I can't stress enough that you don't have to have the best of everything to have an enjoyable meal during the holidays. I remember my first Holidays on my own, not a lot of the dishes matched, nor did the chairs. The food as I recall wasn't the best either but the friends (when available) that came over and what decorations were there made it such a pleasant environment for all those who were present or in the event no one came over, it was still a pleasant time just for me.
Do the best with what you have.
Merry Christmas.
4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 lb butter
1 cup cold water
1 lb almond paste
2 cup sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 egg whites, slightly beaten
sugar
Referred to by family members as just Messapine. It is a traditional treat at Christmas. Mother mixes up the pastry and dough and invites one of the daughters to help her roll it out the following day. The notable differences in this recipe is the addition of baking powder and the way it is rolled out. Some of the younger family members use this method but there is a significant loss to the traditional flakiness of the pastry. Well worth the effort and a fun evening for mother and daughter.
Pastry Dough: Sift together the flour and baking powder. Cut in the butter till it is fine as meal. Add the Cold water and mix into a smooth dough. Cover and refrigerate.
Filling: Blend the almond paste and sugar in a blender or food processor. Add the eggs to the almond sugar mixture and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate.
Refrigerate both the pastry and filling overnight. To Prepare For Baking: Remove filling from fridge and allow to warm to room temperature. Keep dough refrigerated. Divide the dough into 8 parts. Shape each part into a ball and roll into a very large rectangle. The pastry should be almost paper thin. Carefully spread the filling evenly over the pastry: Divide the filling into 8 portions. The filling is sticky and the fragile pastry tears easily. Use small dollops of filling and spread with a spatula. Roll up like a jelly roll. Starting from a long side.
Place on large baking sheets. Brush with egg slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425°F. for 25 minutes.
Spinach Casserole
3 tablespoon butter
2 cup light cream
3 tablespoon onion, grated
2 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 lb mushrooms, chopped
3 tablespoon gruyere or swiss cheese, grated
3 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Sauté onions and mushrooms in butter for 5 minutes. Blend in flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Gradually add cream, stirring to boiling point. Taste for seasoning.
In buttered casserole, spread half the spinach; cover with half of the mushroom sauce, then repeat. Sprinkle with the grated cheese. Set in pan of hot water.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Grandma Mackay's Cranberry Bread
2 cup flour, all-purpose
1 cup sugar, granulated
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup orange juice (juice of one large orange)
2 tablespoon shortening
1 tablespoon orange peel, grated (one large orange)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup cranberries, halved or chopped
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom, but not the sides, of two small loaf pans.
In a large bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Blend very well.
Mix together the orange juice, orange peel, melted shortening and beaten egg. Mix only enough to blend uniformly. Mix in the cranberries and the nuts; stir gently. Pour the mixture into the loaf pans. Push it to the corners, leaving the center slightly hollow.
Bake about an hour at 350°F. The loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting. Do not try to serve warm.
Notes:
* A festive cranberry-orange nut-bread -- My grandmother MacKay clipped this recipe from the 1951 edition of the Pillsbury Bake-Off competition recipes, and we've made it a family tradition ever since. From time to time my mother and I have both tried to improve on the recipe, but it appears that the recipe is already perfect; every variation we have ever tried has been disappointing by comparison.
In the past, before the invention of the food processor, making this bread required cutting the cranberries in half by hand, with a knife, and the person who brought 4 loaves of cranberry bread to the family Thanksgiving meal was more welcome than the person who brought the turkey. Now, between Baker's Secret loaf pans and Cuisinart slicer blades, you can knock out 8 perfect loaves of the stuff while watching one episode of Sesame Street. My grandmother still cuts each cranberry in half with a paring knife, and hers still tastes better than mine. Yield: 2 small loaves.
* It takes practice to know when to stop mixing the dough. If you mix too much, the bread gets a chewy texture to it, whereas it should have a very crumbly consistency, like a muffin or cornbread.
* It really makes a difference in the texture of this bread to use a shortening that is solid at room temperature, like Crisco. It really makes a difference in the flavor to use fresh orange-peel and not powdered. I prefer walnuts to pecans.
* It might seem sensible to try to use the same orange for the peel and the juice, but it is really more trouble than it is worth to try to peel a juiced orange or juice a peeled orange. I usually use two oranges and eat the one that I took the peel from.
* This bread keeps well in the freezer. Specifically, it keeps from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It also survives quite well being mailed by parcel post from Indiana to Maryland.
Merry Christmas Honey Cookies
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon soda
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup honey
2 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
Mix ingredients. Chill dough 2-3 hours. Roll out dough and cut. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes.
Hungarian Christmas Bread
1 pkg dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup warm water
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
2 1/2 to 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup ground poppy seeds
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup milk
Glaze:
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
In a small cup, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water. Let stand for a few minutes. Meanwhile, combine the butter, sugar, salt, 1 tablespoon lemon peel, and milk in a large mixing bowl. Then add 2-1/2 cups of flour alternately with the yeast mixture. Blend the dough well. Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and not sticky. Add more flour as necessary. Put the dough into a greased bowl, turning so the top is greased. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.
Combine the poppy seeds, sugar,raisins, milk, and the rest of the lemon peel in the top half of a double boiler. Cook it over hot water until the mixture is of spreading consistency. Stir constantly. It should thicken in about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Punch the dough down,divide in half, and roll each piece into a long rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the filling on top of each piece, then roll up. Pinch the seams together so the filling can't come out. Place the rolls on a large greased baking sheet and brush with the glaze. Cover the rolls with wax paper laid across water glasses so the paper doesn't touch the dough. Let rise again for 30 minutes. Apply a second coat of glaze. Bake the loaves in a preheated 325°F oven for about an hour. If the top browns too rapidly, cover loosely with aluminum foil. Cool on a wire rack.
Makes 2 loaves.
Moravian Christmas Cookies
2 cup shortening
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 quart molasses
8 cup flour
1 tablespoon cloves
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda,
dissolved in
1 teaspoon vinegar
Use a mixture of butter and lard for the shortening. Sift the flour and spices together. Add sugar and mix well. Work in the shortening with the finger tips or with a pastry blender. Add baking soda and molasses and mix thoroughly. Chill. Roll very thin on floured board and cut with fancy cookie cutters. Bake at 350°F about 10 minutes.
Recipe From: Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book And Fine Old Recipes, Culinary Arts Press, 1936.
Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, optional
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup hazelnuts, roasted, coarsely chopped
Spread this luscious butter on warmed pound cake or between vanilla wafers. Frozen, it can be scooped into balls and dusted with cocoa for instant truffles.
In small heavy saucepan whisk together sugar, cocoa and water; cook over medium-low heat, stirring with wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil; boil, whisking, for 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and almond extract. Let cool to room temperature. In bowl, beat butter until light. Gradually beat in chocolate mixture until fluffy and light incolor. Fold in nuts. Scrape into jar; cover and refrigerate until chilled or for up to 2 weeks. Makes 2 1/2 cups. Hazelnut, filbert, cobnut and noisette are all the nut of the Corylus tree. Hazelnut is the accepted term worldwide. Roast shelled nuts on baking sheet at 350°F 8-10 minutes or until fragrant. Or microwave 1 cup at High 3-4 minutes or until skins crack. While warm, rub nuts vigorously in tea towel to remove most of the skins.
Recipe From: Canadian Living: December 1997.
English Christmas Cake
1 pkg yeast, dry water, warm
2 cup flour
1 lb butter, room temperature
1 lb sugar, powdered
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon coriander, ground
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoon caraway seed
1/2 cup milk, or sweet red wine
7 egg
6 cup flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in two cups flour and set aside to proof. Meanwhile, cream butter with sugar. Add sinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, and caraway seed. Stir in milk or wine. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until smooth and thick and stir them into the butter mixture alter- nately with the proofed yeast mixture. Add remaining flour. Devide the batter between two 10" buttered and floured 10" springform pans. Set in a warm place and allow to rise until double. Bake in a preheated 350°F. oven for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the cake is golden brown and tests done in the middle. Cool slightly in pans before removing to a wire rack. Makes two cakes.
Recipe From: Early American Life magazine December 1991.
Old Fasioned Figgy Christmas Pudding
8 oz dried figs
8 oz breadcrumbs
8 oz suet
8 oz sultanas (dried white grape, golden, plumper than a regular raisin)
8 oz raisins
8 oz currants
8 oz brown sugar
4 oz mixed peel (British, mixed orange and lemon peel)
2 oz flaked almonds
2 oz plain flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice (British, coriander, caraway seed, nutmeg, ginger, cloves)
1 juice and rind of one orange or lemon
1/4 pint rum or brandy
4 large eggs
1 pinch salt
milk (if necessary)
(all weights and quantities are Imperial)
It should be made about a month before Christmas. There is enough here to make two puddings, each of which should feed eight people and leave them weighed down for the rest of the day!
Cook the figs in a little water until they are soft and can be mashed up with a wooden spoon. Keep adding water to avoid their drying up; it takes quite a long time for them to get soft enough.
Mix everything together in a Large Bowl. If it isn't wet enough to mix add a little milk.
Pack the mix into greased pudding basins and cover with grease proof paper: tie it down tightly with string, and make a loop from one side to the other to act as a handle. The pudding expands while cooking, so if you cram your basins to the top, as I do, make a pleat in the paper to accommodate the expansion.
Put the basin on a trivet in a covered pan with enough water to come half-way up the side; bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for eight hours; add more water from time to time as necessary.
Cook in the same way for another two hours on Christmas Day. The British tradition is to decorate it with a sprig of holly and bring it in covered with flaming brandy. Serve with cream or brandy butter.
This pudding is very filling. If you don't have enough people to eat both puddings, the second one will keep perfectly well until next year in a dry larder! Any leftovers can be heated in a microwave for another day.
Cream together the butter and the icing sugar.
Beat in the boiling water and brandy until smooth.
Chill until needed and serve with mince pies or Christmas pudding.
A More Modern Figgy Pudding
7 oz roughly 1 c chopped dried figs
7 oz roughly 1 c chopped pitted dates
2 c water
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c butter softened, at room temperature
1 c dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tblsp dark rum
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c butter, for toffee sauce
1 c dark brown sugar, for toffee sauce
2/3 c dark rum for flambe
* You can soak the figs and dates in the rum as well first for a more flavorful pudding (do strain them first before using).
In a small saucepan bring water and dried fruits to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat and add baking soda. This will froth up. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes. After cooling, purée in a food processor until a smooth paste.
Preheat over to 350°F. In the meantime cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and brown sugar, beat until combined. Add cooled fruits and beat until mixed together. In a seperate bowl, sift flour, cinamon, and baking powder. Fold the flour mixture into the fruit mixture gently so that no flour streaks remain, without over mixing.
Grease a large bundt-style pan, or 8 to 10 mini bundts or ramekins with butter, avoid loaf pans for the centers will not bake properly. Fill with batter roughly 2/3 full. Place the figgy pudding vessel into a large baking vessel | dish and fill it with hot water, about 1/2 way up the sides of the pudding dish. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes for individual servings, or 25 to 35 minutes plus for a larger dish. The figgy pudding is done when a skewer inserted in the thickest part of the pan reveals a moist crumb.
Do Not Overbake. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Before serving, bring 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup of dark brown sugar to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil 2 to 3 minutes, thhickening slightly. Remove from heat. Carefully un-mold figgy pudding onto serving platter or dish. Pour toffee sauce over the tops of the un-molded puddings.
To flambe, drizzle dark rum over the top of the figgy puddings, carefully ignite with a lighter or matches.
If your puddings will not un-mold, dip pans or dishes briefly in hot water to loosen.
Holiday Pumpkin Muffins
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly backed l tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon backing soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 egg
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup 75% vegetable oil spread,
melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 confectioners' sugar glaze
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon to 2 tsp milk
Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease 12 2 1/2-inch muffin pan cups. In large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In medium sized bowl, blend remainder of muffin ingredients until well mixed; stir into dry ingredients just until well blended. Fill prepared muffin pan cups with batter. Bake muffins 15 to 18 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely and drizzle with glaze. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 3 days or in freezer in container up to 2 weeks.
Confectioners' Sugar Glaze. Mix sugar and milk until blended.
Recipe From: Women's Day - Best Ideas or Christmas - vol III.
Panzanella Salad With Grilled Yellow Fin Tuna
4 yellow fin tuna steaks, 2 inches thick,
6 to 7 ounces each
1 cup tomatoes, peeled, chopped to a medium size
1/4 cup roasted red pepper, peeled, chopped to a medium size
1/4 cup red onion, chopped to medium dice
1/4 cup cucumber, chopped to a medium dice
1/4 cup black olives, pitted and halved
1 tablespoon capers
2 tablespoon chopped basil
3/4 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 cup bread cut into croutons; medium dice
1/4 cup olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
Place all ingredients, except croutons, in a medium size stainless steel bowl. Mix well, salt and pepper to taste and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Add croutons just before serving.
Preheat grill for 10 minutes. Brush tuna steaks with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Place on grill and cook for approximately 2 minutes. Turn over and cook for another 2 minutes or until desired doneness.
Divide Panzanella salad on 4 plates. Drizzle any excess liquid around plate. Place tuna on top and serve.
Makes 4 servings
