Christmas Recipes 2000!

Need something nice for breakfast or brunch during the holidays?

CRUSTLESS QUICHE* (The following few recipes are 'From the Kitchens of Eastern Arabia', a cookbook that some of us SADAF Ladies put together while living in Saudi Arabia - MKT writing under the pen name of Kristie Leigh Maguire. Visit Kristie Leigh's site by clicking here.)

Butter 10" glass pie plate. Line with cheese. (Add desired options such as chopped meat, steamed broccoli, sautéed onions, sliced mushrooms, etc.). Set aside. Combine eggs, milk, flour, melted butter, and seasonings. Pour over ingredients in pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or more until browned and set in the middle. *Recipe by Carol Fars as given to Jean Hazel, Houston, TX

DROP SCONES*

Place flour, salt and sugar into bowl. Slowly add egg and milk, stirring to make a smooth thick batter. Add mixed fruit, such as currants or raisins, if desired (or add cheese filling of your choice, such as Cheddar or Parmesan). Drop mixture by tablespoon onto hot lightly greased frying pan. Turn over after 2-3 minutes, when bubbles show on surface. *Recipe by Jackie Lloyd, Hadeed Thornaby, Cleveland, England

CHEESE GARLIC BISCUITS*

Combine Bisquick, milk and cheese until dough is soft. Beat for 30 seconds. Drop dough by heaping tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Combine butter (or margarine) and garlic powder. Brush over warm biscuits before serving. Serve warm. *Recipe by Paula Glasgow, Corpus Christi, TX

SAUSAGE BREAD*

Partially thaw bread. Divide each loaf into half. Coat with 2 tablespoons softened butter or margarine). Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. In large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Roll each half loaf into a 12"x9" rectangle. Brush with remaining butter or margarine.  Divide sausage mixture into 6 equal parts. Spread lengthwise in the center of each half loaf. Moisten edges of bread with water. Pull together, pinch to seal. Put on cookie sheet about 3" apart, seam-side down. Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. *Recipe by Mary Smith, The Woodlands, TX

Yum Yum Orange Muffins by Celia Ann Leaman (visit Celia Ann's site by clicking here!)

Ingredients:

PUT INTO A BLENDER

1 whole orange cut into segments; 1/3 cup of oil or melted butter; 3 eggs

BLEND, THEN ADD TO:

1 ½ cups flour; 2 tablespoons baking powder; pinch salt; ½ cup sugar

MIX and add 1 cup sultanas/raisins

BAKE at 350 deg. For approx 25-30 minutes.

LEMON CHEESECAKE TO DIE FOR by Celia Ann Leaman (visit Celia Ann's site by clicking here!)

Take:

Mix together and press into a 9" springform pan. Bake in oven at 350 degs. for five minutes.

Mix together well to form batter, and pour over crust. Bake in oven at 350 degs. for 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool.

Add topping:

Sprinkle a little ground nutmeg on top. Return to oven for 5 minutes. (This recipe takes 480 grams cream cheese and 500 ml sour cream.)

Wine Sauce by Eva Kende (visit Eva's site by clicking here!)

In a saucepan combine sugar and egg yolks and add wine. Simmer slowly mixing constantly until it thickens. Do not let it boil. Remove and continue to stir until cooled. Serve with desserts. This is particularly good as a dunking sauce with sweet rolls or Christmas cake.

Variation: Substitute milk for the wine and flavor with instant coffee, grated chocolate, grated orange rind or rum. For a stronger flavor you might want to add powdered cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves.

OLD FASHIONED COCONUT MERINGUE PIE (from Rita Hestand. Visit Rita's website by clicking here.)

Prepare your pie shell and cool. Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and gradually ad milk and water to saucepan, stirring till smooth. Bring to boiling, stirring over medium heat. Boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir half of hot misture into your egg yolks. Mix well, then add to rest of mixture. Cook over low heat till boiling and is thick enough to mound on spoon, a little thicker than pudding. Remove from heat. Stir in extracts and coconut.

Meringue:

Preheat oven to 400. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar till soft peaks form on beater. Gradually add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time till stiff peaks form when beater is raised. Spread over warm pie filling, sealing the edges witht he meringue. Sprinkle coconut over the top of the meringue. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until golden. Cool and eat.

Sugar Pie (donated by M.D. Benoit. Visit her site by clicking here!)

Melt butter in a pan. Add brown sugar and flour. Mix thoroughly. Add milk/cream and cook on stove top until thickened, about 10 minutes. Pour into a 9 in. pre-cooked pastry dough and cover with doug remnants in a criss-cross pattern. Cook in the over at 425F for 20 min. Makes 2 pies.

Sucre à la crème (donated by M.D. Benoit. Visit her site by clicking here!)

This is my mother's version of fudge. Very rich.

Grease a 4X12 pan (glass casserole dish is ideal) Heat sugar, butter, condensed mild, corn syrup and milk on fairly high heat until it boils. Lower to medium heat and cook for 30 minutes. Stir regularly. Add the marshmallows and cook until they melt, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool for 10 minutes. Add the vanilla and the nuts. Stir until it forms a thick paste, then pour the mixture into the greased dish. Cut into squares once cold. Store in an airtight container, separated by layers of wax paper. Makes 5 pounds.

Baked Egg Custard (donated by Elizabeth Bennefeld. Visit her Patchwork Corner site by clicking here.)

This recipe makes about ten servings. The calorie count depends on whether you are using whole, 2% or skimmed milk. You will need 10 custard cups or a 2-quart baking dish, a large, shallow pan that will hold the baking dish or the oven-safe custard cups, and a real oven (not a microwave).

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. If you're planning to unmold the custards before serving, remember to butter the custard cups before adding the custard makings.

3. Scald the milk.

4. Beat the eggs lightly with the sugar, salt, and vanilla.

5. Gradually stir in the hot milk.

6. Pour the custard mixture into 10 custard cups or the 2-quart baking dish.

7. Sprinkle nutmeg or mace over the top.

8. Put your custard dish(es) in a large, shallow pan, and pour warm water into the pan to a depth of 1". (This keeps the air moist in the oven, so the custard doesn't dry out, but cooks more evenly.)

9. Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour, until a knife inserted midway between the center and the rim comes out clean. (The oven rack should be placed so the custard dish is in the middle of the oven, rather than up at the top.)

10. Remove the custards from the water bath and cool to room temperature.

11. Chill the custards slightly before serving (if you can wait that long).

Notes: (a) I started with the baked egg custard recipe came from the two-volume Doubleday Cookbook (Anderson and Hanna, 1975). (b) Experiment with the taste by adding small amounts of other extracts; adding a tiny amount of rum extract worked out pretty good. (c) I've also, at various times, added such toppings as candy sprinkles, granulated sugar colored with food coloring, or grated orange peel, in small amounts. (d) One egg = approximately 1/4 cup. If you come out short by a little bit, you can add water to make up the difference. --Elizabeth Bennefeld

Stollen (donated by Joyce Lavene. Visit Joyce and Jim's site by clicking here.)

I remember as a child, waking up to the smell of this wonderful bread every Christmas morning. It was my mother's version of fruitcake (but much better) She made tons of it and gave it away to people every year. She always told us the story of how her mother made so much for their big family that she made it in a wash tub!

I spent my first Christmas without my mother two years ago when she died from complications of breast cancer. She was only 59. Christmas was one of her favorite times of year. That first Christmas, there was no stollen. I couldn't bring myself to think about it. But last Christmas, I knew I had to start making it in her place so that we could all remember her when we smelled it baking! Merry Christmas! Joyce Lavene

My Mom's Christmas Stollen

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk and stir in 1 c. flour. Set aside and let rise. Cream butter with sugar, add eggs and beat well. Add lemon rind and salt. Combine the two mixtures, add remaining 7 cups of flour and nutmeg. Knead until smooth. Sprinkle 1/2 c. flour over the fruits. Mix and add to the dough with the rum. Let rise until double its bulk. Toss on floured board. Divide into three or more loaves. Roll out slightly, spread top with soft butter and fold over double. Brush melted butter over the top, let rise until double again and bake in moderate oven, 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Spread with icing when slightly cool(Optional)

If you have a bread maker, just add the rum and floured fruit to your usual sweet bread mixture.

If you have a diabetic, as I do, you can use fructose in this recipe in place of sugar. Just remember to count this as a bread and fruit serving.

HUNGARIAN COFFEECAKE (Courtesy of Elizabeth Delisi. Visit Elizabeth's site by clicking here.)

Dough:

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough out onto floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl, turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place until double. Punch down dough.

Coffeecake:

Shape 1 1/2-inch pieces of dough into balls. Dip into butter, then into mixture of sugar and cinnamon and nuts. Place a single layer of balls in well-greased 10-inch angelfood cake pan so they just touch. (If pan has removable bottom, line with aluminum foil before greasing.) Top with one or two additional layers of balls until all dough is used. Let rise until doubled.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 35-40 minutes. If coffeecake browns too quickly, cover with foil. Loosen coffeecake from pan. Invert pan onto serving plate so butter-sugar mixture drizzles down over cake.

Traditional English Fruit Cake~Courtesy of Patricia Crossley. Visit Patricia's site by clicking here...

In the Church of England, when the collect (prayer) for one Sunday in the fall began "Stir up we beseech thee. . ." the ladies in the congregation knew this was the signal for making the cakes and puddings for Christmas. The new prayer book has moved "stir up Sunday" to another date, so this tradition has been lost like many others.

Grease and line a 9" round cake pan. Set oven to 325º Cream the fat and sugar together until light and soft and beat in the eggs a little at a time. (If the mixture begins to separate, add a little of the flour) Sieve the dry ingredients and add to the fruit, nuts and lemon rind Add this mixture gradually to the creamed mixture, using a little lemon juice and milk to give a stiff dropping consistency. (This means that if you hold a spoonful of the mixture over a bowl it will fall gently) Put the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a knife.  Bake in a slow oven (325º) for 4-5 hours, until a knife inserted will come out clean. Cool on a wire rack and pour a little brandy over when cold.

This cake improves if kept several weeks before cutting.

Microwave Peanut Brittle

Contributed by Maureen Mackey (Visit Maureen's site by clicking here.)

An easy, fun candy recipe that doesn't require a candy thermometer! Also makes a great gift, especially wrapped in holiday tissue in a pretty box or tin.

Ingredients:

Directions:

In a 1 1/2 -quart microwave-safe casserole dish, stir together sugar and syrup. Microwave on High 4 minutes. Stir in peanuts. Microwave on High 3 to 5 minutes, until light brown. Add butter and vanilla to syrup, blending well. Microwave on High 1 to 2 minutes more. Peanuts will be lightly browned and syrup very hot. Add baking soda and gently stir until light and foamy. Pour mixture onto a lightly greased cookie sheet , or an unbuttered non-stick coated cookie sheet. Let cool 1/2 to 1 hour. When cool, break into small pieces and store in an air-tight container. Makes about 1 pound.

NOTE: If using raw peanuts, add them to the sugar-syrup mixture before microwaving, along with 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Homemade Kahlua (courtesy of Lauryn Hale. Visit Lauryn's web site by clicking here.)

Bring sugar, coffee and water to boil, then remove from heat and let cool. Add Vodka and vanilla. Makes about 2 1/2 fifths.  Very good.. Not quite as thick as the store bought but oooooh so tasty!

Gel Scents (courtesy of Lauryn Hale. Visit Lauryn's web site by clicking here.)

Heat 1 cup potpourri in saucepan. Stirring, dissolve the gelatin. Remove from heat and add remaining 1 cup liquid and salt/vodka. Stir till dissolved. (If you are using distilled water, put essential oil into containers NOT into mixture) Pour gelatin mixture into containers. Place in fredge for approx. 2 hours. Remove, cover containers with plastic wrap (so the gel does not begin to evaporate until ready to use) store at room temp. Makes approx. 4 jelly jar scents.

I use nice cheap glass jars I buy at the local craft store. They have all kinds of shapes and sizes. Then I wrap a bit or ribbon around it and put it in the gift basket. They are perfect for a closet or bathroom, etc..

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