I don't know what got into me. I cooked.
Actually, I used to do this sort of thing all of the time. It is only during the last couple of years that I've become a complete baking-slacker.
So here are the traditional Christmas treats... things I've been eating as long as I can remember. It's all done, except I'm making some homemade banana cream pies tomorrow (I do rock at that, if I say so myself...). I also have to make Christmas Eve dinner.
Oh funny story... Gary and I both went shopping for Christmas Eve dinner... meaning that without checking with each other, we both bought the ingredients for Christmas Eve dinner. Because the meat is expensive and we don't want to waste it, we have expanded our guest list to include Gary's sister, LaRita, and her husband Dennis. Gary's parents are coming, too. I LOVE LaRita and Dennis. They're some of my favorite people, so it should be fun.
Gary and I have now made a pack to always check with each other before buying the ingredients for Christmas Eve dinner. He bought so MUCH meat... I mean a LOT of meat! (It has to be a man thing...) Good thing beef freezes!
Here are the traditional sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. We always make a soft butter cream frosting and decorate them with knives and lots of sprinkles and stuff...And Red Hots...you HAVE to have red hots on ever single cookie or you are committing a Christmas crime. (These are not actually Red Hots. These are the kind you get in the baking aisle. They're softer and go with cookies better.)
They look yummers to me since I have been partaking in this particular variety of cookie as long as I've been alive.
These innocent, kind of strange looking things are marvelous. We only have them once a year. They're called Chocolate Balls, for lack of a more interesting name. They are made about like Rice Krispie treats except once you have melted the butter and marshmallows together, you put in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup of chocolate chips. These are made with dark chocolate chips but you can use any kind you like. Then you mix in 6 cups of puffed wheat. Use the unsweetened kind.
And it is mandatory that we have Rice Krispie Treats. For some reason, my mother put coconut and Red Hots on hers and so do I. Rice Krispie Treats minus the coconut and Red Hots seem kind of flat to me. Gary loves Red Hots so he fell in love with them immediately.
I wanted to make Gary happy so I made him some homemade pumpkin pies. This is a recipe that I've eaten most of my life, too. My mother got it in a church magazine back in the 60's. It's called, "President McKay's Favorite Pumpkin Pie." I guess that means that he liked it, too. HA!
The key feature of this pie is that you use just one can and make two 9 inch pies or three 8 inch pies. The filling is not as grainy as most pumpkin pies and the spices are not overwhelming. I liked this so much as a girl that when I was 14, I snuck a pie down into my bedroom and ate the entire thing myself. I can not believe I did that now.
I used the lazy-daisy pie-making way today (I'm a poet) and bought Pillsbury pie shells. Homemade crust will happen tomorrow because banana cream pies are
best with homemade shells.
President McKay's Favorite Pumpkin Pie
- 1 large can pumpkin (not pumpkin mix)
- 4 beaten eggs (Beat the eggs in a separate bowl with your wire whip and then add to the pumpkin.)
Mix together with a wire whip.
- 1 heaping tablespoon flour (Technical term belonging to pioneer cooks: heaping. Stick your spoon in the flour container and pull it out as it comes - all heaped up. That's what Mom and Grandma taught me to do and so far, it's worked.)
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix together with a wire whip until smooth.
Stir this in with the wire whip.
Mix this in with the wire whip. (Get the picture? I'm beating the ingredients with a wire whip constantly. That's how I make sure it is all mixed up and smooth. You don't need a mixer for this. It's so easy to mix up.)
Pour it into the pie shells. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn down oven and bake for at least 45 minutes at 350 degrees. I say "at least" because it will probably take you longer. You have to bake the pies until you can stick a toothpick in the middle and it will come out clean when you pull it back out. The time varies depending on your altitude, the size of your pie shells, etc. I cooked my about 15 minutes longer tonight.
If you want the edges of the pies to be pretty, you probably ought to put one of those pie protector things along the edges. Some people use tin foil. I've never been patient enough for that and just let them get brown. It tastes great so who cares? Not me.
Serve with whipped cream.
Homemade whipped cream is the best. To make homemade whipping cream, pour some whole cream (whipping cream) in your mixer. Mix until almost firm enough. Then start dribbling in some sugar. The amount of sugar you put in is entirely up to you and how sweet you like it to be AND how much whipped cream you are making. I just taste it as I go. Don't over beat the cream. This means that you need to put in the sugar before the whipping cream is completely ready but after it has enough air in it so that you won't flattened it.
Oh bother... that sounds complicated, huh? I wish I had you here in my kitchen so I could show you myself. That's the best way to learn something like this. Just try it out and if you make a mistake with it, count it as part of the education process. It's SO worth it. I've got Gary's entire family converted to homemade whipping cream now.
One more thing... make sure your bowl is clean, perfectly dry, and cool before you start.
After all of this dessert making, the last thing I was interested in was making dinner. Julianne kept asking what was for dinner and I kept ignoring her. (Diversionary tactic: Go deaf)
Finally, she grabbed a cheese ball and started eating it with some crackers. Because we had TWO of them (the duplicate Christmas Eve dinner ingredients, right?), I ignored the fact that she was eating tomorrow's cheese ball and before long, everyone was eating cheese ball and crackers for supper. This particular cheese ball is pepper jack and it is da-bomb. I loved the spicy edge to it.
More Eye Candy
Last night I couldn't sleep so I got out of bed and took some more photos of eye candy. It's my favorite Christmas activity. I'll let you go after you've seen a few of them.
I had a request to tell how I make eye candy. Here's the recipe:
Eye Candy
- One digital camera
- Christmas tree lights
- One individual who loves playing around
Put your camera on the AV setting. This slows the lens down so that it takes time to absorb the light. Push the button and then wave your camera around in front of lights. Once the camera completes the shot, you should have some eye candy of your own. Sometimes, move the camera up and down. Sometimes, move it around in circles. Get up close to one light. Pull back and get more lights in the shot. Experiment and if your camera (and the universe) is cooperating with you, you'll get some fun results. You'll get a bunch of clunkers, too, but hey... who cares? You're using a digital camera!
I've never tried this on my smaller Canon camera - the one I carry around in my purse. I use my Canon Rebel and my Nikon D80 when I'm taking them. The Canon is a much older camera - a 2004 variety - but it pulls out the best shots consistently when it comes to this sort of thing. The Nikon is great for zoom photos.
My dream? To get one of those lenses that lets you get super close up photos. I'm planning on saving my money and maybe I can squeeze one out during. I've already located the suspect on Amazon.
My need? To spend more time reading my digital camera books. I need to figure out the manual settings on these things, once and for all.
See ya later, gators!
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