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I'd like to try some of your favorite Christmas/holiday foods this year. (entres, sides,dessert, etc.) If you could post, I'm ready to try them.

I posted my newest favorite on another thread. Here's the link to the recipe.
http://www.epicurious.com/reci...Shallot-Saute-240111

A holiday treat in Texas

TEQUILA
CHRISTMAS CAKE

1 cup water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar
Lemon juice
4 large eggs
Nuts
2 cups dried fruit
1 bottle tequila


Sample the tequila to check quality. Take a large bowl; check the tequila again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.
Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon sugar. Beat again. At this point, it’s best to test the tequila to make sure it is still OK. Try another cup…just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break two eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in one cup of the dried fruit. Pick up the friggin’ fruit up off the floor. Mix on the turner. If the dried fruit gets stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the tequila again to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or, something. Check the tequila. Now, shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. What ever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don’t forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Finish the tequila and wipe counter with cat. CHERRY MISTCAS! NAPPY YEW HEAR!

Oh, Aychi!!! What a great laugh this morning!!!

Ay - Perfect Texas instructions!

that was hilarious...

now we need to get serious.
I really would like some of your GREAT recipes.

Ay, so funny! Love it!

Gracie - those B.S. look yummyyyyy. Thanks.

Someone just told me about this one today.
Has anyone try it?

Creamy Grape Salad - Taste of Home
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Creamy-Grape-Salad

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup Sugar
2 t vanilla extract
2 lbs seedless red grapes
2 lbs seedless green grapes
3 T brown sugar
3 T chopped pecans

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla until blended. Add grapes and toss to coat.
Transfer to a serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Sprinkle with brown sugar and pecans just before serving.
Yield: 21-24 servings.

This has been my go-to recipe for biscotti for more than 15 years. Put them in a decorative tin for a wonderful Christmas gift.

So easy to make, especially for a non-baker like myself. Expect raves when you serve them: they are delicately sweet and tender, not tooth-breaking hard or crunchy. (Recipe courtesy of the Washington Post)

Walnut Biscotti
Great with coffee or tea. These can be dipped in a glass of dessert wine or served with fruit desserts or ice cream. Makes 50 - 70

Nonstick spray oil (optional)
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for the work surface
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups (8 ounces) walnuts, toasted* and chopped (in 350 oven on baking sheet 8 min)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil or coat with nonstick spray oil.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed or with a whisk, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil and lemon zest until thoroughly combined. Reduce the speed to low or use a spoon to gradually add the flour mixture; mix just until combined. Add the walnuts and mix just until combined. The dough should be very sticky.

Using floured hands, divide the dough into 4 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, shape each portion into a log about 10 to 12 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Place them several inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, 2 per sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven; do not turn off the oven.

Carefully slide the logs onto a cutting board. Using a large heavy knife, cut each log on the diagonal into approximately 1/2-inch-thick slices. Transfer the slices to the baking sheets and return the sheets to the 325-degree oven. Bake, turning once, about 10 minutes total, until toasted and golden. Transfer the biscotti to wire racks to cool.

I've had grape salad like that but I don't think she put any vanilla in it. And 2 teaspoons is a LOT of vanilla, I'd think. And I think she puts more nuts. The salad is excellent, but make sure not to drown it in the dressing. You can get have too much of a good thing.

ay...hua, I don't care for lemon zest and would like to eliminate it, but then I wonder if there shouldn't be some vanilla extract in the recipe????

quote:

Originally posted by CA Lori:
ay...hua, I don't care for lemon zest and would like to eliminate it, but then I wonder if there shouldn't be some vanilla extract in the recipe????

Nope. These are not your typical dessert type biscotti. I have made these countless times, and vanilla, IMO, would add a cloying sweetness to what is a very subtle and intriguingly flavored biscotti. They go best with dessert wine or coffee.

The amount of lemon zest called for in the recipe does not make a strong statement, so give it a whirl: you might be pleasantly surprised. But, you could probably leave it out without any harm. A nice variation to this recipe is to add crushed fennel seeds or anise -- but not too much.

The biscotti sound good, Aychihuahua. I like things that are less sweet. Last year, I made Giada's lime cornmeal cookies, also a not-so-sweet cookie, even more so if you omit the glaze, and gluten-free.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/rec...ze-recipe/index.html

Gracie, thanks. Those cookies sound yummy!!

Very late reply, have not been on the computer much lately,but one thing that was a special Christmas treat at Dinner that day was this "coctail". Mom would serve it in pretty stemed pudding dishes with 2 or 3 Ritz Crackers on the side. Green seedless grapes,cut in half,and some drained pinapple (canned) chunks, mixed togather,then just before serveing cover with gingerale and add some of those small white "pillow" mints.(not the one that have some kind of filling in the center.)
AS a child growing up , it seemed so elagent(sp?). Christmas dinner was always the same every year growing up. The above dish along with a fresh ham,mashed potaotes with sour cream mixed in, green beans with almonds, home made apple sauce( apples that were quartered,not peeled) cooked in water with some sugar added untill tendered, then set in a bank of snow(I grew up in Minn.) too cool. Sometimes Mom would add some of those Red Hot candies to the applesasuce or whole cloves to the apples as they cooked.Gravey made from the dripping of the ham, and a plate of Christmass Cookies and homemade fruitcake for desert.
Mary

aychihuahua, thanks for the clarification. I haven't made many Biscottis in my lifetime and never at Christmastime, but I've got a Christmas cookie jar that I'd like to get rid of and I think these cookies would be perfect for the occasion. I'll use the suggested lemon zest