We all love recipes, and most of us enjoy baking, so we thought why not pair the two and offer some ideas for giving special gifts this holiday season? Some of your neighbors, who know their way around the kitchen, share their favorite edible gifts.
Anne Lynn Galloway
Heaven’s Gate Equestrian Center board of directors member
• Cranberry-Apple Bake
Ingredients
• 2 cups of cranberries
• 3 cups of sliced cooking apples
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping
• 1 cup of brown sugar (packed)
• 2 sticks margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup quick oatmeal
Directions
Mix first 5 ingredients and pour in a 9 X 13 casserole dish. Spread the topping mixture evenly and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Sweet and tart, but oh so yummy. Enjoy.
• Monkey Bread
Step 1
• 4 cans of biscuits
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup of sugar
Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Combine cinnamon and sugar. Roll each piece in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place biscuit pieces into a buttered bundt pan.
Step 2
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup of butter (or margarine)
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
Bring these three ingredients to a boil. Pour over the bread in the bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto cake plate. Once on the cake plate, just start pulling the pieces of bread from the loaf and enjoy.
Malinda Jernigan, local caterer
• Fantasy Fudge
This is an old recipe but is still the best and easiest fudge I’ve ever made and can be made with chocolate chips (using milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips, or peanut butter, whichever suits your taste).
Ingredients
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips
• 1 7-ounce jar marshmallow cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans, if desired
Directions
Melt butter, sugar and milk in a heavy 2 ½ – 3 quart boiler. Bring to boil, stirring very frequently. Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat. Remove from heat, gradually stir in chocolate chips until melted, add marshmallow cream and remaining ingredients, mixing well. Pour in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Cool at room temperature and cut into squares. Makes 3 pounds. To make peanut butter fudge, omit chocolate chips and use an 18-ounce jar of creamy peanut butter. I routinely double this recipe. Just pour into larger pan.
• Gingerbread Cookies
Sift together 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, ½ teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger and ½ teaspoon cloves.
Cream together 1 cup unsalted butter, 1 egg, 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup, and 4 teaspoons grated orange peel. Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed ingredients, mixing well. Form into disk. Place in plastic bag and chill dough at least 1 ½ hours.
Remove from refrigerator. Divide dough into quarters, rolling each quarter to ⅛-inch thickness. Cut out with gingerbread boy or girl cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees. Be careful not to overbake. Cool one minute before removing from cookie sheet. Lay flat to continue to cool. Decorate if desired.
Can be baked in large gingerbread shaped cookie pan to make a statement. Spray pan with baking spray and bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes a chewy cookie.
Susan Vanderheyden, executive director of Forever Fed
• Chocolate and Bacon Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
• 11 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate baking chips
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2-1 pound of cooked, chunked bacon, drained and cooled. We prefer thick sliced bacon cut in larger chunks. Small bacon bits do not provide sufficient texture or flavor. Store bought bacon bits do not work well.
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and lightened in color. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in bacon and chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
Store in tightly sealed container in the back of your refrigerator, behind the pickle jars and other opaque objects or these cookies will disappear at a speed faster than light. If you want to be EXTRA decadent, replace ½ cup butter with ½ cup bacon fat rendered from cooking the bacon and place your cardiologist’s number on speed dial.
Adapted from Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookie recipe.
• White Chocolate Chunk and Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies with Orange Glaze
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar,firmly packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
• 1 cup dried cranberries or cherries
• 1 cup white chocolate chunks or morsels
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats, cranberries and white chocolate morsels; mix well. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely.
Place cooled cookies on a wire rack and drizzle orange glaze in stripes over the cookies. Let air dry. Store in airtight container with waxed or parchment paper between layers of cookies.
Adapted from Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal cookie recipe.
Orange Glaze
• 1 cup pulp free orange juice
• Powdered sugar (about 1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon orange zest, optional
Directions
Simmer orange juice until reduced by half, cool to room temp. Add just enough powdered sugar to thicken glaze to a drizzle consistency. For more intense orange flavor, add orange zest to glaze.
Susan Buice, retired Cherokee County school teacher
“Mama was a cake person. She did not like baking cookies or pies. She always made cakes for everyone for Christmas. Sometimes she would divide them into loaf pans, but Becky (Susan’s sister) and I usually delivered a dozen or more full-sized cakes to people for Christmas gifts. For many people, Christmas was not complete without one of Cece’s famous cakes.”
• Mama’s Apple Cake
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups Wesson oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup raisins (soak in water or apple juice, drain)
• 3 cups chopped apples
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
Mix oil, sugar and eggs; beat well. Sift together dry ingredients and add gradually to the oil, sugar and egg mixture. Mix well. Stir in apples, raisins and nuts. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.
Glaze
• 1/2 stick margarine
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 box brown sugar
Directions
Melt margarine; add milk. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Take off heat and beat with a spoon until it begins to thicken. Quickly pour it over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides. You will have to do this quickly or the icing will harden and will not spread. Mama’s secret: She poured a little apple juice over the cake when she first took it out of the oven. It made the cake stay moist longer.
• Brown Sugar Pound Cake
Ingredients
• 1 box light brown sugar
• 1 cup Crisco
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 stick margarine
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups plain White Lily flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup nuts (rolled in a bit of the flour)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
Cream together brown sugar, Crisco, white sugar and margarine. Beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together flour and baking powder. Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour, to the wet ingredients. Beat well. Add vanilla, and beat well. Stir in nuts. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick comes out clean.
Mama also decorated this cake with candied cherry poinsettias.
• Cece’s Chocolate Pound Cake
Ingredients
• 3 cups sifted plain flour (Mama used only White Lily.)
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 sticks margarine
• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 5 large or 6 medium eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups milk
Directions
Sift dry ingredients together. Cream Crisco, margarine and sugar until very creamy. Add eggs one at a time; beat well after each. Add flour and milk alternately, starting and ending with flour. Add vanilla. Mix well. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes at 325 degrees.
Fudge Icing
• 1 stick margarine
• 3 heaping tablespoons cocoa
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 box powdered sugar (will probably take more)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
Combine margarine, cocoa and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in powdered sugar until it is the right consistency for spreading. (Continue to add milk or powdered sugar until you have the right consistency.) Spread on cool cake.
For Christmas, decorate cake with red and green candied cherries cut to resemble poinsettias. (Cut red cherries in half for the center; quarter green cherries and place around the red cherry for the leaves.)
Leave a Reply