Holiday recipes — sweets // Twelve Days of Christmas Countdown

 The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove; from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had never known in Scrooge’s time, or Marley’s, or for many and many a winter season gone. Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.

— A Christmas Carol

Every Christmas season at some point all of us siblings congregate together and spend a glorious several hours decorating sugar cookies — creating wreaths of colors impossible in nature, giving angels blue wings and Christmas trees snow on their branches. Icing ends up on everything, including on our faces. Sleigh Ride and Feliz Navidad and The Little Drummer Boy play in the background, drowned out at times by our laughter.

Christmas food is very important in our household. Every year we make our traditional gingerbread men, sugar cookies, homemade hot chocolate, candied nuts… and in honor of the season, I thought a few recipes would be a perfect addition in the #CuriousWrenChristmasCountdown.

Gingerbread People

1 and 1/2 cups dark molasses

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup cold water

1/3 cup butter

7 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix molasses, butter, brown sugar, and water. Combine dry ingredients separately. Add dry ingredients to molasses concoction.  Cover and refrigerate at least two hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick on floured surface (I sometimes use powdered sugar instead of flour). Cut with floured (powdered sugared) cookie cutters. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake until no indentation remains when touched, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool. Frost. Prepare to want to eat all of the gingerbread in one seating. Recommend festive Christmas music to enhance the scene.

(makes about two dozen cookies)

Apple Taffy Salad

 8 ounce can of pineapple

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

8 ounce container of Cool Whip

6 large apples (peeled, cored, and cubed)

1 cup dry roasted peanuts (chopped)

1. Squeeze pineapple by hand. Drain juice. Set aside squeezed pineapple. Combine juice with egg, sugar, flour, and vinegar in a small saucepan. Beat ingredients on low speed. Stir over medium heat until thickened. Cool completely.
2. Place cubed apples and crushed, squeezed pineapple in large mixing bowl. Add saucepan mixture.
3. Fold in Cool Whip and 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts.
4. Sprinkle remaining peanuts on top.

This is easily one of my favorite recipes of all time. I could live on this stuff, people.

Also, I trotted over to Pinterest to look for more tasty recipes and basically I am now starving and craving ALL THE THINGS.

Candied nuts

Peppermint Oreo Truffles

Twelve 4-ingredient Christmas Treats

Melted Snowmen Oreo Balls

Now excuse me while I go whip up a batch of something scrumptious.

Is your mouth watering yet? What are some of your favorite/traditional holiday treats? And which one of these recipes makes you the hungriest? (Personally, I just really want some Oreo truffles.)