I don’t know what got in to me this year, but I am feeling the Christmas spirit. All things - the music, driving to see lights, drinking hot cocoa, baking cookies, decorating, wearing red and green, and dare I say ornamental things that serve no functional purpose and may even have glitter?!? Gasp.
There’s no denying it now. Maybe in this season, after the year we’ve had and so much to be thankful for, my heart has grown three sizes this year.
All that to say, I thought it might be really fun to collect a bunch of favorite family holiday recipes from our friends and share them here. Tis’ the season for whipping up joy in the kitchen, no?
Thank you to our lovely friends, Ashley Varner, Beth McGeorge, Joey O’Connor, Missy Dunn, and Lindsey Rowden for sharing these recipes with us! We hope you find a new one to try and love. They have been tested and hand-picked from their kitchens! Happy Holidays!
Tom and Jerrys
From Ashley Varner’s Kitchen
2 whole eggs
1 cup white sugar
White rum
Water
Beat 2 eggs until light. Add 1 cup sugar. Continue to beat until NO sugar crystals are in the batter. Boil water. Put large spoonful of batter in cup. Add boiling water to fill cup stirring all the time. Leave room for RUM! Stir well. Add 1 JIGGER of whiskey or rum and sprinkle nutmeg on top. Cheers!
My grandfather made these at Christmas time for our whole family. For years, I drank them without the alcohol, but enjoyed them much more once I reached the age to add the rum.
Blueberry Lemonade
From Beth McGeorge’s kitchen
Quick & easy “go to” drink for any celebration. It’s a hit every time!
2 cups blueberries
1/4-1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you prefer)
1/2 cup water
One Container Simply Lemonade (52oz)
Combine blueberries, sugar & water
Cook on stove for approx 5 minutes. Allow time for the berries to simmer in the water and burst releasing the deep purple color.
Strain
Combine with lemonade and voila- gorgeous deep purple color and delicious flavor!
Pro tips:
Use whatever berries you have on hand. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, or combination. There is no perfect way to do this. I usually add a handful of blackberries if I have on hand as the color is gorgeous!
I like to freeze a few of the berries and lemon slices I used and put them into the lemonade container to add to the look. Freezing them keeps the lemonade chilled. It also notifies your guests of potential allergens. Freezing them keeps the lemonade cool.
Homemade Ice Cream
From Ashley Varner’s kitchen
4 eggs
2 quarts Coffee Rich (non-dairy creamer)
2 Tbsp vanilla
2 ½ cups sugar
½ tsp salt
Beat eggs until think and light. Add sugar gradually, beat well. Add salt and Coffee Rich and blend thoroughly. Put into canister and freeze in ice cream machine. Put snow in machine around the canister and add generous amounts of ice cream salt. Enjoy with homemade fudge sauce or choice of toppings.
My grandfather always had all the cousins help with this task every Christmas. We would all go outside to fill 5 gallon buckets of snow. Once grandma had the batter put together, all the cousins would take turns adding snow and salt to the ice cream machine. We enjoyed it with hot fudge sauce most commonly. In the photos, I’ve added some cinnamon/sugar mix.
Chocolate Pimple Cake
From Joey O’Connor’s kitchen
Ingredients:
1 Betty Crocker devils food cake mix
1 Jello chocolate pudding 3.4oz (must be cook and serve NOT instant)
1/2 cup semi-sweet morsels
2 cups milk
Preheat oven to 350°
Start by cooking the chocolate pudding per the instructions on the package. In a medium sauce pan, combine pudding mix and two cups of cold milk. Heat on medium heat until boiling stirring constantly. Once boiling, remove from heat.
Combine cake mix with the hot pudding mixture Mix until smooth. Add a splash of water if needed Use only the packaged cake mix, do not add any of the additional cake ingredients. Stir until combined.
In a greased 9”X13” nonstick pan, add the cake mixture and spread cake mix evenly and sprinkle chocolate chips over top.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Let cool and enjoy!
Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
From Sarah Bohl’s Kitchen
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp. almond extract opt.
1/2 tsp. orange extract opt.
1 white cake mix
½ cup sprinkles, divided
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add the egg, almond extract and orange extract and mix until combined. Add the white cake mix and mix until combined. Stir in 1/4 cup of sprinkles. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 24 hours. The longer the dough chills, the less sticky it will be.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place powdered sugar in one bowl and the remaining 1/4 cup of sprinkles in another bowl. Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into a ball. Sprinkle with a few extra sprinkles and roll in powdered sugar, completely covering the dough ball. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for two minutes before removing to wire rack. Makes around 42 small cookies.
BRie Bake
From Missy Dunn’s Kitchen
(17 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 (8 ounce) package brie cheese, round
1⁄8 cup toasted almond, slices
1/4 cup raspberry preserves or 1/4 cup your favorite preserves
Preheat oven to 425. Lightly grease cookie sheet. Roll puff pastry out slightly. Place cheese wheel on top (leave rind on). Place preserves on top of cheese. Place almonds on top of preserves. Bundle Puff Pastry up and around the cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for five minutes. Serve with your favorite crackers.
Campfire cookies
From Lindsey Rowden’s kitchen
Make the 3 ingredient shortbread:
2.5 cups of flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 stick of butter
Bake at 325 for about 8 minutes.
I add the marshmallows about halfway and the Hershey square when they were done. Campfire cookies!
Special thanks to our Friend of the Blog:
Pin this image:
