Tired, but feeling fairly accomplished

[angela_o]

Well, the last week of school before winter break has come and gone and during it I had teacher gifts to distribute, my oldest's 14th birthday to celebrate (complete with last minute visit by f-i-l which necessitated frenzied cleaning), and multitudinous other appointments which necessitated running hither and yon. But, I got it all done and now a couple of weeks of sleeping in late are upon me. I have to say that I like these sorts of vacations as much as the kids because I do adore sleeping in later in the mornings. lol

Now it's time to buckle down and start some hardcore holiday baking and I'm in the mood to try some new things. I'd love it if you would share your favorite holiday recipes. 'Tis the season to give after all. ;)

In return, I share with you a recipe from my family that my mother has made a Christmas for as long as I can remember. They have a number of aliases (Russian tea cakes for example) but we always called them Mexican wedding cookies.

Combine:
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
2 1/4 cups sifted flour
2 cups chopped pecans
2 teaspoons vanilla

Shape into balls and bake for 1 hour in a 275 degree oven until lightly brown.
Let cool and roll in powdered sugar.

Enjoy.

Comments

[kieyra.livejournal.com]

The quintessential Christmas baking recipe in my family, via maternal grandmother:

Banana Nut Bread

Preheat oven to 300°

Cream thoroughly:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine

Add:
2 beaten eggs (beat till yolks & whites just blended)
3 very ripe mashed bananas

Combine separately:
1 1/4 cup flour (unsifted)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts

Fold into banana mixture until blended

Pour into loaf pan

Bake 1 hour 15 minutes
Check with toothpick

Wrap in foil to keep moist

(The trick is to let the bananas get way overripe...Have some cheerily turning black on the counter right now. *grin* And if you have bananas that get overripe unintentionally, you can just freeze them to use in this later, comes out just as good.)

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

I have a somewhat similar recipe, but it uses oil instead of butter and also calls for vanilla. I'll have to try yours and see how it compares.

Thanks!

[emluv.livejournal.com]

What a lovely idea! For some reason I'm in a huge cooking/baking mode. Maybe because I've been forced to find other things to eat that aren't too hard on my dental work and so I've been branching out a bit, and even making an effort to be healthy into the bargain. I posted a recipe over on my LJ. And it's mostly healthy. Honest. I swear. ;-)

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

I'll go check out your LJ to see what you've posted. All this talking about baking is making me hungry. :)

How are the dental work woes? Are things getting less painful?

[angelicus.livejournal.com]

My favorite family Christmas recipe. Truly, a required offering at my family gatherings:

5 Quarts Egg Nog
1 Giant Bottle of Rum (more might be needed depending on the time of day)

Mix well and drink heavily.

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

I know that there have been family gatherings that made me wish that I drank. I can see where this particular recipe could definitely come in handy. lol

Thanks for sharing.