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Post by sophie on Nov 27, 2020 11:55:08 GMT -5
I made another one of those fancy snowflake brioche yesterday evening and will give it to one of our neighbors this afternoon. And while it’s not exactly baking, I will be making a pear cranberry sauce and can (bottle) it as part of our gift packages for friends.
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Post by riverhorse on Nov 27, 2020 12:14:42 GMT -5
I saw it on FB/Insta - amazing!
This year is the first time in many years I'm not baking a traditional English Christmas fruit cake. My heart is broken. Because my English best friends who come over every year around this time for my birthday can't get over this year, nor bring the big pack of mixed dried fruits (nor the jars of mincemeat for fruit mince pies ) with them for my Christmas cake
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Post by sprite on Nov 27, 2020 14:15:39 GMT -5
I've already made fruit cheese, but inspired by Megaslim and suppplied by a neighbour, i'll make apple butter this weekend.
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Post by kneazle on Nov 27, 2020 14:47:27 GMT -5
I also saw the brioche on Facebook - it was amazing! If I can be bothered I bake biscuits/cookies shortbread stars and gingerbread people. I also have to make a pavlova on Christmas eve day and my usual slow cooker Christmas pudding. For the 3rd year in a row we're getting a food delivery box Christmas box www.myfoodbag.co.nz/christmas/my-classic-christmas-ham-lamb-small?people=4&nights=1The last two years we've decided that the glaze was fine by mine is better and we don't like the sound of this year's glaze at all so we'll be glazing with a port and orange glaze. |
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 27, 2020 22:11:47 GMT -5
Usually I make rum balls from a recipe I got on GS. His recipe was for chocolate rumballs, and then I adapted it to make ginger ones too because my mom can't have chocolate. (And actually I like the ginger ones better, so maybe I'll just do those this year.)
But I am just nowhere near mentally prepared to think about doing that right now.
It's weird, it just feels like the holidays aren't really going to happen anytime soon. Today I saw someone with a tree on the top of their car and I was like what the hell, why are you doing this so early!! I mean, I have no idea what day it is anymore; I'm thinking it's still late September or something.
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Post by lillielangtry on Nov 28, 2020 8:28:10 GMT -5
I have made my first ever Christmas fruit cake. It looks a bit of a mess but it smells good, so fingers crossed.
Today I baked some German Advent biscuits (cookies/Plätzchen) and I might do some more tomorrow. I also bought an Advent candle, which I don't usually bother with.
I don't know why I feel drawn to doing traditional things this year, when nothing is normal and I won't get to celebrate with my family, you'd think it would make me feel worse, but it doesn't.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Nov 29, 2020 3:48:04 GMT -5
I was flipping through a recipe magazine today and they had a recipe for eggnog in the 'Christmas celebration' section. I cracked up when under the main recipe they had suggestions for how to make it vegan. Honestly, why bother? Do something else that would work well (the suggestions sounded off), give it a new name and don't try to replicate something that has the key ingredients of milk, egg and cream.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 29, 2020 6:29:03 GMT -5
Vegan eggnog... hmm. I'm trying to think what you would need to do to give it the right texture?
OK I just had to know, so I searched and found a recipe that was made from cashews, coconut milk, coconut cream, and bourbon, and while that isn't eggnog, I'd drink it. So maybe that's a less nasty approach than what you saw.
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Post by sprite on Nov 29, 2020 6:50:49 GMT -5
That coconut thing sounds good, but yeah, not eggnog.
I will make apple butter today. My top tip is to weigh the apples before cooking them down with water...
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Post by tucano on Nov 29, 2020 7:19:51 GMT -5
Eggnog has never appealed as I don't like creamy drinks, apart from a brief flirtation with chilled Baileys as a teenager.
I might make some brownies, as all the ads on insta for fancy ones have tempted me.
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Post by shilgia on Nov 29, 2020 10:23:33 GMT -5
Lisa, I've been meaning to ask you if you'd be willing to share your rum ball recipe. They're so good and I'd like to make some!
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 29, 2020 13:24:54 GMT -5
Sure shilgia! Glad you liked them.  I'll create a thread |
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Post by tzarine on Nov 29, 2020 17:05:35 GMT -5
i love eggnog
just had some!
baking?
i might cheat & buy some slice & bake cookies & get green & red sprinkles
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Post by shilgia on Nov 29, 2020 17:23:37 GMT -5
Sure shilgia! Glad you liked them. I'll create a thread Yay! Thank you in advance! |
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Post by snowwhite on Dec 4, 2020 6:15:15 GMT -5
It's hardly baking, but I now have almost all the ingredients for Christmas rocky road.
I've made a Christmas cake and hope to make some stollen too.
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Post by sprite on Dec 4, 2020 8:50:54 GMT -5
i actually want to do a lot of seasonal baking--my sister's house is making candy glass for their gluten-free gingerbread house--but i have almost no one to give it to.
The UK'ers could do a postal backing swap, I suppose?
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Post by lillielangtry on Dec 4, 2020 8:59:45 GMT -5
Having consulted with German friends, I ended up buying glycerine for the royal icing at the pharmacy! The bottle seems to assume I am going to make my own cosmetics with it. Apparently not considered a food product here...
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Post by sprite on Dec 4, 2020 9:43:42 GMT -5
If I ever make fruit cheese again (simple but loooooong) I'll get glycerine to make it easier to get it in and out of the molds.
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Post by Liiisa on Dec 4, 2020 17:34:17 GMT -5
shilgia just realized I still haven't done that. This weekend!
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Post by snowwhite on Dec 4, 2020 18:23:27 GMT -5
Having consulted with German friends, I ended up buying glycerine for the royal icing at the pharmacy! The bottle seems to assume I am going to make my own cosmetics with it. Apparently not considered a food product here... If you include glycerine, it's not really royal icing. Although if I do royal icing it will be from a packet of the instant stuff, so don't mind me... |
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Post by lillielangtry on Dec 5, 2020 7:07:44 GMT -5
Having consulted with German friends, I ended up buying glycerine for the royal icing at the pharmacy! The bottle seems to assume I am going to make my own cosmetics with it. Apparently not considered a food product here... If you include glycerine, it's not really royal icing. Although if I do royal icing it will be from a packet of the instant stuff, so don't mind me... Well, Delia Smith uses it in hers, and she's the Christmas Queen in my mother's household, so that's how I know it :-) |
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Post by Liiisa on Dec 5, 2020 7:14:10 GMT -5
I have no idea what royal icing is, but I will look it up now.
Aha, thank you Wikipedia. Raw eggs in icing? That sounds weird... have I eaten that? I guess probably at some point, but eew? I guess it's no weirder than meringue, but you bake that.
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Post by shilgia on Dec 5, 2020 11:20:20 GMT -5
shilgia just realized I still haven't done that. This weekend! Thank you! Depending on whether I have all the ingredients, I might make some right away |
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Post by Liiisa on Dec 5, 2020 11:23:37 GMT -5
Oh man! It's like: Trader Joe's cookies (the ones in the clear plastic tubs), either vanilla wafers or gingersnaps (depending on which version you want to make); corn syrup; cocoa (unless you're making the ginger ones); confectioner's sugar; pecans or walnuts...? I think that's all the ingredients. OH WAIT -- and rum, of course. I use a dark rum because that's what I'd rather drink when there's some left after making the rum balls.
Need to run shortly but I promise I'll put the amounts this afternoon
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Post by sophie on Dec 5, 2020 12:00:47 GMT -5
I used to make Royal icing for gingerbread house construction.. it’s easy to make and I didn’t use glycerin. I have also bought the powdered version from a cake decorating place a few times when I was short of eggs ..easy peasy.
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Post by shilgia on Dec 5, 2020 12:45:36 GMT -5
Oh man! It's like: Trader Joe's cookies (the ones in the clear plastic tubs), either vanilla wafers or gingersnaps (depending on which version you want to make); corn syrup; cocoa (unless you're making the ginger ones); confectioner's sugar; pecans or walnuts...? I think that's all the ingredients. OH WAIT -- and rum, of course. I use a dark rum because that's what I'd rather drink when there's some left after making the rum balls. Need to run shortly but I promise I'll put the amounts this afternoon No rush! In that case it will take me a bit of time to gather the things . . . don't have vanilla wafers/gingersnaps, and not sure I have corn syrup. |
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Post by riverhorse on Dec 5, 2020 14:26:25 GMT -5
I'm not doing any Christmas baking this year, as my friends aren't bringing over fruit mince or mixed fruit to make a Christmas cake (I know, I could put it all together myself but CBA). And PG doesn't have a sweet tooth so no point baking German style Christmas biscuits.
So at the supermarket today I brought home a packet of little bite sized Stollen bits for me to have with tea or coffee, rather than a big whole Stollen that would only go dry.
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Post by Liiisa on Dec 5, 2020 14:45:01 GMT -5
MMMM STOLLEN, must get one of those this year.
Anyway, here's the rum balls recipe. It was originally from the GS poster Chrisyboy, except that I have since tweaked it all a bit. Following is exactly how I make them, but really anything works. But anyway for non-USAnians, Trader Joe's is owned by the same people as Aldi so maybe you'd find something like the kind I mention here there.
1 tub Trader Joe's vanilla wafers, crushed (or, 3 cups vanilla wafers, crushed per original recipe)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup pecans or walnuts, ground (I use the TJ's Toasted Chopped Pecans)
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup + 1 splash dark rum (choose a brand that's good enough to drink the rest but not so good to be ridiculous wasting it on rum balls)
1/4 cup corn syrup (I've also used Lyle's Golden Syrup)
Extra powdered sugar or granulated sugar for rolling the balls in.
Notes - I grind up the cookies and the pecans in a blender to get them to a rough floury consistency.
Alternative to make Ginger Rum balls:
I like these even better than the chocolate ones: substitute ginger snaps for the vanilla wafers, extra pecans for the cocoa, and omit the extra splash of rum.
Anyway: mix it all up and roll into balls. Dip each ball in granulated or powdered sugar. If the dough is too wet to roll, put them in the fridge for a day or so. If too dry, add more rum. Don't eat them while you're making them or you will lose the will to finish rolling them up and will require a little sit-down.
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Post by shilgia on Dec 5, 2020 18:25:19 GMT -5
Thank you so much! I look forward to making them!!
One question: for the ginger snaps version, how many/what weight roughly of ginger snaps do you use?
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Post by Liiisa on Dec 5, 2020 18:39:18 GMT -5
Oh, should have said that.
I use the "Triple Ginger Snaps" from Trader Joes - they also come in the plastic tubs like the vanilla ones do. If I weren't using those, I guess I'd follow the original recipe and use 3 cups (crushed), which for the vanilla wafers was slightly less than a full box of Nilla vanilla wafers.
So with those 14-oz tubs of TJ cookies, I just use them all and don't bother to measure them, but if I'm using some other cookies I'd grind them up until I had 3 cups.
I read something online where they were using those Biscoff cookies instead of vanilla wafers for chocolate ones - that might be interesting because they're cinnamon. You could add a little chili powder and have Mexican rum balls. You could make them with TEQUILA and have Mexican rum balls! Ooh....
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I'll create a thread
