Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style

Today I'm joining in with Overwhelmed With Joy who's hosting Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style, oh how fun to share holiday recipes! It was hard to pick one holiday recipe since my family has lots of handed down Holiday traditions and recipes. So I've picked two, one family one and one that's become tradition in the last 10 years.

Double-Ginger Molasses Crisps
(taken from The Family Circle Cookbook)

I started baking these cookies Christmas 1995 and it's become tradition each year since. If I don't get them mailed out to my brother and sister I start getting phone calls *grin*. My Gram and her sister both like them so much I made them this June on our visit, they say they taste like ones their Mom used to make *double grin*.

Makes about 5 dozen 2-inch cookies according to the recipe but I'd say more like 3 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup dark molasses (I've used light too)
1 egg white
1 tablespoon grated pared gresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions

1)Preheat oven to 375°F
2)Beat butter in mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in brown sugar and molasses until fluffy. Add egg white, fresh ginger, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt; beat to blend.
3)Combine flour and baking soda in small bowl. Slowly add to butter mixture, beating on low speed just until combined.
4)Place sugar in a small dish. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into sugar; toss to coat. Place 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
5)Bake in preheated moderate oven (375°F) for 7 minutes for chewy cookies or 8 minutes for crispy cookies. Remove cookies from sheets to racks to cool.

Cookie dough can be made ahead and refrigerated, covered for up to 5 days before baking. Storage tip: To keep soft cookies soft, place a slice of apple in the container to prevent them from drying out.

Category: Cookies

Extra Rich Christmas Rolls

This is a recipe that has been handed down in our famiy for generations, I think my Great-Grandmother started it. It has provided a very large part in my holiday memories we'd always make them the day before the holiday, sitting down as a family and rolling the dough into small rolls and then passing them with greasy fingers from the butter into the cinnamon sugar to the bundt pan in little assemly lines. Really fun memories and the most yummy holiday rolls everywhere...I'm suddenly drooling for Thanksgiving!

Ingredients

3 packets of dry yeast (the old fashioned slow rise NOT quick rise!)
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp salt
7-8 cups of flour
For drudging you'll also need butter (melted) and cinnamon sugar- I'm not too sure of exact amounts since we always start with about 1 stick melted and approx 2 cups cinnamon sugar but we always need to refill. I just add a couple teaspoons of cinnamon to some sugar until it looks tan and smells like cinnamon.(Mom any other tips, feel free to add them in the comments!)

Directions

1) Mix 3 packet of dry yeast with 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl

2) Scald 2 cups milk and allow to cool to lukewarm temp.

3) Melt 3/4 cup butter and add 3/4 cup sugar, 3 eggs and 2 tsp salt to the pan.

4) Add milk mixture to yeast and stir. Next add in the butter mixture and stir.

5) Stir in 7-8 cups of flour 1 cup at a time kneading until elastic and smooth.

6) Grease bowl and let rise until about double, punch down and let rise again.

7) Carefully "dump" dough out of the bowl onto a large cutting board or other clean surface and cut off dough in pieces to make about 1 - 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll all the dough like this FYI - Kids love this part! Then dip each roll into melted butter and then cinnamon sugar and place in a greased bundt pan. Fill bundt pan slightly more than half way (this recipe usually makes more than enough so we make at least one bread pan too)and then allow them to rise to the top of the pan.

Bake at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes. As I said we usually made these a day or two ahead and stored in foil at room temp until ready to use and then after the turkey's come out place in a warm oven to re-heat and serve!

Tip:While this sounds like a delicate recipe, it's actually very forgiving...if I can do it anyone can. I do recommend making the dough in the morning and letting it rise throughout the day I think we've even punched it down one more time and let it rise again because we weren't ready to roll them yet.

Category:Sweet Rolls