year.  And last year I cut it in half from the year before. 
So as soon as my nephew is sick of doing it (he's 10 now, so I
anticipate that to be in the next few years), I'll probably drop down to
almost nothing.  Until a new great niece/nephew comes along. :)

This response has been erased.

Mary is in awe of Brooke and Jeanne's baking skills.  I think I'm going 
good when I make a pie with a Pillsbury crust.

Wow, Brooke and Jeanne with her nephew sure will be busy; there's going
to be a lot of good eating among their family and friends.  This time of
year I often miss the holiday cooking we used to do in my family; I just
don't have the funds to get the necessary ingredients these days. 

I also miss those grex cookie exchanges we used to have!

Next Sunday we're attending a neighborhood holiday gathering where the 
hostess has asked the guests to bring a favorite cookie.  I have about 
five cookies in my repertoire - chocolate chip, chocolate mint, oatmeal-
raisin, coconut macaroons and snickerdoodles.  They're all delicious but 
not particularly show-stoppers.  Any advice from the bakers out there?

The macaroons.  I could also give you my biscotti recipe - it's pretty 
easy and makes a nice contrast to all the super sweet stuff.

You mean that biscotti that was so good I went ape at the restaurant and 
lost all sense of time and space and good behavior?  Why, that would be 
nice indeed. ;-)

How does the cost of ingredients for a batch of cookies compare with lunch
in a restaurant?

That depends entirely on where you are eating lunch and what you are 
baking.

Re 24  Check your email.

How can a batch of cookies cost more than $5 for ingredients?

There are some kinds that use expensive spices. I know that I have spent
more than $5 on spices in the past. I suppose if one goes to a bulk
place and only gets exactly what one needs for one batch, it would be
cheaper. 

Re 27  Are you kidding?

why does it matter how much it costs?

I was wondering how someone could not afford to bake cookies when they could
afford to eat in restaurants.  Cookies are mostly sugar and flour.  Are there
kinds that consist primarily of pistachio nuts?

Flour isn't cheap (at least not the kind I use), nor is sugar - plus 
more goes into a cookie than just those two things:  some sort of fat, 
some sort of leavener, flavoring....do you want me to post a recipe so 
you can see what I'm talking about?  To buy the ingredients for one 
batch of cookies, you could be looking to spend at least $10....

I had no idea any of the ingredients could cost that much.  Are you using
organic sugar and flour?

No.  I use higher quality ingredients, but not organic.  And I haven't 
even gotten into how prices increase when you start adding nuts....

I buy a lot on sale, use coupons - so it doesn't hit me as hard - but 
I'd estimate that I spend about $125 or so (not including my time) to 
make the baked goods I give out at Christmas.  

I bet they would cost more at a bakery and not be as good.

I spent about $80 on my supplies.  I make them in quantity (I'm 
assuming so does brooke)

One batch, not that much relatively speaking, but it adds up when 
you're making a lot.

Re 35  I'd like to think so!

Re 36  Yep, I do make them in quantity.  I also recognize though, that 
if I'm making one batch and I don't have some of the ingredients on 
hand, that stuff adds up quickly - just for the one batch.

To make Chocolate Chip Cookies buying from probably a typical chain
grocery, and assuming you need everything, will cost you 18-19 bucks. 
(This example using all store brands where available was 17.81)

        Albertsons Butter Grade AA Quarters     Albertsons Butter Grade AA
Quarters        8 oz    $ 2.19  
        Albertsons Eggs Grade AA Extra Large    Albertsons Eggs Grade AA Extra
Large   6 Count         $ 0.99  
        Albertsons Baking Soda Natural  Albertsons Baking Soda Natural  16 oz
        $ 0.89  
        Albertsons Brown Sugar  Albertsons Brown Sugar  2 lbs           $ 2.29
                 Albertsons Chocolate Chips Semi Sweet   Albertsons Chocolate
        Chips Semi
Sweet   12 oz           $ 2.89  
        Albertsons Extract Imitation Vanilla    Albertsons Extract Imitation
Vanilla         8 fl oz         $ 1.99  
        Albertsons Flour All Purpose    Albertsons Flour All Purpose    5 lbs  
                $
2.79    
        Albertsons Salt Iodized         Albertsons Salt Iodized         26 oz  
                $ 0.69   Albertsons Sugar Granulated     Albertsons Sugar
        Granulated       5 lbs           $ 3.19  

Probably most people have everything but chocolate chips on a normal
basis, and of course you don't use all the quantity you buy, but you get
the point.

And that's imitation vanilla.  And Albertson's brand chocolate chips.  

Hi, I'm Brooke - I'm a food snob.

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