It is a tad too early for most Christmas baking but the first weekend in November, I make my Dundee cakes and put them in the freezer to age until the first of December. They're kin to a fruitcake and perfect for December teas. I "pushed the envelope" this year and instead of orange juice, I added Grand Marnier -- I think they'll be the best yet!
I've baked Dundee cakes for many many years -- and now it's tradition!
Those look so delicious, Linderhof. I splurged this year and bought some Nordic Ware cake pans shaped like gingerbread houses. I plan to make cakes and use them as a centerpiece and as dessert. Once I get the pans, I'll figure out how I want to display and serve the finished product. I'm very excited to try something a little different from my usual assortment of cookies.
I'm in the midst of getting ready for my dinner party tonight, but I was so excited by the results of my cottage cakes that I wanted to share. The largest one is an apple-date cake and the smaller ones are pumpkin.
Those are quite impressive. I need to start on Italian Christmas cookies. I have never made them and didnt pay attention when grandma was still around making them!
Posts: 915 | Location: kcmo | Registered: Feb 21, 2003
Thank you all for sharing my excitement about something that would be super simple for some, but felt like a real achievement for me.
Froo Froo, I bought the pans on Amazon (Nordic Ware brand). They seemed to have a good price, but I didn't do an exhaustive search. There are three pans, one for the large house, one that has two medium sized houses, and one that has the six little houses. The pans for the medium and small houses only use one-half of a recipe each. There is only one medium sized house in my arrangement on the back far left because I'm giving the other medium cake to someone as a gift.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Graciepj,
Originally posted by Florida Farm Girl: Oh, tell us what the response was from your guests.
My guests oohed and aahed over the cakes when they sat down to dinner. As we were finishing our meal, one of the guests asked if they could touch one. They loved it when I told them that they could cut them up and eat them. There were requests for a tree or a chimney or a whole mini-house. I brought out bowls full of cream cheese frosting, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream so people could add a topping if they wished. I didn't attempt to serve. I let it be a free-for-all. I think it was much more fun that way. People kept going back for bites of cake while we were playing games after dinner.
Originally posted by Pebbles03b: Thanks Grace today I did some baking made some oreo cookies & dipped them in white chocolate then put on some tiny Christmas light decorations.
Those cookies sound delicious, Pebbles03b, and I'll bet they look terrific. I love your sweet doggie in the picture, by the way.
Made these cookies today -- they are an Italian lemon/almond sugar cookie that is dipped in a powdered sugar glaze and then topped with sprinkles. They're not a Christmas cookie but I thought they could be if the sprinkles were red and green! I think they turned out, well, Christmasy!
Thanks for the source for the house cakes Gracie. Martha, I responded to your follow up cookie post commenting that both my mother and I have baked those Angeletti cookies. My mother is now 93 but baked those biscuit like cookies when I was a child. Her generation did not rely on recipes but rather memory, touch and "eye balling". I like the fact that the recipe I use has a high yield. BTW, Angeletti cookies are definitely baked at Christmas and Easter...anytime actually. I often flavor mine w/ pure almond, anise or vanilla extract. I always add sprinkles and/or tint the glaze for holidays.
Posts: 16719 | Location: Right here, duh! ;) | Registered: Nov 03, 2005
Fro -- the cookbook I got them out of called them "Italian Sprinkles Cookies" and they were "sprinkled" with pinks and purples and greens and such in the photo. I didn't know they were really a holiday cookie -- this one had almond and lemon extracts. I had one (and it was good!)
I will post the recipe later for husband and I are off to dinner out. (His idea!)
I think I'm watching too many Cupcake Wars!!! A simple cupcake recipe (my favorite from Nigella) with peppermint extract added to the batter, frosted with a simple cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with white chocolate sprinkles and a sugar snowman stuck in the "snow".
I bought the snowmen at Wal Mart (they're either Wilton or Betty Crocker) and you COULD use a white cake mix for the cupcakes --
One of my favorite cookies -- Linda's Crescents -- for December, I add a half of a maraschino cherry (and sometimes use both red and green) and then I call them Linda's Holiday Crescents.
The dough is 12 oz. cottage cheese, 1 stick butter and 2 cups of flour. Mix together and then refrigerate overnight. Divide into 3 pieces and roll each piece in a circle and cut 12 triangles from each circle. Roll up in crescent roll fashion and bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes. Cool. Then frost with a mixture of 2 T. butter and 2 T. milk heated together to which you add 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 t. almond extract (or vanilla if you don't like almond) Frost cookies. You can top with the cherries or I've also topped with sliced almonds. But they're good plain!
Graciepj, love the idea of those cakes and letting every one help themselves to them. I will have to look for the pans for next year. I'll do one better and put them on my list for next year and will be able to use them the following year.
