Christmas Cookies and Candies

[bethbuchall]

Ooh! Ooh! I know this one! We call it Rocky Road. Basically, you make fudge with s.c. milk (1 bag choc. chips, 1 14 oz. can s.c. milk, 2 TBSP margarine--melt together, stir until smooth). Then you add a bag of mini-marshmallows (white or colored) and 2 cups of salted peanuts. Stir together, pour into 9x13" pan lined with wax paper. Serves 1. This was my go-to for those "Crap! I need something for the bake sale!" moments--it takes 5 minutes to put together.

As to the North-South thing: we moved from NH to NC, 3 years ago. Every single time I say something about now living in the South, I get corrected--"We're not South! This is NORTH Carolina!" Um, compared to NH, yeah, this is the South!

For you Fluff lovers, in this house, we always thought the Price Chopper generic was better than the original Fluff--it had a touch more vanilla flavor. And I've found that Food Lion carries Fluff--they have the same parent as Hannaford, which might explain it.

I don't think I described it right. It's round slices, and the nuts are finely chopped walnuts. So, you must mix it together, form a log, and then slice. I'll get a picture if she makes them this year.

Edit: I found this. https://www.mealplanningmagic.com/cathedral-window-candy-5-ingredients/
She doesn't roll hers in powdered sugar, though. I now that I know the recipe, I may never eat them again.

 

[QueenIsabella]

It looks like the exact same thing, only those are logs and mine are squares (LARGE squares. Maybe one large square, if nobody's around to watch me eat!). Walnuts would probably taste really good, too, although I do like the salty crunch of the peanuts. OTOH, I think walnuts and chocolate are a nice combination that you don't get very often.

 

[MeggyScumEsquire]

I'm not a fan of coconut, so I have a modified recipe, which I use for our family, but I haven't found anyone who hasn't loved them when they taste them.

This sounds brilliant! Care to share what you use for the bottom layer? I normally like coconut but with Nanaimo bars the top 2 layers are definitely superior to the bottom... I've been known to leave it behind on occasion haha!

We always do shortbread cookies and chocolate shortbreads, peanut butter balls, sometimes coconut balls. I usually look for something new every year too. I've had good luck with sponge candy the last two years!

We sometimes do a gingerbread house from scratch as well, but we don't eat it!

 

[ronandannette]

This sounds brilliant! Care to share what you use for the bottom layer? I normally like coconut but with Nanaimo bars the top 2 layers are definitely superior to the bottom... I've been known to leave it behind on occasion haha!

We always do shortbread cookies and chocolate shortbreads, peanut butter balls, sometimes coconut balls. I usually look for something new every year too. I've had good luck with sponge candy the last two years!

We sometimes do a gingerbread house from scratch as well, but we don't eat it!

Lots of people take creative license with this. My grandma used to use graham crumbs, cocoa powder, sugar, butter and coconut. Nowadays she'd probably just use the chocolate version of graham crumbs. I'm personally not a Nanaimo Bar fan so I either buy them for DH or use a mix. (It solves that pesky problem of having a can of custard powder that lasts for 15 years...)

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It's never too early for cookies, fudge, brownies, various kinds of bread, bars, or any of that stuff. Cookies are good 365.

Kale on the other hand, it's never late enough for that.

 

[wenrob]

Ooh! Ooh! I know this one! We call it Rocky Road. Basically, you make fudge with s.c. milk (1 bag choc. chips, 1 14 oz. can s.c. milk, 2 TBSP margarine--melt together, stir until smooth). Then you add a bag of mini-marshmallows (white or colored) and 2 cups of salted peanuts. Stir together, pour into 9x13" pan lined with wax paper. Serves 1. This was my go-to for those "Crap! I need something for the bake sale!" moments--it takes 5 minutes to put together.

As to the North-South thing: we moved from NH to NC, 3 years ago. Every single time I say something about now living in the South, I get corrected--"We're not South! This is NORTH Carolina!" Um, compared to NH, yeah, this is the South!

For you Fluff lovers, in this house, we always thought the Price Chopper generic was better than the original Fluff--it had a touch more vanilla flavor. And I've found that Food Lion carries Fluff--they have the same parent as Hannaford, which might explain it.

I must have really needed a laugh because the bold had me hysterically laughing.

Since my oldest was a tiny thing I’ve always made Sugar Cookie Cutouts with cream cheese frosting (not near as pretty as Royal Icing but WAY tastier) and Diedre Hall’s Extraordinary Chocolate Chip Cookies. Both found in Woman’s World Magazine a long, long time ago. The chocolate chip cookies are kind of chunky and have a crisp, flaky texture. She uses vegetable oil along with the butter.

DD took over the cookie making when she was about 13 and since it’s what she now does for a living I let her take charge. Last year she made about ten different kinds. My countertops were covered in cookie boxes and I gained about seven pounds. The ones that I will ask for her to repeat were Browned Butter Sugar Cookies. I’m guessing 4.5 of those pounds came from them.

 

[mom2rb]

I only make two at Christmas, Baklava and Oreo truffles.

 

[AustinTink]

Gingerbread
Oatmeal raisin pecan
Polvorones
Sugar cookies- Iced and decorated
Chocolate crackle cookies
Fudge

 

[NYCgrrl]

When making holiday cookies I start making certain doughs in the fall and store them well wrapped in the freezer. Makes mass production much easier. These are the cookies I regularly make:

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/trios-240930
A simple thumbprint that unless I'm serving at home is rarely made as a trio as they are hard to pack. Use the best possible jam or preserves you can find as it makes a big difference in taste.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chewy-ginger-cookies-368954

Refrigerating the dough makes it sooo much easier to work out. Sometimes I drizzle with a bittersweet chocolate ganache made in the microwake; sometimes dust with turbinado sugar. Depends on how I feel and who will be eating them.


https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cardamom-crescents-368951

A subtle cookie that's wonderful on a snowy day with a cup of tea. I rarely cover them in 10x sugar or shape them in cresents. Rounds or squares are easier to pack and make. Sometimes I top them with vanilla scented cardamom pods, one per cookie. Other times I leave 'em naked.

Pfeffernusse, some rolled in 10x, some not. It's not Christmas on this end unless I make spice drops. You can find a really good recipe in JOC's 1974 edition. It's also online.

Not exactly a cookie but profiteroles are frequently on hand during the holidays for me. I make one batch savory and the other sweet. Bake and freeze. Heat up and gobble. Great when company drops by unexpectdly for appetizers (the savory ones made w/ cheese) or desserts stuffed with ice cream, pastry cream, or whipped cream:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/magazine/a-more-perfect-cream-puff.html

 

[QueenIsabella]

I must have really needed a laugh because the bold had me hysterically laughing.

A couple years back, I hand-wrote a recipe book for each of my 4 kids. I put in plenty of Mom-tips, cheats, and in some cases, referred them to cookbooks for recipes. Naturally, there were notes such as "Mom's favorite", etc. A few of the recipes say "Serves 1" or "Don't expect me to share" or similar. I think one even says, "Put down in front of Robert and back away slowly". I know one day, those books will be priceless, and I want them to be fun as well as informative.

Also, Rocky Road is really tasty.

 

[Snowflakey]

A couple years back, I hand-wrote a recipe book for each of my 4 kids. I put in plenty of Mom-tips, cheats, and in some cases, referred them to cookbooks for recipes. Naturally, there were notes such as "Mom's favorite", etc. A few of the recipes say "Serves 1" or "Don't expect me to share" or similar. I think one even says, "Put down in front of Robert and back away slowly". I know one day, those books will be priceless, and I want them to be fun as well as informative.

Also, Rocky Road is really tasty.

I can't think of a better gift to give your kids!!!! I plan to do this for my 2 daughters! I have a few binders of my most used recipes and over the years I've laminated the recipes and inserted pictures throughout the years of my daughters growing up. I've always said in the event of a fire please grab my recipe binders!!!!

 

[lynxstch]

Our stores sell the multi-colored miniature marshmallows. My mother-in-law makes a cookie every Christmas with them. She calls it stained glass, I think. Something chocolatey with nuts around/between the mini marshmallows. I really need to get that recipe from her.

Wow..that brought back memories. My Mom used to make them when I was little, they were a favorite. I am going to have to find that recipe and try them again, thanks!

 

[cabanafrau]

I only make two at Christmas, Baklava and Oreo truffles.

Nope, I'm calling a flag on the play here.

You cannot use the word ONLY when discussing making baklava.

 

[Klayfish]

I approve of this thread....

 

[NYCgrrl]

A couple years back, I hand-wrote a recipe book for each of my 4 kids. I put in plenty of Mom-tips, cheats, and in some cases, referred them to cookbooks for recipes. Naturally, there were notes such as "Mom's favorite", etc. A few of the recipes say "Serves 1" or "Don't expect me to share" or similar. I think one even says, "Put down in front of Robert and back away slowly". I know one day, those books will be priceless, and I want them to be fun as well as informative.

Also, Rocky Road is really tasty.

This is a priceless gift that every parent should try and take the time to do. It costs little but time yet the payback in memories is immense.

 

[Floridaman999]

A couple years back, I hand-wrote a recipe book for each of my 4 kids. I put in plenty of Mom-tips, cheats, and in some cases, referred them to cookbooks for recipes. Naturally, there were notes such as "Mom's favorite", etc. A few of the recipes say "Serves 1" or "Don't expect me to share" or similar. I think one even says, "Put down in front of Robert and back away slowly". I know one day, those books will be priceless, and I want them to be fun as well as informative.

Also, Rocky Road is really tasty.

I love that you did this for your kids. I so, so wish my mother had done the same. Since she passed there are many of her dishes I wish I could make but I have no idea how she made them. Having a book like this would be absolutely wonderful!

 

[mom2rb]

Nope, I'm calling a flag on the play here.

You cannot use the word ONLY when discussing making baklava.

That is why I only make two. I make Oreo truffles for a Christmas party the weekend before. I make baklava on the 23rd for Christmas Eve dinner and I give the rest to my dad as his present. The man buys himself anything he wants but he definitely appreciates the hours I spend making it for him.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

I'm not making any this year. I miss the days when we lived closer to family (and had a lot more family) and cwould bake lots to give away. Now it's just the four of us and I came to the realization that even though the kids get really excited about the idea of Christmas cookies, I'm the only one that eats them. Not good.

This year, I'll make a couple of desserts for Christmas Eve - maybe chocolate pie and cranberry pound cake, a batch of chocolate chip cookies with red and green chips, and a bake up a package of store bought sugar cookie dough for the kids to decorate. They get just as excited about those as they do the homemade sugar cookies that I usually make so why make extra work for myself.


Just call me Scrooge.

 

[cabanafrau]

That is why I only make two. I make Oreo truffles for a Christmas party the weekend before. I make baklava on the 23rd for Christmas Eve dinner and I give the rest to my dad as his present. The man buys himself anything he wants but he definitely appreciates the hours I spend making it for him.

For all of the work and the patience that goes into working with the pastry for baklava eating it should bring little tears of joy with every bite. I can rarely work up the patience to do it, let alone at Christmastime.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I love that you did this for your kids. I so, so wish my mother had done the same. Since she passed there are many of her dishes I wish I could make but I have no idea how she made them. Having a book like this would be absolutely wonderful!

What made me decide to do this was my grandmother. She and my dad came to this country from Italy, when Dad was 3, so she was very old-school Italian. Oh, how I wish I had her delicious recipes from my childhood! But, she couldn't have written them in English if she wanted to--she had a third-grade (Italian) education. But it got me thinking about recipes down to my own kids, and I did include a few from my own mom, who has passed. I used fill-in cookbooks that I got from Ollie's, but you could easily use a binder. You could also do them on the computer--probably easier to read than my handwriting, but I thought hand-written would feel more personal. Initially, I was only going to do one for my oldest (23 and moved out), but then the other kids asked for them.