Mer and I travel to spend time with family on the holidays, so its difficult to have traditions of our own. Our Yule/Christmas tradition (which sometimes happens on Yule, but almost never on Christmas) involves a screening of A Solstice Carol and anything we want for dinner. In past years, this has included cereal (I’m a huge fan of Marshmallow Mateys, and in fact prefer them to their brand-name counterpart), donuts, and bagels with lox and capers. This year, we were inspired by our local winter farmer’s market. The sweet potato came from Two Gander Farm in Oley, PA, the cheese was Alpine from Birchrun Hills, and the fresh eggs were from Turning Roots.

Holiday Quiche

Ingredients:

• Two unbaked pie crusts (pre-bought or use your favorite recipe)
• One large (2/3 lb) sweet potato
• 6 ounces prosciutto
• 6 ounces nutty cheese (Emmentaler or a strong Swiss will do nicely)
• 6 whole eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place pie pans on a cookie sheet and line with pie crusts.

Peel the potato and grate it using the largest hole of a box grater. Sprinkle grated potato in the bottom of the pie shells, dividing evenly. Grate the cheese and sprinkle on top of the potato. Slice the prosciutto finely and add to pies. Beat eggs well and add milk, salt, and pepper. Carefully and slowly pour egg mixture into pies, pressing ingredients as needed to eliminate bubbles.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until quiche is just firm to the touch. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche.

My goodness! Too much cooking/blogging, too little time. No matter. I’ve been keeping track of new tasty treats in my handy dandy notebook, and I hope to spend the next week or two getting caught up on what I’ve missed. Alas, there are very few pictures involved, as I keep forgetting, but I’ll supplement with stock when I can. On to the food!

I was having a very, very crappy day when these cookies came into my life. Cobbled together from several recipes, they’re incredibly decadent but incredibly simple. I’ve made these several times since that day, and have managed to blow through a good portion of our frozen butter supply in the process (which is impressive, considering the quantities in which I buy butter.) These are officially fighting the Magical Mint Cookies for my all-time favorite. I think I might go make some now… Anyway, I hope that these brighten your day!

Butter Drop Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter (at room temperature)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375° F. In a medium bowl, whisk togetherflour, leavenings, and salt. Set aside. In a separate, larger bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until thoroughly incorporated. Add vanilla. Alternately add milk and dry ingredients, by thirds, until batter is smooth and homogenous.

Using a small disher or spoon, drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto non-stick sheet pans. Bake for 8-10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Cool on pans for 10 minutes before moving to rack.

Makes 6 dozen.

I’m finally over the flu, and I’ll be baking Christmas cookies this weekend. Yep, Christmas cookies. The holidays are too darn crazy, so my mom and I make time in late winter/early spring to enjoy a day in the kitchen baking cookies. This year, our plans may be foiled by the new arrival in our house (a Wii), but I’m hoping to get a few batches in between rounds of boxing.

I have a few new recipes lined up to try, but in case you are in the mood for a sugar-riffic weekend, here are some old standbys and new favorites from the Catch the Spoon archives to get you started:

• Magical Mint Cookies
• Nutmeg Sugar Cookies
• Date Squares
• Bacon Cookies

Happy belated holidays to one and all! After the semester ended, Mer and I got to work on our holiday baking. We split our projects between family traditions and our own take on other bloggers’ recipes. Our other projects included Mer’s Date Squares, our version of the Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies from Never Bashful with Butter, and our version of the Ginger-Cinnamon Caramels posted at The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy.

Concluding our Holiday Baking Recap are my Magical Mint Cookies. This recipe holds a special place in my heart and stomach, as it is the first recipe I ever remember “creating”. I tweaked a basic cookie recipe to use ingredients that I had on hand, and served the results to the girls that my mom worked with. The cookies looked disgusting – flat, wrinkled, and brown – but damn, they tasted good. While they haven’t gotten any prettier over the years, my Magical Mint Cookies have become a holiday tradition.

As a special bonus, these cookies freeze extraordinarily well. I like to keep a batch in my freezer all year, and I toss one or two into the microwave for 30-45 seconds to warm them up and make them gooey when I’m in the mood for a treat. they also make great ice cream sandwiches!

Magical Mint Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 10 oz. mint chocolate chips or chopped mint chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Slowly beat in eggs and vanilla. Beating with a wooden spoon or with mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients one cup at a time until just combined. Stir in chips.

Using a small small disher, drop dough onto greased or non-stick cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-9 minutes, but do not overbake – cookies will be very soft. Cool on pans until cookies have firmed and can be transferred to wax paper without the edges collapsing. Cool completely before storing.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Meredith says:

“My family isn’t much for baking, and we don’t have a holiday cookie tradition at all. What we do have are Date Squares.

Date Squares are actually one of the original, orange-book Betty Crocker recipe known as “date bars”, with very minor tweaks accumulated over the years. My grandmother would make them for breakfast whenever my Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob would come and visit for a weekend, so there would be an easy, quick breakfast available, since Sue and Bob were usually bopping around on errands while they visited. Sue thought they were the best things ever, especially since they’re sort of healthy for a cookie, and the rest of them enjoyed them, too.

As the years have gone by and the few food traditions my family does possess have been distributed to the different branches of the family, date squares seem to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Since I’m the first person to think of making them for years, this one is now mine. I took a pan to my family’s Christmas dinner, and they were a big hit. So, now you get to try them.

They’re a great bar cookie, landing somewhere between brownies and granola with fruit. They’re not too sweet, and great for breakfast, dessert, or any time you need a treat that won’t make you feel too overly guilty, and they’re definitely a wholly American recipe right out of the Donna Reed era that deserves to be remembered.”

Date Squares

Ingredients for filling:

• 16 ounces dates (Dromedary brand works best)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Ingredients for crust and topping:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 c oats

Chop dates finely (sharp scissors or kitchen shears are the perfect tool for this.) Add chopped dates, water, and sugar to a wide heavy-bottomed sauce pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture has thickened and turned a deep brown color. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease or line a 13×9″ pan. In a medium bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter. Add remaining ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.

Layer half of the oat mixture in the bottom of the pan, covering the bottom completely and pressing firmly to ensure a dense base. Smear the cooled filling on the crust and lightly crumble the remaining oat mixture on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool before slicing into squares. Makes 18-24 squares.

Image by Roboppy.

Happy belated holidays to one and all! After the semester ended, Mer and I got to work on our holiday baking. We split our projects between family traditions and our own take on other bloggers’ recipes. Our other projects included my Magical Mint Cookies, Mer’s Date Squares, and our version of the Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies from Never Bashful with Butter.

Today’s recap is our version of the ginger-cinnamon caramels, posted at The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy. Because I didn’t have the extract called for in the original recipe, I used an infusion technique that worked wonderfully. Unfortunately, I didn’t cook the sugar enough in the first pass, so while the finished product was delightful and caramel-ly when cold, the candies melted into goo at room temperature. The recipe here is adjusted to reflect that.

Ginger-Cinnamon Caramels

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cream
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter chunks
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 5″ ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• additional sugar for coating
• melted butter for coating the pan (approximately 3 tbsp), cooled

Line a 13×9″ pan with foil. Brush foil with melted butter and place pan in freezer until butter is set. Repeat. Return pan to freezer until ready to pour.

Peel ginger and cut into rough chunks. Place ginger, cinnamon, and cream into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and warm over low heat for 90 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to steep until cool. Strain and set aside, discarding cinnamon and ginger.

Combine sugar, syrup, and water in a very large, very heavy pot and stir until combined. Place over medium-high heat stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Turn heat to high and cook, without stirring, until the liquid is a dark red amber color. (Do not cook past this point, or caramel will turn bitter.)

Remove from heat and whisk in butter. With your face well away from the pot, slowly and carefully whisk in the cream. (The mixture will bubble and steam.) Continue whisking until well-combined. Return to high heat and whisk until mixture boils. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches the firm-ball stage (244-248 degrees on a candy thermometer).

Remove from heat and whisk in the salt. Pour into the prepared pan. Cool at room temperature until bottom of the pan is just warm to the touch; cover and move to the refrigerator to set overnight.

Unmold the candy onto a large cutting board or sheet pan. Grease the blades of a pair of cooking shears and use them to snip the caramel into bite-sized pieces. Toss cut pieces into a large zip-top bag containing a few tablespoons of sugar and shake to coat.

Makes about 10-12 dozen pieces, depending on size.

Happy belated holidays to one and all! After the semester ended, Mer and I got to work on our holiday baking. We split our projects between family traditions and our own take on other bloggers’ recipes. Stay tuned for my Magical Mint Cookies, Mer’s Date Squares, and our version of the Ginger-Cinnamon Caramels posted at The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy.

Today’s recap is our version of Muffin’s bacon chocolate chip cookies with maple glaze, posted in the first week of December at Never Bashful with Butter. We tweaked the basic cookie recipe a bit, changed the nuts, and used a completely different glaze. The result was a delightful surprise: not only were they delicious, but they didn’t just taste like bacon cookies. They stood well on their own as a dessert, and made for a fabulous conversation piece at the holiday gatherings we attended.

Bacon Cookies with Maple Glaze

Ingredients for cookies:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 2 cups bacon bits

Ingredients for glaze:

• 4 tsp butter
• 4 tsp real maple syrup
• 1 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Stir in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Stir in chips, nuts, and bacon. Using a small small disher, drop dough onto greased or non-stick cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool on wax paper laid over newspaper or kitchen towels.

While cookies cool, combine butter and maple syrup in a small heavy-bottomed sauce pan and whisk until butter has melted and liquids are well-combined. Whisk in confectioner’s sugar. Drizzle warm glaze over cooled cookies. Allow glaze to set completely before packaging.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

So, what yummy goodies did you create this holiday season? Tell us all about it in the comments.

Autumn. The leaves are falling (and clogging my gutters), the weather is changing (finally), and I start craving flavored coffee, pumpkin pie, eggnog, and amaretto – not necessarily in that order. This recipe combines two of those cravings into one sinfully delicious dessert.

Amaretto Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup amaretti cookies, crushed fine
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 cups pumpkin puree, unsweetened if canned
• 1 cup half and half
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 3 tablespoons amaretto
• 2 pinches salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Toss cookie crumbs and butter in a small bowl until well-combined. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9″ pie pan. Cover edges with tin foil and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Pour into prepared and cooled pie shell. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting; serve with freshly whipped ginger cream (1 cup heavy cream whipped with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger) and garnish with slivered almonds, if desired.

Image by JamesJyu.

I am a huge fan of can-shaped red goo at the holidays, but I’m always on the lookout for new and exciting cranberry sauce recipes. This definitely fits the bill. Adults will appreciate the sophisticated palate cleanser, and kids love eating “water ice” with their turkey, instead of waiting for dessert.

Cranberry Orange Sorbet

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped

Prepare the bowl of your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

In a heavy-bottomed, non-reactive saucepan, whisk together water, sugar, and concentrate. Stir in cranberries. Cover and bring to a boil; cook for about 5 minutes from boil, or until most of the berries have popped. Remove from heat and add thyme; set aside and let steep for 1 hour.

Strain mixture through a fine sieve, pressing to remove as much of the liquid as possible. Discard thyme, berry skins, and fibers. Cover liquid and refrigerate overnight.

Process in ice cream maker.

Serves 8-12 as a side dish or small dessert.

Image by PVerdonk.

Just in time for Halloween, bake up some fun in these pumpkin-shaped silicone cupcake molds! Set of 8 (4 orange, 4 black), from Tovolo.  Not a cupcake person?  No problem!  these can also be used to form festive onigiri, or as molds to make your mashed sweet potatoes extra-fancy.

There’s also a holiday version, with stars, gingerbread men, and trees.