So....What Did You Make For The Holidays?

[ChesterV]

So, what did you make for the holidays?

Was it a traditional standard in your family/circle of friends?
Was it something new?
Was it for dinners or was it for gifts?
How was it received?
(if you have pictures, please post!)


Is there any left for us??? LOL

 

[Becky]

Hope you had a good Christmas @ChesterV!

I didn't have to do much in the way of baking this year because we were visiting family. My father-in-law requested my chocolate gluten free vegan cupcakes, as he was having his sister over while we were there and she is coeliac. They went down very well!

The other thing I made (which we didn't have to share!) was a Cranberry Bakewell Tart. Regular Bakewell Tart (which is a traditional tart from Bakewell in the Peak District) usually has raspberry jam, so this one tasted much more festive.

Basically it is a pastry case (made using a bit of ground almonds in addition to flour), filled with cranberry jam topped with frangipane, baked in the oven, and iced when cool. I made the cranberry jam the day before the tart, and added a little mixed spice just to add to the Christmas flavour. The frangipane also had clementine zest in it, and the icing was made using clementine juice.

Might have overdone the icing!

It's a Nigella Lawson recipe. I love her!

 

[Becky]

Is there any left for us??? LOL

Nope!

 

[ChesterV]

I made a lot of Beef Jerky Bread in my bread machine.

 

[justme4910]

I smoked a ham,but didn't make a pie,which is a shame on me the ham was excellent or so I thought any way lol


my sister made a HummingBird cake and it was really good

 

[justme4910]

and a big WOW to Becky,that Tart looks excellent

 

[Becky]

That ham looks delicious! I haven't made a ham this year, usually I do Nigella's recipe for ham in cherry coke.

I do use other recipes, I swear! I just seem to do a lot of Nigella at Christmas

 

[Trellum]

My family doesn't celebrate Christmas, so I did nothing special, but next year I will because my fiance's family is of a catholic background and they do celebrate this holiday. So I will bake something special Maybe some desserts I can take to the in laws place... maybe I try that cheesecake chocolate chip bars.

 

[Diane Lane]

Those pictures all look delicious. Y'all did a great job with your holiday meals/desserts!

I usually cook a pork roast or ham, but this year I made a small turkey breast roast. I injured my hand/thumb while preparing a dish just before Christmas, so that put a damper on my cooking and baking. I usually make several varieties of cookies and at least one type of fudge, but this year I didn't even make cookies until the day after Christmas. Thankfully, a friend brought me a box of her Christmas cookies, so there was dessert.

I made cole slaw (Robert Irvine's recipe), but used purple cabbage, and it came out really delicious. Unfortunately, the cutting board slipped while I was shredding the cabbage, which is how the injury occurred. Thankfully, I usually make my dinner ahead of time and just reheat it on the day, because my kitchen is so tiny. So, I did have a full meal for the holiday, just not much in the way of dessert.

 

[djordjem87]

So, my mother and I will make food as always. She will make most of it. My part will be grill because I am good with it and I like cold and the grill is outside. It is going to minus 10 on 31st so that is on me. I will also make some salads and one of the desserts. Chocolate Chip Cookies. We love these although they are not typical Serbian dessert. They are easy to make so I will not have my work cut out. She will make White Ice Cubes. That is like creamiest dessert ever.

 

[Becky]

My part will be grill because I am good with it and I like cold and the grill is outside. It is going to minus 10 on 31st so that is on me.

Oh my goodness!! You're brave!

 

[justme4910]

That ham looks delicious! I haven't made a ham this year, usually I do Nigella's recipe for ham in cherry coke.

I do use other recipes, I swear! I just seem to do a lot of Nigella at Christmas

do you have a link for the cherry cola ham ? and is it for a whole ham ? or what they sell as a whole ham I should say lol I couldn't find one over 11 pounds,I was wanting a bigger one,but that one turned out to be big enough,i was worried it would be to small,it was a lot smaller than the picture by the time I got done smoking it

 

[justme4910]

somebody needs to post some side dishes,we have pictures of Bread, a Tart and a Ham,a few more pictures we will have an excellent meal

send me a slice of that Tart,I'm dyeing your a slice of that and I want a hunk of that bread too,the loafs look excellent

 

[Becky]

do you have a link for the cherry cola ham ?

Here it is:

http://blogs.kcrw.com/goodfood/2011/12/recipe-ham-in-cherry-coke/

I'm sure the recipe could be scaled up for a bigger ham

 

[justme4910]

the recipe calls for the ham to be submerged , so that won't work on a smoker I guess I could brin it the night before and see what happens,of course that much cola could be expensive to try

 

[ChesterV]

the recipe calls for the ham to be submerged , so that won't work on a smoker I guess I could brin it the night before and see what happens,of course that much cola could be expensive to try

Some cola companies will sell the syrup they use for their sodas. I know Dr Pepper does. It's hard to find, but it can be had.

If you can get some of the syrup, you can rub down the meat before you cook it and then baste it with the syrup while it's cooking.

I do that with honey, cause I like honey ham.
And honey turkey.
And honey chicken.....

 

[justme4910]

a friend did marinate with some Sprite on a ham that I ate,many years ago,it is a shame that I don't remember how it tasted

the syrup idea sounds good,other than I'm not sure if I would like it or not,hmmmm I need to experiment on some smaller pieces first then ,I may slice up the next ham in chunks and try that in the smoker and see if I like it enough to look for syrup

I need to go to another grocery store and see if I can find a ham that isn't just the knee portion too,when I cured ham before,we didn't leave the knee attached at all

I may have to try it with some honey and see how that comes out,I've been using dry rubs.I may give that atry too

 

[ChesterV]

a friend did marinate with some Sprite on a ham that I ate,many years ago,it is a shame that I don't remember how it tasted

the syrup idea sounds good,other than I'm not sure if I would like it or not,hmmmm I need to experiment on some smaller pieces first then ,I may slice up the next ham in chunks and try that in the smoker and see if I like it enough to look for syrup

I need to go to another grocery store and see if I can find a ham that isn't just the knee portion too,when I cured ham before,we didn't leave the knee attached at all

I may have to try it with some honey and see how that comes out,I've been using dry rubs.I may give that atry too

You can mix other spices, liquids, and condiments with the syrups, sodas, and honey.

Clove, cinnamon, and honey is a really good glaze I love.
Of course, I have the worst sweet tooth ever.

Chopped cherries and molasses is another good one.

Maple syrup, nutmeg, and basil is also good (to me anyway).

I think if you get a large plastic bag, put the piece of meat in it, pour one can of soda in the bag, then suck the air out of the bag and tie it up and let it marinate all night, you can get away with one can of soda, instead of soaking the whole piece of meat in a gallon of it.

 

[justme4910]

I don't have any bags that big and the ones I looked at for a brine were evpensive

"Clove, cinnamon, and honey is a really good glaze I love."

that one looks really good,when would I need to apply a glaze in a smoker ? a ham cooks a really long time in it,I'm going to do a Texas Crutch on the next ham,so it doesn't come out looking like a burnt cinder that tasted really great or so I thought anyway lol

 

[ChesterV]

I don't have any bags that big and the ones I looked at for a brine were evpensive

"Clove, cinnamon, and honey is a really good glaze I love."

that one looks really good,when would I need to apply a glaze in a smoker ? a ham cooks a really long time in it,I'm going to do a Texas Crutch on the next ham,so it doesn't come out looking like a burnt cinder that tasted really great or so I thought anyway lol

Hmmm, if you are going to smoke it for a long time, then I would glaze or baste it during the last 30 minutes or so. I've only baked in ovens, so I'm not all that sure. But I would think during the last 30 minutes would work, so it doesn't make a hard crust on it......unless you water it down enough to make a baste out of it...then maybe during the last hour.

You don't need basting bags. you can use any large, clean plastic bag.
I've seen those large baking bags for turkeys in the dollar stores. Those are big enough to use, and much cheaper.
If you get a good brand of medium sized, heavy duty trash bag, some people use those also.
I've also seen the dollar stores carry the giant zip lock plastic baggies, which would also work....but thats not often I see those in the stores.