Thursday, December 1, 2011

Christmas Baking Favourites

It's December 1st - eek!  Now it's down to serious business!  No more procrastinating on getting those favourite Christmas treats made.  I don't bake a whole lot of things every year for Christmas but this year we'll be hosting Christmas with our dear friends on Christmas Day and also my siblings for a Christmas brunch on the 30th - so I'd like to have a nice variety on hand for those occasions.  So tonight I gathered together the stained and fragile looking recipes I always use this time of year.  I realized some time ago that my recipes are starting to look like my mom's (splattered and browning).  I love those "old looking" handwritten recipes and even though I have a lot of mine saved on my computer, I still print them when I'm making certain dishes.  I kill a lot of trees doing this.  I'm working on a family cookbook (for the past few years!!) and therefore have been gathering and entering many, many recipes onto a huge word document that will hopefully turn into a book one of these days.



My favourite Christmas cookies are:
Cheese Tarts - from sister Marie
Breton Brittle Bars - from SIL Angela
Almond Brittle Bars - from SIL Gloria
Butterscotch Peanut Butter Bars - from sister Marilyn
Neopolitan Squares - from Mom
Sour Cream Drops - from my high school home economics class :)!

Well here goes, I'm putting my apron on.  I'll let you know how it goes and take some pictures if any of them turn out.  Oh, and I'll also post some of the recipes as I go along.....

What favourite treats do you make at Christmas time?

7 comments:

  1. love the picture!!!! - Becky

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  2. Love the old favorites! We have some favorites too-
    Peanut Butter Balls (a Roes favorite)
    Empire Cookies (my hubby Scott's favorite)
    Cherry Date Skillet Cookies (a relatively new tradition for my little family)

    But my absolute favorite cookie is what we call "Grandma Cookies". I have no idea what they are really called, but they are oatmeal sandwich cookies, filled with brown sugar icing. Tracey makes the cookies and Mom fills them with the icing. My Grandma Gerber used to make them, and they are such a sweet reminder of her.

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  3. Hope to see some of those ... they are new to me. OUr fammily favorite is not a cookie but a yeast bread shaped into a wreath with a fruity filling. I plan to make biscotti, sugar cookies, angel kisses for sure. Have not started. Next week, hopefully.

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  4. Deb - I finally have figured out how to view my comments - dah! Your Grandma Gerber was my mom's sister-in-law and mom also made these wonderful cookies (her recipe was marked "from Sarah (Lebold) Gerber"). It was one of our favourite recipes as well and my sister Evelyn still makes these for our family get-togethers. I sometimes wonder how old these recipes are - I can picture them being made in the old wood stove by our Grand and Great-Grandmothers!

    Anneliese - I can't tell you how honoured I am to have you comment on my little blog! I so admire you and your fellow MGCC bloggers! You are all so amazing! Your yeast bread wreath sounds wonderful!

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  5. Well, I love those family favorites..that's how our blog started. We all had those kind of hand-written cards stashed all over the place.

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  6. your house must smell wonderful when you are baking i remember when my mom used to bake in our farm house.nothing but love could be soooo good

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  7. finally got to look at your lovely blog! News from home is so wonderful. Great job; you inspire me! Our favourite Christmas treat is a steamed Christmas pudding--I use a recipe from a friend who lives in Wales.

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