Holiday Side Dishes: Simple Cream Biscuits

My sister recently shared this recipe with me and I am delighted with it.  These biscuits are super easy to make, and are delicious.   

This recipe is from a true southern lady.  And those southern ladies really know how to make great biscuits

Cream Biscuits
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ to 2 cups  heavy whipping cream

Stir together.
Place in a round cake pan or a square 9 x9 pan.
Bake at 400 degrees about 10 minutes until set and golden.  Cut and serve. 

Two Non-Pie Holiday Desserts Gingerbread Cake and Eggnog Cake

Are you looking for something besides pie to serve with your holiday feast?  These two cakes are festive, easy and super tasty. My birthday is very close to Thanskgivng and for the past couple of years I have made the Buttermilk Gingerbread cake for my birthday party.  I've been looking forward to it for months.  It is that good.  

Both of these cakes can be doubled for a large group.  I have served both at church holiday functions with great success.

Buttermilk Gingerbread with Streusel Topping and Butter Cream Sauce

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter, softened

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon salt

Mix until crumbly.  Reserve ½ cup of the above mixture for the streusel topping.  To this, add ½ cup chopped pecans, if desired.

To the remainder, mix in

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup molasses

2 eggs

Pour batter into a well-greased 13 x 9 baking pan.  Sprinkle with the reserved streusel topping.  Bake at 350° for 28 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Watch carefully so you don’t over bake.  Let cool slightly, and serve warm with Butter Cream Sauce and sliced bananas, if desired.

Butter Cream Sauce

1 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup butter

dash of ginger

Combine and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.  Stir 4 minutes.  Serve warm sauce over gingerbread.  Refrigerate any remaining sauce. 

Eggnog Cake with Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream

Recipe adapted from The Sisters Cafe

1 yellow cake mix

3 T. flour

2 c. eggnog

¼ c. butter, softened

2 eggs, slightly beaten

¼ tsp. rum extract

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Beat until smooth and creamy. Pour into greased cake pan. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

Caramel sauce:

1 1/8 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter, no substitutions

2 cups powdered sugar

½ T. cinnamon

½ qt. rich vanilla ice cream

Melt together over medium heat. Pour warm over individual servings immediately before serving.

Holiday Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

½ cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Place whipping cream, powdered sugar and nutmeg in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Do not over whip. 

To Assemble

Place a slice of cake on a plate, pour warm caramel sauce over the cake.  Top with a large spoonful of holiday whipped cream.  Serve immediately.  

Rainbow Pudding-Perfect for Saint Patrick's Day

Every March I get a craving for Irish food.  I love to eat new potatoes, corned beef and cabage.  Sadly my famiy does not. This year I am trying to start some new Saint Patricks Day traditions, with food my family will eat.  I started with the desert. Are you suprised? 

A few months ago I saw online a very cute cupcake made into rainbow stripes by dividing the batter into seperate bowls and then adding food coloring to each to made a different stripe in the rainbow.  I loved the idea and made a rainbow cake with my daughter.  It was a hit.  So I decided to try it with pudding.  It worked great.  A couple of tips. 

1. To make the stripes stand out you need a significant amount of pudding for each color.  I used 2 packets of instant pudding and it made 5 LARGE servings.  
2. The type of food coloring you use matters.  I have found that the GEL food coloring works the best.  I found it at the local Grocery Store.  I used Betty Crocker Classic Gel Food Colors, and they worked great. (thanks to BettyCrocker.com for the photo)
3. I found that having 7 bowls to wash when I was finished did not make me happy, so when I make this I use large paper cups to mix the pudding and the food coloring together in. 

Rainbow Pudding Recipe:  (This is so easy I feel kind of silly posting it)
2 boxes vanilla or other white instant pudding mix
milk, the amount called for on the box of pudding
Gel Food Coloring
Paper Cups

1.  In large mixing bowl combine instant pudding mix and milk, following the manufacturers instructions to make pudding. 
2.  Diving pudding evenly into seven large paper cups
3.  In each cup place a different color of food coloring. Red, yellow, orange (yellow + red) , green (yellow + blue), blue, and purple (red + blue).  Stir well.  Adjust food coloring as necessary.
4. Spoon into clear cups or serving dishes in reverse rainbow order.
5. Chill and serve.

Peppermint Patties

 

My sister brought this delightful candy over the other day. It is delisious and easy enough you can make it with the kids.  An extra bonsus you probobally have all the ingredients to make it. 

This recipe is from Family Fun November 2010 issue.

Peppermint Patties

• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon water
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract

• 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar (3-3/4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 10 to 12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 6 hard mint candies (we used Starlight), crushed in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin

Instructions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, stir together the water, corn syrup, lemon juice, and peppermint extract, then sift in half the confectioners' sugar. Add the shortening. Beat on medium, then slowly sift in the remaining confectioners' sugar until the mixture is well combined.
   
2. Knead the mixture into a ball (it will be very stiff; if necessary, add 1/2 teaspoon water to make it workable). Use the bottom of a glass pie plate to apply firm, even pressure to flatten the ball between sheets of waxed paper into a circle about 9 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Lay the waxed-paper-covered disk on a cookie sheet and freeze it until it's firm, about 15 minutes.
   
3. Place the frozen disk on a cutting surface and remove and reserve the waxed paper. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment. With a small round cutter (ours was 1-1/4 inches), cut out circles from the disk, then place them on the cookie sheet. Gather the scraps into a ball, use the pie plate and waxed paper to flatten it again, and cut more circles until the entire disk is used up. Freeze the circles for 10 minutes.
   
4. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Coat the patties one at a time: balance each on a fork and dip it (use another fork as needed to flip the patty in the chocolate), then shake off any excess chocolate before returning the coated patty to the parchment. Sprinkle each patty with a bit of crushed mint candy. Add more chocolate to the double boiler as necessary until all the patties are coated.
   
5. Harden the finished patties in the refrigerator for at least an hour, and preferably overnight. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge, layered between sheets of waxed paper, for up to one month. Include tags with your gifts instructing recipients to keep the patties refrigerated. Makes 5 dozen.
   

Repost: Kneaders Cranberry Sauce:

I posted this recipe a while ago but with Thanksgiving around the corner I thought it was a good repeat. This is easy and delicious.  I love the orange in it.

Kneaders Cranberry Sauce
 
Printable Recipe
 
1 quart fresh cranberries
1 cup white sugar
2 to 3 oranges to equal 1 cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves

Squeeze oranges to equal 1 cup fresh orange juice.
In a large saucepan with a heavy bottom combine cranberries, sugar, spices  and orange juice.
Add orange zest.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until cranberries begin to pop. This will take 15 to 18 minutes.  Do not overcook
Remove from heat  
Let cool.  Blend to desired consistency.
This recipe can be makes 2 days ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator.

Help for the Holidays: Buttermilk Gingerbread with Streusel Topping and Butter Cream Sauce

As the holidays approach I think I always have a moment of oh no what am I going to feed these people?  I want it to be something amazing yet easy. In this series I will post some of the best recipes I have to help you have a delicious and lower stress holiday.

A friend sent me this recipe and I tried it and I must say it is delicious! I’m not really that into gingerbread but this is a moist flavorful easy cake. 

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter, softened (1/2 cup butter powder plus 1/2 cup water)

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup pecans (optional)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk (2 T dry milk plus 1 cup water plus 1 Tablespoon lemon juice)

½ cup molasses

2 eggs (2 T egg powder plus 4 T water)

bananas (1 cup freeze dried bananas rehydrated in hot water)

Mix  sugar, butter, flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and salt until crumbly.  Reserve ½ cup of the above mixture for the streusel topping.  To this, add ½ cup chopped pecans, if desired.

To the remainder, mix in baking soda, buttermilk, molasses, and eggs.

Pour batter into a well-greased 13 x 9 baking pan.  Sprinkle with the reserved streusel topping.  Bake at 350° for 28 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Watch carefully so you don’t over bake.  Let cool slightly, and serve warm with Butter Cream Sauce and sliced bananas, if desired.

Butter Cream Sauce

1 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup butter

dash of ginger

Combine and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.  Stir 4 minutes.  Serve warm sauce over gingerbread.  Refrigerate any remaining sauce.  Enjoy!