Holiday Dessert Recipes

Here are some oldies but goody holiday recipes and some new ones to try this holiday season.




Gingerbread Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup 113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (108 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup (120 ml) unsulphured molasses
1 cup (240 ml) milk

Lemon Icing: (Optional)
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) sifted confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar
2 - 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Garnish: (optional)
Whole toasted walnuts

Note: To prevent the molasses from sticking to the measuring cup, first spray the cup with a non stick vegetable spray (like Pam).

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour a 9 inch (23 cm) cake pan with 2 inch (5 cm) sides. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ginger and cloves). Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and molasses and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients and milk, alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat just until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing cake from pan. Let cool completely and frost with Lemon Icing. Garnish with whole toasted walnuts, if desired.

For Lemon Icing: Mix together the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth. (The icing should be thick but still spreadable.) Pour the icing onto the center of the cake and spread with an offset spatula. Some of the icing will drip down the sides of the cake.

This cake will keep for several days at room temperature. Can serve with softly whipped cream, lemon curd, or sauteed apples.

Makes one - 9 inch (23 cm) cake.

Source: JoyofBaking.com




Fabulous Red Velvet Cake
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand



Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 ounces red food coloring
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vinegar
White frosting, recipe follows
White Frosting:
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the shortening, eggs and sugar. In a separate small bowl, mix together the cocoa and food coloring. Add the paste to the shortening mixture. Sift the flour and salt together over parchment. Add to the batter alternately with the buttermilk in 3 additions. Add the vanilla extract. Fold in the baking soda and vinegar. Pour the batter into 2 greased 9-inch cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack. Invert the cakes from the pans.

Frosting: Over medium heat, cook the flour and milk until thickened. Let cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour mixture.
Frost the top of the first layer with frosting and set the second layer on top.

Frost the entire cake with remaining frosting.

Nana's Traditional Christmas Steamed Plum Pudding with Hard Sauce
Recipe courtesy Cindy Goldfield

Ingredients
1 cup light molasses
3/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup warm milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for tossing fruit
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 pint candied mixed fruit (or diced dried fruit such as pineapple, pears, apples, and plums)
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 ounces brandy
Holly sprig, for garnish
Hard Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Combine the molasses, butter, milk, and eggs in a mixing bowl. Next, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves in a large mixing bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 additions. Toss candied fruit and raisins lightly with flour to prevent sinking and add to batter. Stir in brandy.

Pour into a greased and sugared steam pudding mold and place on a rack in a large covered pot with water that comes halfway up the sides of the mold. Cover and steam for 2 hours, checking occasionally to make sure water hasn't boiled out. Let cool for 5 minutes on a rack before turning out. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with a sprig of holly and hard sauce.

Hard Sauce:
1/4 pound butter
1 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-ounce brandy or rum

Beat all ingredients together until very well combined. Serve with pudding.

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Twilight New Moon Dessert Plates. You will receive 8 plates with 2 different images on them, 4 will have Jacob Black and 4 will have Edward Cullen. So which ever is your guests favorite you will have some of each to let them pick.

Twilight New Moon Beverage Napkins. Jacob, Bella and Edward are on the front of these beverage napkins. These napkins will look great sitting on your party table with the rest of the Twilight New Moon Party Supplies.

Twilight New Moon Lunch Napkins. These napkins are 2 ply and printed with the mysterious characters from the soon to be hit movie Twilight New Moon. None of the items say happy birthday on them so you can use this Twilight New Moon pattern for any type of party.

Twilight New Moon Dinner Plates. Serve your guests classic food on these dinner plates. With the image of Edward and Bella in the center of these plates your friends will hate to put food on them, they would rather take them home and hang them on their wall or set them up on a table. So if they like them that much order extras so each guest can take a clean one home.

TWILIGHT NEW MOON PARTY SUPPLIES

Make Cork Placecard Holders

Holiday celebrations often include uncorking a special bottle of wine or champagne, and the corks can do double duty by easily transforming into place-card holders for a dinner party. Cork is actually a very green material: biodegradable and renewable, it's made from the bark of the cork oak tree.

The cork oak can live for hundreds of years, and when the bark has been stripped away, it grows back in nine years. The cork industry keeps these trees, and the wildlife that depends on them, alive. According to Portocork America, a manufacturer of natural cork closures, reforestation programs indicate that cork forests are growing at 4 percent a year, and more than 370,000 acres of cork forests have been planted in the Iberian Peninsula since 1988. The seeded paper for the place-cards can be planted in the spring.

Gather

• Wine and champagne corks

• A sharp knife

• Scissors

• Seeded paper or recycled card paper from old Christmas or birthday cards

• Holiday rubber stamps

• Nontoxic ink pad

• Coloured pens

Create

1. Place a cork on its side on a flat surface and carefully cut a slice into the top of the cork about 1/4 inch (6.5 mm) deep. Repeat with the remaining corks.

2. With the scissors, cut the card paper into rectangles 21/2 inches (6 cm) long by 1-1/2 (4 cm) inches high (or in Christmas shapes, if you prefer) and decorate with the holiday stamps.

3. With a coloured pen, write the name of a guest on one side of a card and slide the card into the top of the cork. Arrange a place card at each table setting.

Eco- inspiration

Besides using corks for craft projects (cork bulletin boards are easy and fun to make, as are cork trivets), you can send corks to organizations that reuse them. Start a "green cork" campaign in your neighborhood by asking local restaurants and bars, as well as your neighbors, to collect corks for you to recycle.

Source: Canadian Living

Christmas Music

Set the ambience with the music you play at your Christmas parties and dinners. Here are a few that you could choose from:

My Christmas - Andrea Bocelli

If On A Winter's Night... - Sting

Christmas In the Heart - Bob Dylan

Let It Snow - Michael Bublé

Noel - Josh Groban

Click on any of them to listen to samples from their albums.

Thoughtful and Practical Gifts from the Heart

Despite recent predictions that we’re coming out of the recession, I know many people are still struggling. Holidays like Christmas where there is financial pressure to spend money on stuff makes it hard for people to find the joy in giving so instead of looking at these situations as a burden on your wallet, look at them as an opportunity to give from your heart.

Think of your talents-Do you scrapbook? Do wood working? Do you quilt, knit or do other crafts? Do you make jams, jellies or other preserves? Are you a car buff? Do you have an eye for details? Think of creating presents with your talents! Truthfully, anyone who puts down a homemade and thoughtful present isn’t worthy of receiving them.

• Scrapbookers- Giving grandparents a page of scrapbooked pictures set into an inexpensive frame is thoughtful and I can think of many grandparents who always complain of never having updated pictures. Down the road, you could give them an expandable storage book for their outdated pages. How about scrapbooking your cherished family recipes for your children?

• Quilters and/or sewers-Create gifts with those talents! I found a pattern for quilted checkbook covers. They were fast, easy and allowed me to personalize them for each recipient (cat fabric for my cat loving friend). I’m not much of a sewer but even I was able to make flannel pajama bottoms for my boys.• Knitters/crocheters- My Great Gram always used to knit mittens for us. She would also make us hats and scarves. I still have a pair of double-yarn mittens she made me over 40 years ago. They’re now stashed safely in my closet but I still think fondly of how warm they were and how much I loved wearing them and loved my Gram for making them for me. Who can’t appreciate a homemade present like that?

• Car person-I know it’s not as easy as it used to be to work on cars but thankfully, oil changes are still generally a do-it-yourself deal. If you’re still into changing your own oil, considering giving coupons to your friends or family to change THEIR oil as a present (note that it’s for labor only and the recipient still has to buy the supplies). I know I would LOVE getting a practical present like that!

• Eye for detail? –My mother-in-law has pretty much everything she wants or needs. My husband has an eye for detail-detailing cars that is. He gave his mom the gift of a car detailing. He spent about 5 hours washing, waxing and detailing her car and she was thrilled. Keep in mind that a present like this would cost over $100 at a detailing shop. If you have an eye for detailing homes (you’re good at cleaning) how about offering coupons for housekeeping services? I know come spring time, I’d love an extra pair of hands for spring cleaning.

• Baker/cook- My sister-in-law was a really busy woman with three young boys, finishing her teaching certificate and working almost full time. I gave her a gift basket full of homemade frozen cookie dough logs, homemade dry baking mixes (similar to those layered jar mixes where you just add the wet ingredients) and two bags of store bought gourmet coffees. I told her that I was giving her the gift of time with her boys. She could take one of the frozen cookie dough logs out of the freezer in the morning and put it in the fridge and then that evening, she could make a cup of coffee, make cookies with her boys and enjoy spending time with them (without the hassle of trying to follow a recipe and mix dough with three youngsters trying to “help”). She loved the gift! Think about what you can make or bake along the same lines. You could make bread dough that could be frozen and used the same way. Be creative.

• Gardeners-How about sharing saved seeds with your favorite gift-recipient? How about offering up your time during planting season? Personally, I’d love coupons offering to tend my garden when I go camping for a week. A gift basket with coupons for garden tending saved heirloom seeds, homemade row markers and a fresh set of garden gloves would be loved by any gardener!

I’ve given you just a sampling of how you can put your talents to work creating thoughtful, relatively inexpensive and practical presents for the holidays. What talents do you have? What can you do? Before you go out and buying something and spend a bunch of money, think on how you can create those thoughtful gifts first. I think you’ll find that during these tough economic times, practical, thoughtful gifts from the heart are more appreciated than ever before.

Tammy Paquin is a work-from-home mom of 3 boys and the owner and publisher of Frugal-Families [1], an online resource for frugality, finances, budgeting and everything else related to stretching the dollar. For more ideas on practical, thoughtful and inexpensive gifts visit, Thoughtful, Practical and Inexpensive gifts [2]

Source: http://www.ladypens.com/thoughtful-and-practical-gifts-from-the-heart