Friday Foodie ~ 2024 Christmas Baking Edition

 

I pulled out my Christmas recipes this week and got busy.  Leksi was suppose to come see us on Tuesday or Wednesday, so I wanted to have some for her to take home with her.  Unfortunately, her plans changed.  She flies home to Tennessee on Sunday, so we won't see her until after the holidays.  I ended up making less than I planned and I still have some cookie dough and bonbon filling in the refrigerator that I will pull out at the end of next week.  I only made two kinds of cookies and three kinds of candy:

My cookies were frosted sugar cookies and Snickerdoodles. These both start with a sugar cookie mix.  Add three tablespoons of flour to the mix for frosted cookies.  Roll cookies in cinnamon-sugar mix for the Snickerdoodles.  I had a little melted chocolate left over after making my bonbons, so I dipped some of the Snickerdoodles in the chocolate.

 

Peppermint Bon Bons - this is an old family recipe that I never share.  

 

Butterscotch Haystacks

• 2/3 cups (12-oz. pkg.)  Butterscotch chips
• 1 can (8.5 oz.) or 2 cans (5 oz. each) chow mein noodles
• 3 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Place morsels in top of double boiler over hot (not boiling) water. Do not cover. When most of the morsels are shiny, stir just until melted. (Prevent water from coming in contact with morsels.)  Remove from heat.
Place chow mein noodles in large bowl.  Pour melted chips and mix well.  Add in marshmallows and stir until coated.
Drop by rounded tablespoon onto wax paper.

 

Cracker Toffee

I've made peppermint cracker toffee before, but since I was making peppermint bonbons, I decided I wanted milk chocolate instead.  This was really good!

Ingredients:
40 saltine crackers
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1 package (12 oz) chocolate chips

Directions:
Line a 15x10x1-inch baking sheet with the saltine crackers. (My pan was a little smaller so my crackers overlapped a little.) Set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add in sugar and bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Once it begins to boil, remove from heat.
Pour over saltine crackers and sprinkle with pecans. Place in a 375°F oven for about 10-12 minutes, until crackers are browned and caramelized.  

Sprinkle with chocolate chips and allow to sit for several minutes (until they melt).  Spread with a spatula evenly over crackers.

Chill for at least 30 minutes.  Break into bite size pieces.

Thanksgiving Math

 

We are hosting a small gathering at our house on Thanksgiving.  This is a first for me!  Leksi will be here along with my sister, Kim, and her husband, Rodney.  Everyone else had other plans with other family members.  I'm so excited that I get to do this, but a little nervous about everything turning out.

Along with turkey and ham, I'm making dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, and rolls.  My turkey will go in the crock-pot, but everything else needs to go in the oven at 350 degrees. (There will also be cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and peach cobbler.)   I did a little research and most articles said to add about 15% more cooking time when more items are in the oven.  Of course not everything needs to bake the same amount of time. 

 

For now I have a chart of when everything needs to go in - the ham will go in about 30 minutes before everything else.  Next will be the dressing.  Then about every 5-10 minutes I'll add another dish!  Wish me luck!

P.S.  If you're wondering how much the calories of your meal will be, here is an old post from my WW days.  The points are the original plan, figuring about 50 calories per point.  Do You Really Want to Know?

Woman of the Week ~ Mom

My Mom would have turned 79 today.  In honor of her birthday, I thought I would write her in as my first Woman of the Week for 2019.

Verses: 
Obviously, there aren't any verses in the Bible with her story, but oh how her Bible has blessed me!  I have blogged from it and about it for over ten years.  It is my dearest earthly treasure.

Background
She was born on January 1, 1940 to Hogan and Luella Pearson.  She was the first baby born in Tulare county that year.  She was the second of four children - she had an older brother, Dean, a younger sister, Joyce, and a younger brother, Don.
She married Robert Fultz on October 3, 1958.  They produced four offspring - Kim, Rick, Rod and Kathy.  They celebrated their 40th anniversary one week before she passed away.

What is she most known for? Victories? Defeats? How can I be like her? How can I avoid being like her? 
Oh my!  There are so many things I can list, here are a few:

Baking - Mom was not a great cook, she would have told you that.  She was rather picky and didn't enjoy trying new foods.  But when it came to baked goods, especially chocolate, she couldn't be beat!  She definitely passed that gift on to me.  What I didn't get was her decorating ability.  She was a master at beautiful cakes, but she could also make beautiful cookies.  I remember her using a paintbrush to get food coloring on turkey cookies before they were baked.  They came out with a glaze of beautiful feathers.  I also knew that Les had received her silent approval when I told her how much he liked brownies and the next time he came for a visit that is what she made!

Kids - Mom loved kids.  She was able to stay home with all of us because she babysat little ones in our home.  For years she preferred newborns, then she seemed to switch and really enjoy the two to four year old age range.  She taught Sunday school for decades and Pre-K at the Christian school for several years.  She loved her own four kids and was ecstatic when she became Grandma!

Nursing - Mom didn't have a nursing degree, but with Rod's health issues she became a pro in her own right.  Rod broke his femur two different times in less than 12 months.  Because of his hemophilia the healing process was a little more complicated.  He spent about 6 weeks in the hospital in traction so the bones could start mending.  He then came home in a body cast.  Mom tended to his needs daily.  Mom and Dad both knew how to mix Rod's medicine and give him injections.  Her experiences allowed her to become the youth camp nurse for many years.  She loved going to camp and taking care of all the kids there.

Animals - We nicknamed our home "Fultz's Funny Farm" for a reason!  Mom loved every type of animal and our home was never without at least one dog. I wrote about it in detail in this post, but there is one story I have to share here.  Just as she did with children, Mom nourished and nurtured every animal that came her way. Dad was very patient, but every once in a while he put his foot down. One peaceful Saturday afternoon, we kids were playing at home, Dad was trying to relax, maybe even take a nap on the couch, when Mom came home:

Mom (rushing in the house): Bob, I need a box
Dad: Huh? A box? What for?
Mom: There's a little animal I need to rescue.
Dad: Where?
Mom: Around the corner.
Dad (knowing it is now useless to argue): I'll go with you, let me get my shoes on.
Mom: Well hurry!
Dad (when they get to the animal): It's a mole! We're not taking that thing home!

Friends - Mom had some very close friends in our church family.  Friends that she could talk to for hours!  She loved talking on the phone as much as any teenager.  I know there was laughter, but I also know she shared tears and prayers with these dear friends of hers.

Did she reach a place when she needed to reset?  If so, did she?  For good or evil?
I'm sure there were many times Mom needed to reset, but the most significant happened when she was about 20 years old.  She was raised going to church, but after Kim was born our family moved away from Visalia.  I believed they lived in Selma for a time, then they moved to Fresno.  Some time after their move, Irene Wilkinson asked Mom if they could pick her up for church.  Kenneth and Irene took Mom to church for many years (she didn't get her driver's license until she was 23 or 24.)

By the time I was born, Mom was firmly planted in Truth Tabernacle.  It was her church home for about 38 years.  I can never remember a time when Mom chose to stay home from church if she was not sick.  I know there were times that she was tired, but going to church was not optional.  She loved God and His Word.  I flipped through her Bible and found so many quotes.  I tried to find a couple to use, but there were just too many.  I finally settled on this one, written in large all caps letters:

HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT

That is the key that she found to go through whatever joys or sorrows life brought.  Trials and victories, hurts and hopes, Mom knew that HIS grace was sufficient.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Friday Foodie ~ 2017 Christmas Baking

I did my annual Christmas baking this week and I have more pictures than usual.  Les has been on an extended business trip (last week he was on the East Coast, then flew to Hawaii from New York on Saturday) so I kept texting pictures to him!  He gets home tonight so he can finally sample some of this goodness.

This year I made an even 10 items, 5 kinds of cookies and 5 kinds of candy.  Gingerbread, chocolate chip, butterscotch oatmeal, peanut butter kissed, and peppermint crunch cookies.  Fudge, Scotcheroos, sugared walnuts, bon bons, and butterscotch haystacks.  None of these are new recipes, but here they are:

Gingerbread cookies - I started with Krusteaz Gingerbread mix.  Add one egg and 1/2 cup flour to recipe on the box for gingerbread cookies.  This dough tends to be very sticky, so I keep more flour close as I roll them out.  These only took 6 minutes to bake.

Chocolate chip cookies - straight from a mix!  I didn't change a thing on these.

Butterscotch oatmeal cookies - another mix, with 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips added in.

Peanut butter kissed cookies - one more mix.  Let cookies cool one minute after removing from oven then top with Hershey kisses.

Peppermint crunch cookies - I made these quite a few years ago.  This time I used Andes Peppermint chips and that took the flavor to a whole new level of goodness!

1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated sugar cookies
1 1/2 cups white vanilla baking chips or semisweet chocolate chips (or Andes Peppermint chips)
8 round hard peppermint candies, crushed (1/4 cup)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in 1/4 cup all-purpose flour until well blended. Shape dough into 36 (1-inch) balls. Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until edges are golden brown (my oven runs how so these took 8 to 10 minutes. ) Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 5 minutes.
In small microwavable bowl, microwave vanilla chips and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil uncovered on Medium (50%) 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once halfway through microwaving, until melted. Stir until smooth.
Dip half of each cookie into melted chips mixture, allowing excess to drip off; place on waxed or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Sprinkle each with about 1/2 teaspoon crushed candy. Let stand until set.

Fantasy Fudge (this recipe is on the marshmallow creme jar)

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 small can (5 oz.) evaporated milk (about 2/3 cup) (Do not use sweetened condensed milk.)
1 pkg. (12 oz. each)  Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips
1 jar (7 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme
1 cup chopped Walnuts (optional - I do not put nuts in my fudge, I prefer smooth and creamy!)
1 tsp. vanilla

Line 9-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Bring sugar, butter and evaporated milk to full rolling boil in 3-qt. saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook 10 min. or until candy thermometer reaches 234°F, stirring constantly (*it is very important that the mixture reach the proper temperature.  A candy thermometer is a must!)

Remove from heat.  Add chocolate and marshmallow creme; stir until melted. Add nuts and vanilla; mix well.

Pour into prepared pan; spread to cover bottom of pan. Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift fudge from pan before cutting into 1-inch squares.

Chocolate Scotcheroos - This recipe has been in our family for years! I thought Mom created it, but it can be found on the Rice Krispies website, although Mom's version uses more chocolate and butterscotch (no surprise). Rick use to request this for his birthday instead of a cake!

1 c. sugar
1 c. Karo syrup
1 c. peanut butter
6 c. Rice Krispies
1-12 oz bag chocolate chips
1-12 oz bag butterscotch chips

Cook sugar and syrup until it starts to boil. Remove from heat and add peanut butter, mix well. Add Rice Krispies, mix well. Spread in 9 x 13 cake pan.
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips, spread on top. Refrigerate until set.

Sugared Walnuts
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
3 Tbs. orange juice
2 1/2 c. walnuts
1/2 tsp. orange zest (grated orange peel)

Combine sugar, water and orange juice in large sauce pan. Cook slowly until candy thermometer reaches 240 ("soft ball"). This takes about 10-15 minutes, be patient! I have tried this without a candy thermometer and it never turns out right - I get too impatient and don't let it cook long enough!
Remove from heat, add walnuts and orange zest. Stir until coating is creamy and loses its gloss.
Spread on wax paper to cool.

Peppermint Bon Bons - this is an old family recipe that I never share.  Sorry.

Butterscotch Haystacks - I have made these in the past but found a recipe that included peanut butter and miniature marshmallows.  I left out the peanut butter but did add the marshmallows.

• 2/3 cups (12-oz. pkg.)  Butterscotch chips
• 1 can (8.5 oz.) or 2 cans (5 oz. each) chow mein noodles
• 3 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Place morsels in top of double boiler over hot (not boiling) water. Do not cover. When most of the morsels are shiny, stir just until melted. (Prevent water from coming in contact with morsels.)  Remove from heat.
Place chow mein noodles in large bowl.  Pour melted chips and mix well.  Add in marshmallows and stir until coated.
Drop by rounded tablespoon onto wax paper.

That's all my goodies for this year. There are some other favorites that I have made in years past.  I added a new category on my Friday Foodie page - at the bottom you can now find five years of Christmas Baking.

Friday Foodie ~ 2016 Christmas Baking

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!  We got home a week ago and are looking forward to spending Christmas in our own home.  Through the years I have done a lot of Christmas baking.  You can check out other editions here, here, here and here!  Some years I've made a huge variety, others not so much.  This year I made four kinds of cookies: Butterscotch Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, Gingerbread (all starting with a mix) and I tried a new cookie - Cranberry Orange Shortbread.  I also made fudge (recipe from the Marshmallow Cream jar) and Peppermint Cracker Toffee.  Here are my two new recipes:

Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies from Mom in Timeout
Ingredients:
½ cup dried cranberries (Craisins)
 ¾ cups sugar, divided
2½ cups all purpose flour - spooned and leveled, not scooped * this is very important!  It was not on the recipe when I printed it originally and my dough had way too much flour.  The cookies still tasted great, but getting the dough rolled together took a lot of work.
1 cup butter, cubed (and cold)
1 tsp almond extract zest of 1 orange
1 to 2 tbsp of fresh orange juice (optional)
additional sugar to coat cookies before baking if desired

Instructions
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Combine cranberries and ¼ cup of sugar in a food processor and process just until the cranberries are broken down into smaller pieces. Set aside.
Combine flour and remaining sugar in a large bowl.
Use a pastry cutter to cut in butter. You want very fine crumbs.
Stir in extract, cranberries and sugar mixture, orange zest and orange juice (I personally don't think the orange juice is optional as it brings out the orange flavor.  It's subtle, but it's there.)
Use your hands to knead the dough until it comes together and forms a ball. Work the dough until it comes together. Shape dough into a log about two inches in a diameter and wrap in plastic wrap. * here is where I ran in to trouble because of having too much flour.  The dough was way too dry. I ended up with three smaller dough logs because they were easier to handle.
Refrigerate for two hours or up to 72 hours.
Preheat oven to 325F.
Cut slices of cookie dough about ¼ inch thick.
Place about a half a cup of sugar in a bowl and coat the cookie slices with sugar.
Place cookies on baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or just until cookies are set. Do not over bake. I pull mine at 12 minutes. *mine only took about 9 minutes, I think my oven runs a bit hot.
Let cookies cool for several minutes on baking sheet before removing to cooling rack. Let cool completely.
Store in airtight container for 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

These cookies were not pretty but they sure did taste good! I will make them again but measure the flour more carefully.

My other new recipe is Peppermint Cracker Toffee from Shugary Sweets.  I've been seeing quite a few cracker toffee recipes lately, it's something I'd never tried but it will become part of my mix from now on!

Ingredients:
40 saltine crackers
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 package (11 oz) white chocolate chips
6 candy canes, crushed (about 1/2 cup)


Directions:
Line a 15x10x1-inch baking sheet with the saltine crackers. (My pan was a little smaller so my crackers overlapped a little.) Set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add in sugar and bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Once it begins to boil, remove from heat.
Pour over saltine crackers. Place in a 375°F oven for about 10 minutes, until crackers are browned and caramelized.  I should have pulled mine at about 8 minutes, again my oven was just a little too warm so the edges got a little burned.

Sprinkle with white chocolate chips and allow to sit for several minutes (until they melt).

Spread with a spatula evenly over crackers and immediately sprinkle with crushed candy.

Allow chocolate to set and store in airtight container for up to 5 days.  Mine did not break apart in cracker sized pieces but they sure were good!

12/16 ~ Makes You Feel Merry (Photo-A-Day)

I did a scaled down version of Christmas baking last week.  I sent a large tray to work with Les, took another tray to music practice on Saturday afternoon, and gave a tray to Pastor and Sis. McGriffin.  I love sharing my baking with others!

I put a new twist on my gingerbread cookies - grass skirts, shorts, and leis!

Sharing baking at Christmas time is a tradition in our family.  Grandma Luella was widowed in her 40s and lived on a very small income.  She was the original coupon queen!  Her pantry was filled with sugar, flour, and other non-perishable items that she stocked up on.  When December rolled around, she joyfully baked and shared with friends and neighbors.  Mom carried the tradition on and I remember taking goodies to my teachers.  Now it's my pleasure to share with others!

What Christmas tradition makes you the merriest?

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway on my other blog!  Winner will be announced tomorrow morning.

Wordless Wednesday

Because I'm a little busy...

What I'm Doing Today

Because I ONLY made three kinds of cookies and four kinds of candy last week, I'm baking again! Fudge, sugar cookies, and snicker doodles are on the agenda.

Friday Foodie

This week's recipe started with an email from Les.

Les: You know what sounds good? Homemade bread from the breadmaker.
Me: Mmm... I'll make a quick grocery run. What's your pleasure - just plain old white bread or wheat or Italian or sourdough or blueberry??
Les: Blueberry

So, how do you make blueberry bread in a bread maker? VERY easy!

Ingredients
1 Bread machine mix (I used Whole Wheat)
1 16 oz. can of blueberries

Drain blueberries, saving the juice.
Add dry ingredients (yeast and mix) to machine.
Add 1/4 cup of juice to blueberries and enough water to make 1 1/3 cups total, add that to the machine.
Turn machine on and wait for your house to start smelling delicious!!


I have had my bread maker for many years, but don't use it very often. I made blueberry bread years ago and had forgotten how wonderful it is! Now for the good news:

Nutritional info: 136 calories, 1.3 g fiber, 1.75 g fat, ONLY 2.6 WW points per slice! Makes 12 servings. This is a dense bread and one slice is very filling.

The best way to cut it? If you have an electric knife, use that. It cuts right through, making smooth pieces without mutilating the loaf, and you can eat it while it's still warm!!

Taste Test Results Are In

My plate of goodies, clockwise starting with the snowman cookie:
Bon bons with peppermint filling
Chocolate chip cookie
Sugared walnuts
Butterscotch oatmeal cookie
Fudge
Peanut butter cookie with Hershey Kiss on top
Chocolate Scotcharoos (Rice Krispy treats with a twist!)
Butterscotch haystacks
Snickerdoodle
White chocolate covered snack mix

A few "action" shots





Baking tools I can't live without:

Double boiler, cause I've never gotten the hanging of melting chocolate, butterscotch, and white chocolate chips in the microwave!
Candy thermometer, so I don't have to figure out when the fudge reaches 234 degrees, or the coating for the walnuts is "the consistency of a soft ball".



Of course Les and I won't be eating all of this! Another "Mom" tradition is giving treats at Christmas time. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and I'll send a plate home with you!