I saw this little tree on the prairie yesterday and it reminded me of a Charlie Brown Christmas. I couldn’t resist adding some decorations to it on my computer.
Wishing everyone good cheer at this time of year!
Tag Archives: Christmas
Hung By the Chimney With Care
This stocking – made for me by a favorite aunt when I was a little girl -hangs by our fireplace, filled with happy memories of Christmas mornings.
Here’s wishing you happy holiday memories in the making!
Vintage Christmas Memories
My grandparent’s aluminum Christmas tree … sparkling with decades of happy Christmas memories.
Aluminum Christmas trees were popular in the U.S. in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, but lost popularity after “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired in 1965 and they were touted as being symbolic of the commercialization of Christmas. But for many of us who grew up with them, they are cherished reminders of times past.
Old Fashioned Christmas (Cocktail)
Inspired by classic bourbon cocktails such as the Old Fashioned, this cocktail has been spruced up for Christmas but still retains a pleasing balance between bitter, sweet, fruity and bourbon flavors. Cheers!
Old Fashioned Christmas
Ingredients
2 oz. Woodford Reserve or other good bourbon whiskey
1 oz. Pallini Raspicello Liqueur
1 oz. Travis Hasse’s Apple Pie Liqueur
4 dashes Angostura Bitters
ice, for shaking
lemon peel, for garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add bourbon, liqueurs and bitters. Cover and shake well – to mix ingredients, to chill the drink and to allow a little of the ice to melt. Strain into a decorative martini glass. Garnish with lemon peel and serve.
Happy Holidays!
Spiced Mexican Wedding Cookies
When baking an assortment of cookies for the holidays, it is nice to have both a variety of shapes and of flavors. Mexican Wedding Cookies are small, buttery, nut cookies, rolled in sugar that provide a contrast to drop cookies and to cut-out cookies in shape and provide contrast to chocolatey and to fruity cookies in flavor. This version, with spices mixed into the rolling sugar is both flavorful and aromatic. I made this batch last night and loved the way that they made the kitchen smell. Added bonuses are that these cookies are easy to make keep well for gift-giving. Enjoy!
Spiced Mexican Wedding Cookies
Makes about 32
Mexican Wedding Cookies – also known as Russian Tea Cakes, Italian Tea Cakes, Snowball Cookies, and Butter Balls, and probably a dozen other names – are a traditional Christmas cookie in the United States. They are buttery cookies made with ground nuts, baked, and then rolled in confectioner’s sugar. In this version, aromatic cinnamon and cloves are added to the sugar.
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 2 T. confectioner’s sugar + 1/2 c. extra for rolling cookies
• 1 t. vanilla extract, or almond extract (if using almonds), or hazelnut extract (if using hazelnuts)*
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. pecans, walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts, very finely chopped or pulsed in the food processor to the texture of coarse kosher salt
• 1 t. ground Vietnamese cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground cloves
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in 2 T. of the confectioner’s sugar and the vanilla extract. On lowest speed, beat in flour and then nuts. The mixture will be very crumbly.
- Spoon a small about (about 1 heaping teaspoon) of mixture into one of your palms. Squeeze lightly until the mixture holds together then shape into a ball. Place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining mixture, spacing the balls well apart on the 2 baking sheets.
- Bake for about 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned on the bottom. The tops of the cookies will be very pale. Place baking sheets on wire racks and allow cookies to cool.
- Once cool, whisk the spices into the remaining 1/2 c. of confectioner’s sugar. Roll the cookies in confectioner’s sugar mixture until well coated. Once you have rolled all of the cookies once, roll them in the mixture again until you have used all of it. To avoid getting finger prints in the cookies, transfer cookies to a serving plate or a storage container using a fork to lift them.
Enjoy! Happy Holidays!
North Pole Cupcakes
These festive, chocolatey-peppermint, cheesecake cupcakes are easy to make with a food processor and can be made ahead of time and frozen so that you have them on hand for holiday company or surprise visitors – that is, unless a certain someone in your house likes to sneak into the freezer and eat them as is. You might need to make extras! Enjoy!
North Pole Cupcakes
An easy to make, festive treat for the winter holiday season!
makes 12
Ingredients
• 12 Mint Oreo cookies (or gluten-free sandwich-style cookies)
• 2/3 c. granulated white sugar
• 16 miniature peppermint candy canes, divided
• 1/4 c. dark chocolate chips
• 16 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• 2 lg. eggs
• 1 T. chocolate liqueur
• 1/2 t. mint extract
• whipped cream for topping (canned is ok)
• shaved chocolate, chocolate sprinkles, sugar pearls, or sugar sprinkles for garnish
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin papers. Place one cookie in the center of each muffin paper. (The cookies will be a little smaller than the bottom of the muffin cups, but the cookies puff out during baking.)
2. Unwrap 4 of the candy canes and break candy into small pieces (should be about 1 T.). Using a large food processor, process sugar and broken candy canes until they are crushed to a fine consistency. Add chocolate chips and process until the chips are finely crushed. Add cream cheese and process until smooth. Scrape down bowl. Add sour cream and process until smooth. Scrape down bowl. Add eggs, chocolate liqueur, and mint extract. Process or beat until well blended and perfectly smooth. Scrape down bowl.
3. Divide cheesecake batter between muffin cups, filling to the top, but not over the top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cheesecake batter is puffy and set in the middle. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. (The cupcakes will sink in the middle as they cool and don’t look very pretty until garnished.)
4. Once completely cool, cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. (Once cooled, muffins can be removed from the baking pan, placed in a plastic container, covered tightly, and frozen until shortly before serving. If no one sneaks into the freezer to eat them, cupcakes should keep for about 1 month.)
5. Serve cold. (If frozen, remove cupcakes from freezer shortly before serving – about 15 minutes. When ready to serve, remove muffin papers. Garnish each cupcake with whipped cream, shaved chocolate or other decorations, and an unwrapped candy cane. Enjoy! Happy Holidays!
Variation: Instead of whipped cream, top with chocolate ganache or chocolate buttercream flavored with peppermint.
Smile
One of my projects for today is to pack away our Christmas tree ornaments until next year. Many of our ornaments are special pieces that have been made or chosen for us family and friends, and so as I put each away I think about these dear people and smile. Some ornaments, though, really make me grin. This feathered mercury glass Boston Terrier, for example, given to us by my sister-in-law Helen, is always one of the last that I box away because it makes me so happy to look at it. I hope that this brings a smile to your face as well!
Christmas Snow, A Few Days Early
Last night we received about seven and a half inches of snow. Around nine-thirty, while it was falling quite heavily, I went outside to take these pictures of our lights. Though you can’t see snowflakes in the pictures, the falling snow seemed to reflect quite a bit of ambient light, giving the atmosphere an unusual glow. It seemed never to get dark last night.
It looks like it is going to be a white Christmas. Happy Holidays!
A Little Hope
The foliage on my amaryllises from last Christmas only just died back a few weeks ago. Since it took so long for them to go dormant, I was starting to wonder whether I would have any flowers from the bulbs this winter. Then a few new leaves started to appear in each pot a few days ago. There is hope yet!
A Taste of Morning 