Monday, November 23, 2009

Gearing up for the holidays

It's not even Thanksgiving and we've already make our annual trek to Candylane at Hersheypark to see Santa. It seems like we're not the only ones getting an early start this year - many people have already decorated, taking advantage of the mild weather we've been having.

I thought this would be a good time to recap my holiday baking recipes. Last year I had three posts:

Holiday Recap 1
Holiday Recap 2
Holiday Recap 3

And here's a review of the new recipes I made for the holidays last year or discovered during 2009:

Elfin Bites - These are so easy and colorful.



Gingerbread Men - I can't wait to make these again. They are a non-traditional gingerbread man made with butterscotch pudding.




Rum Balls - These are a nut-free version that I loved. They are really rum-spiked brownie bites.



Peppermint Bark and Oreo Truffles






Vanilla Popcorn - This is actually something I tested out recently that I might make this year.





Chocolate Malted Cookies - This was a cookie I tried this year that was very good.




Peppermint Patties - I made these for a bake sale and they were so easy to make and they were fantastic. I may make them for Christmas and add green food coloring.




Brown Sugar-Buttermilk Pound Cakes - These mini pound cakes would make great gifts.







5 comments:

La Pixie said...

I really love your Elfin Bites, but mine are never pretty like yours. the dough is super dry and when I cut them they fall apart... what is your secret?

Anonymous said...

(this is me - I'm not logged in as Cookbook Junkie right now)

Maybe luck is the trick because it always seems like such a close call with that dough (being too dry to work with). I use my pizza cutter to cut the dough. I cut it right on the parchment and just spread the cubes out.

You can probably use any shortbread recipe that you've had success with to make this recipe.

Chef Aimee said...

Well Paula, you did it! I have a cookie swap next month and the malted cookies are the ones I will use! I was having trouble deciding on a cookie besides my pb & j cookies. Did you know in Chinatown in NYC Taipan Bakery serves iced Ovaltine? ITS AMAZING!

Sook said...

Those gingerbread men look sooo cute!

Mrs. L said...

I'm loving the idea of the Elfin Bites. I think they will add some great color to my "cookie baskets" this year and I don't need more than a few for each basket to give it that color pop. Wahoo, thanks!