Anyone made Rum Cakes in Loaf Pan for Christmas Gifts?
Mist those little disposable baking pans with oil then sugar them very well. YES! SUGAR! This makes for a very interesting crust on Rum Cakes. I do these and other cakes every year. I put regular veggie oil in a mist bottle for this purpose. It works very well. Bake the little cakes about 15 to 20 minutes at 350 F. The regular loaf pans for 30 to 45 and the Bundt pans for an hour to maybe an hour and 15. Use the toothpick test!! Flip the cakes out onto racks exactly 15 minutes after removing from the oven. Cool completely. Then you can return them to the little aluminum tins if they are decorative and wrap in the colored plastic wrap or just in the colored plastic wrap. You can stick them in the freezer if you have room for several weeks, in the fridge for a week. I put tart lemon glaze on them!! 1/2 cup lemon juice and a package of powder sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon extract. Blend until it resembles school glue. Let glaze dry before wrapping. Of course you can make the glaze any flavor you wish and make one of the sweeter ones. 1/4 cup rum, package powder sugar, 1 teaspoon rum extract and one of vanilla extract for gifting to adults. It's yummy!! Don't drown them in glaze, just enough to coat the top is good.
What are some unusual Christmas traditions that you or your family have?
Hi, I am going to tell you about Armenian Christmas traditions.On the eve of the feast of the Holy Christmas, in the evening a liturgy is served, which is called “Chragaluits” (burning lamps). On this day, believers light a candle in the church and bring it home to light the house and prepare for the feast.Christmas in Armenia in 2019 - Armenian Christmas traditionsThe next day, on January 6, the Christmas liturgy is served in the morning. Then the feast of the baptism of Christ with the ceremony of the water blessing is held.According to Armenian customs, the week preceding Christmas is considered to be the period of fasting. It begins on the evening of December 29 and ends on the evening of January 5 at the Christmas table.The next day of Christmas in Armenia is the day of remembering people who left this world. From time immemorial this custom named Merelots ensures people that the dead also remains part of the holy feast.ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS FOODAs regards the menu of Armenian Christmas table, there are several dishes at once: sweet pilaf from rice, dried apricots and raisins, dishes from greens and fish, and for dessert Gata is a must. It is obligatory to have red wine on the Christmas table.The presence on the table of all these dishes is not accidental, because each of them has its own purpose. Rice – symbolizes the people, raisins and dried apricots – people selected by God to preach the faith of the Lord to the people.Since ancient times, fish has been a symbol of Christians and distinguished them from followers of other religions.Red wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ, and the round traditional sweet bread Gata is divided into 12 pieces, symbolizing the 12 months of the year.
What is your plan for Christmas?
What I am planning for Christmas? Where to start… I suppose a brief overview of my personal family traditions would be in order.Christmas is one of the most hectic times of year for my husband and I. To start, we both have divorced parents who have remarried. Instead of Christmas with his side, and then Christmas with mine, we have 5 different “Christmas” celebrations within one week. This is mostly due to us having to attend with each side separately since it is impossible to coordinate so many different schedules and preferences.The main events would be Christmas Eve. We always spend the evening with my mother and step father. After dinner we go home and put our kids to sleep. (Our daughter is 7, our son is 12) Around midnite we wrap any leftover gifts up and place everything under the tree as well as stuff the stockings. This has to be one of my favorite things about Christmas. It’s only a couple hours that my husband and I have together alone, but spending that time near the tree and decorations before the morning chaos ensues is everything to me.Christmas Day this year is going to be exciting. It will be the first day I host Christmas dinner in our new house. Hopefully my husbands side will all come. We cook a traditional American Christmas dinner of ham and sides, with lots of cookies, sweets and pie of course. After the company leaves and we are left with the aftermath of gifts and dishes, I may be the happiest I have ever been knowing I was blessed enough to have a family to clean up after.What are you planning? Anything different this year than you normally do?
What are you cooking for Christmas?
Well we have a lot in common! I'm making our traditional Christmas Gumbo as well. I use duck, fresh oysters, shrimp, and lots of fried okra. Make a little med dark roux. We eat it over rice. Also having a large ham, candied yams, few deer steak cause my son doesn't like gumbo, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes(also for son) pecan pie and peach cobbler. Oh and fresh ground cranberry relish. Yours sounds scrumptious too!
What to serve for dessert with a lasagna dinner ?
mmmm.....that sounds great....... Here's what I would serve, and this recipe comes from my Nonna's kitchen in Viareggio, Roma. It is very easy to make, the day before, refrigerate, then let it sit out at room temp for up to 2 hours, heat the entire pan at 250 degrees for say 15 minutes, once its nice and warm you can slice , and plate it. Rather rich, but a taste sensation that is out of this world. I like to garnish the plate with kiwi, black Berrie, slice of strawberries to add color and a refreshing twist. "TORTA DI MANDORLE" in a bowl combine: 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 sticks butter 3 cups flour lemon zest from 1 lemon, (using finest setting on cheese grater) 1/8th tsp salt 1 egg yolk 7 oz. of chopped blanched raw almonds Blend all together by hand without over working the dough.crumble and Press into preferably a Pizza pan other wise a large metal baking pan will do. Traditional Option: each serving would have a whole blanched almond pressed into the dough before baking. Bake @ 325 25-30 minutes Mangia~ Buon Appetito~ Ciou and have a great dinner party!
What is the typical Christmas meal in your country?
In Canada, it really depends what part of the country you live in, and from where your ancestors immigrated.I live in Southern Ontario, with primarily Scottish/British ancestry.I have adopted the French-Canadian tradition of Tourtiere on Christmas Eve. It’s a double-crust meat pie, generally a combination of ground or shredded beef/pork/veal or other (game) meat, seasoned with nutmeg and/or cloves, but there are as many versions as there are Francophone Grandmothers. In addition to the Tourtiere, we serve “nibbles”; cheese board, crackers, meatballs, veggies and dip, sausage rolls/various puff pastry appetizers…depending on how many guests we may be entertaining. For dessert, Holiday themed ice cream (a certain store brand here has Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge Crackle that I buy every year), and Christmas cookies.For Breakfast Christmas morning, we have Cinnamon Rolls, a fruit tray, a particular family recipe coffee cake, and coffee (with Eggnog in place of milk or cream, if desired).For Christmas Dinner; before we eat, we MUST pop our Christmas Crackers and wear the paper crowns! We traditionally do turkey and ham, with dressing, potatoes (possibly prepared a few different ways), vegetable side dishes, cranberry sauce, and Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Always the Crescent Rolls, as long as I can remember. They are very important (even when slightly darker on the bottom than they should be, because they have been neglected in the oven).For dessert, it could be Trifle or Cheesecake, or Pie (apple or pumpkin), plus Christmas cookies of all varieties.This is just my extended family’s menu, and it can vary slightly from year to year.
What holiday tradtions does your family have?
I love your holiday tradition. It sounds so comforting and wonderful. Don't feel sad about Christmas Eve - it is yours for the making. If you like, you can borrow one of our favorite traditions from that day: The family gathers over platters of sandwiches (hot or cold), party mix, hot punch and each one opens a single gift of their choosing. (We save the big exchange for Christmas morning.) After we visit for awhile, then we meet at a church (we don't necessarily go to our own - we like to visit a different church each year) for a Christmas Eve candelight communion service. (Service times can vary, so please call ahead to find out for sure.) If we're really fortunate, we find a church that has special music that night (a children's choir or handbells, etc). It's a marvelous way to celebrate - we don't feel like it's Christmas without that. Favorite Christmas treat: It's very simple, but it makes our home smell wonderful and is something very soothing and comforting to have on hand: the hot apple cider I mentioned earlier. You can't go wrong with this combination of ingredients, and there's no real formula - this is a flexible recipe and the amounts can vary depending on your personal taste: Take 1 gallon of apple juice, 6-8 ounces of cinnamon red hots, and anywhere from a splash up to half a gallon of orange juice, combine in a crockpot and heat until the cinnamon hots are melted. You can keep this simmering in your crockpot all day if you like, and it's so nice to set this out with a cheese-ball and crackers or some ready made shortbread cookies - it doesn't have to be elaborate. It's just a nice place to nibble in between visits and meals. Hope you have a wonderful holiday too!
What are some of the tastiest cookie recipes you personally make/have made?
Storing them? No worries, there won't be any to store, especially if you increase the chocolate chips! I wrote this for Sunwarrior and it first appeared on their blog:Protein Chocolate Chip Ball Cookies by Michele the TrainerThe classic chocolate chip cookie joins with some healthy protein and new ingredients to make a yummy vegan treat you won’t forget.Wanna cookie? Cookies are warm, sweet bliss and joy-filled wonderfulness. Homemade cookies remind us of our childhood, the love that went into making them, and they bring back great memories of parties and holidays past. Sinful and small, they can be enjoyed without too much guilt. Everyone, even the family pets, will gleefully respond to “Wanna cookie?”Cookies are the ultimate comfort finger food. A crispy cookie dipped in a vegan chai latte or organic coffee, or a warm cookie dunked into cold organic vegan milk, for most people this is simply heaven.This recipe brings the best of both worlds: health and gooey goodness. For our health we use Sunwarrior and organic almond butter which both provide a lot of bioavailable nutrition. We omit eggs and dairy that can often cause lactose allergies. This recipe is vegan, which means it’s good karma and harm free—more great reasons to indulge!Who could stay depressed with all of this delicious decadence going on? Recruit some help and enjoy this recipe with love. Remember you’re creating the gift of positive karma and health!Protein Chocolate Chip Ball CookiesIngredients:1/2 cup Classic vanilla protein2 cups rolled or old fashioned organic oats3 tablespoons organic flax meal or ground flaxseed + 6 tablespoons water, mix and let sit (this is your binder)1/4 cup organic cane sugar or brown sugar1/4 cup organic almond butter1 to 2 tablespoons organic coconut oilDash of fine ground sea salt1 teaspoon organic alcohol free vanilla, or to taste1 cup (or more ) vegan chocolate chipsDirections:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix everything together by hand.Press into baking pan for bars. Or you can use an ice cream scoop or large spoon for balls and plop them onto a cookie sheet.Bake for more than 8 minutes but less than 20 minutes. I pull from the oven closer to 8 minutes, when they still look raw, and let them cool. Do not wait until they are brown to pull out of the oven (sometimes less is more!).For balls this will make small batch.Double or triple if family or friends are coming over!Enjoy!