Christmas Baking

[HerNameIsBuffy]

I didn't see a thread for Christmas baking but if there is one let me know so we can merge.

Getting a late start today, but on the agenda to back today:

• kolachki 
• spritz cookies (cookie press)
• coconut snowballs
• crinkle cookies 
• cranberry muffins

and some peanut butter bacon homemade dog biscuits for the pups.  I have a little bine shaped cookie cutter - too cute.

Next weekend I'll get to work on the candy and more cookies.  Few days before Christmas I'll get the pecan rolls ready to go.  So nice to just be able to toss them in the oven Christmas morning - no muss, no fuss.  Tbh I'm not a fan, but the family loves them.  I will be purchasing my pecans rather than stealing them.

Sadly, what I'm really craving is pfeffernusse but I've never been able to even come close to store bought.  Archway kicks my ass every year, but if anyone has a recipe for some I'm always up for giving it another shot.

Those of you also covered in flour this time of year, what are you all baking?

 

[sawasdee]

Mince pies by the dozens! Bakewell tarts. Gingerbread men......

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 hour ago, sawasdee said:

Mince pies by the dozens! Bakewell tarts. Gingerbread men......

Bake well tarts look so cute - I'm partial to those individual servings rather than whole pies - although I'd imagine they are for sharing as the pic I saw looked too rich for one person.

since those have a shortbread crust maybe you can help me - I just a minute ago killed my cookie press.  I have a bowl of spritz cookie dough (butter, powdered sugar, flour, little salt, vanilla and no press.

could I use that in little tart pans and do something with it? 

[Anny Nym]

A lovely friend from Germany just sent me the cutest cookie cutters as a early Christmas present! Can´t wait to use them tomorrow for the gingerbread, the kids are already all antsy!  

So this year I made or going to make :

Lebkuchen/ gingerbread cookies

Coconut bars (done)

Chocolate moussee balls (done)

Linzer Augen (a Cookie speciality from Upper Austria, super easy to make!) (done)

nutmeg log cookies

russian mushroom Cookies (but that´s for New Year´s Eve technically)

A Yule Cake

 

And my little brother just told me yesterday he will give the "fail cake roll" another try this Christmas!  

The "fail cake roll" (or the trying of making it) is a old tradition between us Nym siblings: Our maternal grandpa sometimes made a super-delicious "cake roll" (it looked like a very sweet Sushi roll, dunked in coconut flakes and sliced into bits like 1950s confectionery) for us when we were little. He was a expat and it was apparently a recipe of one of his former wives. Now he is gone and no one of us ever found out how to re -create it properly. From time to time one of us will give it a try.... maybe one day we will get it right, until then we call it "fail cake"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sawasdee]

15 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Bake well tarts look so cute - I'm partial to those individual servings rather than whole pies - although I'd imagine they are for sharing as the pic I saw looked too rich for one person.

since those have a shortbread crust maybe you can help me - I just a minute ago killed my cookie press.  I have a bowl of spritz cookie dough (butter, powdered sugar, flour, little salt, vanilla and no press.

could I use that in little tart pans and do something with it? 

That is basically a vanilla flavoured sweet pastry - you need about 2 flour,1 sugar, 1 butter proportions. Add some milk to get right consistency. Can use that as a base for almost any kind of tart - you could try individual banoffee - you would need can of condensed milk, bananas, and whipped cream for that -  or old fashioned custard tart, with nutmeg grated on top. Those are really nice! Good luck!

[EmCatlyn]

12 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Bake well tarts look so cute - I'm partial to those individual servings rather than whole pies - although I'd imagine they are for sharing as the pic I saw looked too rich for one person.

since those have a shortbread crust maybe you can help me - I just a minute ago killed my cookie press.  I have a bowl of spritz cookie dough (butter, powdered sugar, flour, little salt, vanilla and no press.

could I use that in little tart pans and do something with it? 

I can't help about the little pans, but I would add chopped almonds or walnuts and roll into little balls for Russian Teacakes.  

[PennySycamore]

If I just hadn't eaten something, this thread would make me hungry!

This year, I'm baking:

gingerbread people and animals

sugar cookies cut into shapes  ( I collect cookie cutters)

pumpkin and/or apple pie for Christmas dessert

Bourbon balls (which aren't exactly baked)

Spritz

Brownies, maybe

I'd love to make a Buche de Noel, but that might wait until next year.  I'd also love to make a pan of shortbread, but I found out that my husband doesn't like it.

Parkerhouse rolls for Xmas dinner

I bought some new cutters -a polar bear, a house, a Scottie dog, a cardinal- that will be perfect for gingerbread dough and also a Girl Scout/Guide Trefoil which will be perfect for my favorite Girl Scout, my granddaughter.

[Lynn18]

I make pitzels....or pizzelles for folks not from Caulonia Italy! My Grandmother always said "pitzels". Anise flavored cookies, made one at a time on the stove top. It's an adventure and it's not really Christmas in my house until I've made them.

Next weekend!

[AlysonRR]

I've only done the Christmas pudding so far.

I still have to make:

• snowballs (Russian teacakes) - son's request
• almond roca cookies - daughter's request
• rosettes - because I haven't had them since I was a kid
• tunbrod - tradition
• lefse - ditto - some of us like tunbrod, others lefse
• pecan pie - husband's request
• maybe sugar cookies or gingerbread people if my daughter and my niece want to decorate
• spanakopita for xmas eve smorgasbord

Shoot, I've got a lot to do!

[Bethella]

I'm supposed to start baking tomorrow- our cookie exchange at work is on Tuesday. I'll be making:

• ting-a-lings (chocolate & butterscotch chips with chow-mien noodles and peanuts)
• wreath cookies (like rice crispy treats but colored green, made with corn flakes and red candies for berries)
• shortbread
• meringue stars
• spritz
• taffy

We decided to not make sugar cookies or gingerbread this year because we always have lots leftover. I may through some other kind of cookie in, perhaps a diabetic/calorie friendly one.

[Jeebusismycopilot]

What I have already made:

• Christmas Pudding - 1 traditional and 1 vegan
• fruitcake - I just have to put the marzipan on it - currently feeding it copious amounts of booze
• mince tarts - both traditional and vegan
• shortbread - sooo not vegan (sorry but they just don't taste the same without real butter!) 
• dolly squares 
• breton brittle (ok, I am on the third batch of brittle. Somehow this one keeps magically disappearing in my fridge...)

What I have yet to make:

• mudballs (chocolate truffles) 
• battenberg cake
• chocolate shortbread melts
• almond crescents (not sure if I will make them - no matter how many times I cut the recipe down, it seems to multiply!) 

Tomorrow (ok, later today/Monday) I will be baking with my class. We will be making paintbrush cookies. So much fun and a great way to keep them quiet while the older students finish up their exams.  

 

[genever]

On 12/13/2015 at 3:56 PM, sawasdee said:

Mince pies by the dozens! Bakewell tarts. Gingerbread men......

@sawasdee , could you share your bakewell recipe? I adore them and they're hard to find over here (Toronto). Many thanks!

[PennySycamore]

I might go ahead and make a small recipe of gingerbread figures today to decorate the tree.  I think I might use my Scottie cutter to make a Lucy and a Stuart even though Lucy had drop ears and Stuart had a smooth coat.  I'll make it work.

[AlysonRR]

9 hours ago, Jeebusismycopilot said:

...

• Christmas Pudding - 1 traditional and 1 vegan

• almond crescents (not sure if I will make them - no matter how many times I cut the recipe down, it seems to multiply!) 

 

What did you substitute for suet in your vegan pudding? 

I'm in the US and vegetable suet is available online, but I didn't think of looking until too late, so I had to try shortening and butter (my vegetarian isn't vegan).

I looked up the recipe for almond crescents and they look yummy - maybe I'll try making them, too. Thanks for adding to my baking load ;-)

[Jeebusismycopilot]

3 hours ago, AlysonRR said:

What did you substitute for suet in your vegan pudding?

I use vegetable shortening. It works quite well

[AlysonRR]

Do you use it straight out of the tub? Creamed with the sweetener and egg then mixed with the rest?

I read a recommendation to freeze and grate the shortening and it was a horrid experience - it didn't freeze solid enough to grate and I ended up scraping it off the grater with my fingers and flinging it into the mixing bowl - ick.

This was my first year making a vegetarian pudding, in case you can't tell!

[FrumperSeamstress]

I think my food duties this year will be:

peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (sooo good, and gluten free!)

homemade butterfingers (not really baking)

sugar cookies! I'm hoping I can find our snowperson cookie cutter

maybe an apple pie. I don't eat them, but I'm great at making them

[catlady]

I just do pumpkin pie and cutouts.

i've been baking pumpkins for the past few years (and freeze it), and I use less sugar than the recipe calls for; I also double the spices.  I run the pumpkin through the blender if it comes out stringy.

this year I'm pressed for time, so I did only five cutout shapes that were easy to decorate, but I still did 450 of them.

[Jeebusismycopilot]

@AlysonRR I have always done the freezing and grating and not had too much of a problem. It does soften quickly, so I usually cut it into smaller portions for shredding, that way it doesn't soften before I have finished a piece, then grab the next from the freezer. 

 

[AlysonRR]

Thanks, @Jeebusismycopilot. I'll try it again, perhaps (unless I make an order from the British Food Store and get some of the vegetarian suet along with our candy - World Market has disappointed us this year...).

If I do try shortening, though, I'll use the deep freeze instead of the inside freezer. 

 

[TXGirlInAMaterialWorld]

It's not really baking but I made all kinds of chocolate covered pretzels and pretzel sticks for my coworkers.  A fairly inexpensive and easy gift for a crowd.  Now I think I am going to make some trays for my in laws for Christmas.  

[Jeebusismycopilot]

I'm in the midst of Nanaimo Bars. I had forgotten about these until I looked at the calendar and remembered I had agreed to bring 2 batches to our baking exchange! making 1 batch of "plain" and 2 mint (gotta keep some at home :P) 

[SpoonfulOSugar]

15 minutes ago, Jeebusismycopilot said:

I'm in the midst of Nanaimo Bars. I had forgotten about these until I looked at the calendar and remembered I had agreed to bring 2 batches to our baking exchange! making 1 batch of "plain" and 2 mint (gotta keep some at home :P) 

I spent a long time researching those last spring after I saw them on Masterchef Canada.  Had never heard of them - and still haven't made them.  

[Arete]

on the baking list this year 

-honey macaroons

-coconut macaroons

-almond butter cookie

-almond truffle

[AlysonRR]

On 12/16/2015 at 1:24 PM, SpoonfulOSugar said:

I spent a long time researching those last spring after I saw them on Masterchef Canada.  Had never heard of them - and still haven't made them.  

Me, too. Despite living very near B.C., I have yet to try a Nanaimo bar, and I'd really like to! Maybe I'll have to hunt down the recipes I collected after Masterchef Canada...