Christmas/New Year traditional/favorite/family recipes

[musi]

Since Christmas is approaching fast and all i think about all the time is holidays in the end of December, i can't help thinking about delicious Christmas recipes, that make the holiday table look so unbelievably great and tasty.

i am certain, everyone has their own favorite Christmas/New Year dishes recipes that they would love to share with others, so feel free to post your favorite/family recipes, that make your table unique and special..

Starting with traditional Christmas food, (special thanks to Star!:p) here is a recipe of "piparkook" (Pepper cookies in exact translation) - a very common thing here, sold everywhere on holidays and served in cafes best with hot wine "glogi". Maybe you have these cookies where you live, i would love to know how you make them. :)

Ingredients:
8 tablespoon of sugar
1 glass of water
120 g of sugar
1 tablespoon of piparkook spices: cinnamon, carnation, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, dried orange skin
120 g margarine
1 egg
2 teaspoon soda
550 g flour

Preparation:
1. Melt 8 tablespoons of sugar, brown, till the "blue smoke" starts appearing.
2. Add water, mix till sugar has melted.
3. Add remaining sugar ja spices, boil a little.
4. Take off the stove, cool down a little and add margarine.
5. Cool down a little more, add egg, flour and soda.
6. Mix into tough dough.
7. Put into baking paper and store in cold 24 hours approzimetely.
8. Roll out dough, cut out shapes, cook in the oven under 200C (400F) exactly 8 minutes.

[angelhair]

The 'Cole' Family traditional Pork mincemeat stuffing recipe. This has been handed down for generations since the early 1800's ( prob before but that's as far as we deffinately know of :)


2lb lean pork mince meat.
1 large onion - finely chopped.
2 slices of bread left out over night to harden before crumbing.
sage ( fresh if poss - 2 tablespoons or 2 TEASPOONS of dried.)
1 teaspoon mace
1 egg to bind.
salt and pepper to taste

easy peasy. What you do is mix the whole lot together with your bare hands oooey gooey but sooo much fun.
Line the base of a rectangle tine about 4 inches ( 10 cm) deep with bacon - streaky then add the mix.
Pat it right down so it's level and firm add more bacon to cover and wrap in foil.
Bake at gas mark 5 for 2 hours :)
Let cool then slice!!

Delicious :)

You can also use it to stuff bird with!

[Star_Anise]

Thank you for the recipe, musi - they sound delicious. I am definitely going to try them. Maybe even tomorrow, if I have the ingredients. :)

[oceanflower]

It's that time once again! Please share a special Holiday recipe or two.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/VelvetMorning/Christmas/recipes.gif

[musi]

if all goes well, we will have a big party on New Year (Christmas is celebrated very quietly here), so i was thinking a lot about the menu for the evening and came to the conclusion, that for years the most favorite things on the New Year table were mandarines, champagne and "Olivie" salad, of which the latter got modified in time due to lack of certain ingredients. it is a very easy salad and it makes a lot of portions and the New Year is hardly imaginable without it still, so here is the recipe:

200 gr chicken
1-2 pickles
1 sweet apple
6 boiled potatoes
3 boiled carrots
2 onions
a glass of canned green peas
3 boiled eggs
1/2 bottle of mayo

all ingredients but for peas and mayo should be cut into small cubes, then add peas, mayo and mix it all together. hope you like it!

the menu for the evening is of course much bigger than just a salad (12 dishes for 12 months of the upcoming year), but i am not sure about some dishes yet, so i'll share those later.

[Idril]

I wouldn't be a good Norwegian if I didn't add a lefse recipe...

Lefse

8 cups riced or mashed potatoes
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp. salt
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil


Rice or mash hot boiled potatoes.
Add all other ingredients except flour.
Cool. (Set in fridge several hours or overnight.)
Add flour to cooled potato mixture. (Mix in with your hands works best.)
Form lefse dough into golf ball size (or larger) portions.
Poll out thin.
Use flour as needed on rolling pin and pastry cloth.
Cook on hot, dry lefse griddle or non-stick pan, cooking once each side.

[oceanflower]

Rachel accidentally posted this in another thread:


Well tis the season to make popcorn balls. When I was very little until middle school it was the custom one day about a week or so before Christmas to make an entire turkey roasting pan full of popcorn and then boil the soft candy liquid to pour over it with nuts and raisens(you can leave out the nuts) sesame seeds if no nuts, chocolate chips or whatever we wanted.The littler children were denied the task or joy depending how you saw it of helping because the balls had to be done while the syrup was still a little hot.
They were so yummy when watching a movie and we always had great freshly washed and shined red apples to go with them.

popcorn balls

you have to figure out for yourself how much to make but if there is too much you can refrigerate it and heat it up another time. IT will last forever.

pop as much plain popcorn as you like.
Any leftover plain popped can be put into an airtight sealer and kept for another day. Then just melt your butter and add salt.

Wait until popped corn is cold and is not giving off any moisture.
into a very thick bottomed pot put:
two cups water
three generous tablespoons of dairy butter or non hydrogenated margarine
one cup of dark brown sugar
one teaspoon REAL vanilla(if possible, it makes the world of difference)
one half cup light corn syrup
one teaspoon vinegar or fresh lemon juice

cook at medium hot on the stove top until in a rolling boil. Turn down and let it boil slowly. Every five minutes take a tiny bit of a teaspoon full and pour into a clear glass of very cold water.
When it has boiled down and is at the soft candy stage(it will turn into a solid line of toffee sort of consistancy and when taken out after thirty seconds is still soft, not brittle or falling apart between your fingers when rubbed) remove from stove, keep stirring slowly until hot but not too hot to the touch.
Put on a new pair of thin surgical like gloves you can get in that section in your grocery.
Slowly pour and stir with very large spoon the mixture over the popcorn making sure all if it it saturated. Add your treats that I mentioned above(chocolate chips etc).
When all mixed through grab handfulls and mold quickly into balls, quite big, and put on a large plate or cookie sheet that has been wiped down with light oil.
When they are cold to the touch and also not giving off any moisture wrap each separately in cling wrap.This way each person can help themselves, the balls are hygenic and don't get any germs on them from little hands that want th is one and then that one!

If you make it too hard when tested, it is brittle, then add more water and cook at lower temperature until it is the right soft candy consistency again.

[Winifred]

Borax crystal ornaments

Not an edible recipe, but a lot of fun to do with children, or to make dramatic but cheap ornaments!

Ingredients:
Borax (in the US, 20 Mule Team Laundry Booster)
Boiling water
pipe cleaners
wide mouth jars
pencil and thread or string

Boil water, then pour into jars. Add borax, stirring and adding until no more will dissolve in the water (saturated solution). Shape pipecleaner into something festive, star, angel, candy cane, etc. Place pencil across mouth of jar, tie string to pipe cleaner and hang it from the pencil so that it is suspended in the liquid, but does not touch sides or bottom of jar.

Leave undisturbed for 24 hours. Beautiful crystals will grow and you will have a nice ornament for your tree.

I was a frustrated rock candy maker when I was a child, never did get it to work. This recipe works every time (although, again, it is NOT edible).

[Jez]

I haven't made these yet, but as I love them I figured I'd give it a try this year.

Rum Balls

60 NILLA Wafers, finely crushed (about 2-1/2 cups crumbs)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup finely chopped Pecans
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. Instant Coffee
1/4 cup rum

Preparation:
MIX wafer crumbs, sugar, pecans, butter, corn syrup and cocoa in large bowl.
ADD instant coffee granules to rum; stir until coffee granules are dissolved. Add to crumb mixture; mix well. Let stand 15 minutes.
SHAPE mixture into 1-inch balls. Place in airtight container with sheet of wax paper between each layer of balls. Store at room temperature.


Anyone know a good type of rum to use?

[thelastmelon]

Since Christmas is approaching fast and all i think about all the time is holidays in the end of December, i can't help thinking about delicious Christmas recipes, that make the holiday table look so unbelievably great and tasty.

i am certain, everyone has their own favorite Christmas/New Year dishes recipes that they would love to share with others, so feel free to post your favorite/family recipes, that make your table unique and special..

Starting with traditional Christmas food, (special thanks to Star!:p) here is a recipe of "piparkook" (Pepper cookies in exact translation) - a very common thing here, sold everywhere on holidays and served in cafes best with hot wine "glogi". Maybe you have these cookies where you live, i would love to know how you make them. :)

Ingredients:
8 tablespoon of sugar
1 glass of water
120 g of sugar
1 tablespoon of piparkook spices: cinnamon, carnation, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, dried orange skin
120 g margarine
1 egg
2 teaspoon soda
550 g flour

Preparation:
1. Melt 8 tablespoons of sugar, brown, till the "blue smoke" starts appearing.
2. Add water, mix till sugar has melted.
3. Add remaining sugar ja spices, boil a little.
4. Take off the stove, cool down a little and add margarine.
5. Cool down a little more, add egg, flour and soda.
6. Mix into tough dough.
7. Put into baking paper and store in cold 24 hours approzimetely.
8. Roll out dough, cut out shapes, cook in the oven under 200C (400F) exactly 8 minutes.

We have this in Sweden as well, and it's very big. Just a 10 minute walk from my apartment is a big factory called Annas Pepparkakor (http://www.annas.se/artikel.asp?strukturId=22)where they make these, and I can go outside and just breathe the air sometimes and say "Ah, pepparkakor". Since pepparkaka is the word for it in Swedish, in singular.

I could look for our recipe and post it here later. :)

[musi]

We have this in Sweden as well, and it's very big. Just a 10 minute walk from my apartment is a big factory called Annas Pepparkakor (http://www.annas.se/artikel.asp?strukturId=22)where they make these, and I can go outside and just breathe the air sometimes and say "Ah, pepparkakor". Since pepparkaka is the word for it in Swedish, in singular.

I could look for our recipe and post it here later. :)

I wonder, which country the piparkooks originated from? There are some in Germany, but they are not as spicy and I would love to try the Swedish version :)
*note to self - visit Sweden during Christmas time next year*

Yes, I should put piparkooks on the "Christmas feeling" list - they certainly remind me of it :D

[Winifred]

An side dish, from the original edition of The Vegetarian Epicure. I've just made it, and the kitchen is full of its enticing fragrance:

Mushrooms Berkeley

1 lb fresh mushrooms
2 medium bell peppers
1 onion
1/2 cup butter (I use part olive oil to saute onion, see below, and I've never seen the need to use more than 1/4 cup butter)

Sauce:
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup red wine
fresh-ground black pepper
salt

Wash the mushrooms, and, unless they are quite small, cut each one in half. Wand and see the peppers and cut them into approximately 1" squares. Peel and chop onion. Melt the butteer in a large saucepan and saute the onion in it until transparent.

Prepare the sauce: Mix together the mustard, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce until you have a perfectly smooth paste.
Add the wiine, season with lots of fresh-ground pepper, a little salt, and stir well.

When the onion is clear, add the mushrooms and peppers to the pan and saute a few minutes, stirring often. As the mushrooms begin to brown and reduce in size, add the wine sauce.

Simmer the mixture over medium flame for about 45 minutes, or until the sauce is much reduced and thickened. The mushrooms and peppers weill be very dark and evil looking, but irresistible in flavor and aroma.

4-6 servings.

This dish goes well with traditional Xmas fare, such as wild rice, sweet potatoes, etc. It's also a carefree keeper, can sit on buffets and be just as good lukewarm as it is hot...