1 Cup Candied Red Cherries, coarsely shopped
1 Cup Dried Apricots, chopped
1/2 Cup Golden Raisins
1/2 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
6 Tbsp. Butter, softened
1/2 Cup packed Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
3 Eggs
1/4 Cup Orange Juice
1/2 Tsp. Almond Extract
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/8 Tsp. Salt
1 Cup Walnuts, toasted and chopped
3/4 Cup Pecans, toasted and chopped
1/4 Cup Sliced Almonds
1. Preheat overn to 300. Lightly coat a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment or waxed paper; set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine cherries, apricots, raisins, and chocolate pieces; set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and both sugars with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until just combined. Beat in orange juice and almond extract.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, and 1/8 Tsp. Salt. Add to the sugar mixture and beat until just combined.
5. Stir in fruit mixture, walnuts, and pecans.
6. Spoon into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on the top.
7. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Then wrap the loaf and store overnight before serving.
Sugared Pecans
Ingredients
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 pound pecan halves
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Grease one baking sheet.
- In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake at 250 degrees F for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.
Soft Gingerbread Molasses Cookies
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1Tbsp. water
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 and 1/4 cup flour
- 2 tsp. ginger
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. cloves
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Mix wet ingredients then add dry ingredients. The dough is a little sticky so I chill it.
Roll in balls and coat with sugar. Flatten slightly on the baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
Prime Rib
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup fresh Rosemary
- 2 Tbsp Thyme
- 1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
- 1-2 celery stalks chopped
- 1 can/box of Beef Broth
- 1 standing rib roast (prime rib), ~7 pounds
- Freshly ground pepper
- As much coarse salt that will stick to the meat
Pre-season meat 24 hours in advance. Place on a baking sheet and let sit uncovered overnight in the fridge. Then, 30 minutes to 1.5 hours before you are ready to cook, let it sit out on the counter and get to room temperature.
Preheat oven to lowest possible temperature setting, 150°F or higher if necessary. (Some ovens cannot hold a temperature below 250°F) Place roast, with fat cap up, on a V-rack set in a large roasting pan. Add onions and celery to the bottom of the roasting pan, and enough beef broth to cover the bottom of the pan. While it cooks baste with the pan juices every half hour or so.
Cook until center of roast registers 120-125°F for rare, 130°F for medium-rare, or 135°F for medium to medium-well. Remove roast from oven and tent loosely with aluminum foil and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. The temperature will rise by about 5°F while resting. (At 250°F, our 7lbs roast took ~3 hours. We took it out of the oven at 129°F and after resting it had reached 134.5°F which was perfect.)
Take pan juices and transfer to a small pot and simmer until it reduces slightly. The Au Jus should be runny, so it does not have to reduce by much. Taste and add seasonings as necessary. Strain out onions, celery, and skim some fat from the top before transferring to a gravy boat for serving.
Sweet Potato Casserole – Paula Dean
Sweet Potatoes:
- 3 cups peeled, cooked, and mashed sweet potatoes
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup heavy cream, half-and-half, or whole milk
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients together except for cream. Beat with electric mixer until smooth. Add cream; mix well. Pour into greased casserole dish. Add toppping . Bake for 25-30 min.
Topping:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cut walnuts or pecans
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3Tbsp butter; melted
Mix together with fork; sprinkle over top of casserole.
White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn
This is an awesome Christmas recipe from a college friend. Here is the recipe she emailed to me:
Basically you do 3 bags of popped popcorn to 1 pound of the white peppermint chocolate (Wilton Candy Melts – link below).
So you melt chocolate in a double boiler (or the microwave, just make sure to stir every 20 sec.). Meanwhile cook your popcorn. Then pour chocolate over the popcorn that is in a large bowl. You can add crushed up candy cane or red/green peppermint bits but those might be seasonal. Once the popcorn is coated lay it all out flat on wax paper for it to dry. and that’s it!
This is they type of chocolate that we have used in the past but I don’t see peppermint, it may be seasonal. You may have to look around. http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=pg_candymelts
