What kind of sweet treats do YOU make for Christmas?

[ChickenWisperer]

I could probably eat cheesecake at every meal.

 

[mom'sfolly]

The cheese cake I make is from Cook Wise and has sour cream and cream cheese. It makes a silky smooth cheese cake that makes all others cry in shame.

 

[Delta2 23]

All that sounds great! It's a pity I never get to make anything around christmas - our family doesn't do anything special for the occasion.

We got round to making gingerbread houses once though...

 

[Ec_Prokta]

We make buckeyes and whatever else we feel like. I'm making coconut macaroons this year!

 

[English Chick]

Only at Christmas do I make one huge Sherry Trifle.... yum yum and more yum..... remembering once past the lips a lifetime on the hips.... (ouch!)

 

[lovesduckies]

Quote:
same here!! yumm yummy

 

[australorpchick]

This year DDs and I decided we needed to make sure the family tradition of homemade candy continues, so we started making test candy earlier in the year. We had it all planned out how we were going to make candy and cookie tins throughout December....and then we sold the house and had to move within 2 weeks. We haven't even finished unpacking the kitchen, but we're planning on making sugar cookies, teacakes, fudge, peanut brittle, cream cheese mints and divinity throughout this week. Luckily, we made the cherry cordials last week, so they've had a chance to sit.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Here's the cheese cake recipe. It's from the book Cookwise by Shirley Corriher....

Crust:
14 chocolate wafers
3 tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp butter, melted

Filling

2 8 ox packages of cram cheese
1 cup of sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup amaretto
3 cups sour cream


1. Crush the cooking, mix with sugar and melted butter. Line the bottom of a 8 X 3 inch round cake pan with parchment or waxed paper. Spray the lined pan with nonstick cooking spray. Press in the crumb crust.

Preheat oven to 350*

2. Blend the cream sheese and sugar well in a food processor with a steel knife or a large mixing bowl with a beater. Make sure there are no lumps. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend well after each addition. Add the vanilla salt and amaretto. Blend well. Blend in the sour cream Pour into the prepared pan.

3. KEY STEP. Prepare a water bath. Place a towel in the bottom of a roasting pan at least 1 inch larger than the cake ban at all sides. Place cake pan on the towel in the larger pan.

4. KEY STEP Pull the middle oven shelf out slightly. Place the pan on the shelf. Carefully pour enough nearly boiling water into the pan to come up at least one inch on the side of the cake pan. Bake the cheese cake for 45 minutes. Do not open the oven. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven for one more hour. The cheese cake will not look done. Remove it from the oven and refrigerate over night.

5. To plate this you need to invert it twice. Cover a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Turn a burner on low and place the cheesecake pan on the burner to heat the bottom of the pan just seconds for easy removal. Run a knife around the edges and jar the pan on one side. Place the baking sheet on top of the cheesecake and invert. Peel off the parchment and invert onto cake pan. Refrigerate until served.

Notes:

I've made this quite a few times. I like using ginger snaps for the crust instead of chocolate wafer. I think any crust you like will work.

Lemon or other flavorings can be used.

I've made it, and then put slivered almonds around the edges for a pretty touch.

I don't like using a spring form pan for this cheesecake. The water bath makes the spring form pan tricky. I think a deeper, narrower pan is better than a low, wide cake pan.

Measure the sour cream. Most sour cream is measured by weight, so don't assume that a certain container has three cups in it.

I boil the water in a tea kettle and pour it just after it boils...

Just a note on this cookbook. It is a food science cookbook with great recipes. She describes how different conditions change a product, and then gives a recipe to demonstrate this. It is also a wonderful resource if you are fiddling with a recipe and want to know what changes will keep the product similar, or explain your failures; or if you have a question.

 

[SallyF]

I grew up with a mother who made delicious cookies and gave them away at Christmas. I'm not the baker she was, but I usually try to make a few kinds of cookies for the holiday. A couple of years ago, we had an oven accident and fried all the electric controls in the whole stove. Only the stove burners worked, and the repair parts had to be ordered and wouldn't come until after Christmas. I had a dear friend, since deceased, who had given me some of his kitchen stuff when he moved and in that stuff was a pizzelle baker. So those were the only cookies I could make, and they were delicious. They weren't what I thought of as Christmas cookies until then. Thank you, Kirk Wilson, for saving that Christmas.

 

[BlackBart]

mincemeat tarts with philly cream cheese
butter tarts using currants
lemon butter tarts
cherry tarts