Favaorite Christmas Recipes

I've had requests for more recipes from people who have tried my fruitcake recipe and liked it. So, here you are. Some of my most favorite Christmas recipes. Some of these are old Saxon family recipes from my Mother; some of them I've tried and treasured over the years. These are the ones loved by my family, and the ones I invariably use over and over. My daughter now cooks a lot of my old favorites for her husband, and has turned out to be a darned good cook. When she lived at home, she wouldn't be caught dead in the kitchen!

This is an old Saxon family recipe. My grandmother made it, and my daddy liked it so much that it became a necessity at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We always had it at the big Saxon family meal at grandmother's every Christmas.

1 can small English Peas
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 small jar chopped pimentos
2-3 chopped sweet pickles
1 T. finely chopped white onion
Chopped celery, if desired
2 slices cheddar cheese, chopped
(I prefer to leave the cheese out - try it both ways)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Mayonnaise

Drain peas, and drain the pimentos. Combine all in a mixing bowl; add enough mayonnaise to hold ingredients together. Chill. I usually double the entire recipe, and adjust the amounts of the other ingredients to taste.
If you don't like the cheese, as my children don't, just leave it out. Same with any other ingredients, except you really need the first four. I don't like the onion, so I leave it out.

I got this recipe when I was working as a media specialist at the old Lucy Auld School in Adams County School District 12. If I remember correctly, a teacher named Cathy Deigert (sp) gave it to me. I usually make it each Christmas Eve and bake it on Christmas morning. The whole family loves it. I've eaten it when others used their recipes, and think this one is the best.

6 eggs
2 cups milk
6 slices light bread, cubed, crust removed
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 cup Velveta cheese, grated
1 cup longhorn cheese, grated
1 lb. ground sausage, browned and cooled
Salt & Pepper

Beat eggs in a large bowl; add milk. Add bread cubes, mustard, grated cheese, salt and pepper. Note: Velveta cheese grates better if you stick it in the freezer just long enough to get it very cold, but don't let it freeze.
Brown ground sausage; cool. Add to rest of ingredients. Pour into a greased 9 X 13" baking pan. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 250 º for 1-1/2 hours, or 350 º for 55 minutes.

I used to make these when we lived in Denver and we couldn't get Beignets there. I would call the neighbors over and serve them with coffee and hot chocolate. They are famous in New Orleans, and are served in a few places on the Gulf Coast, where I live. If I want, I can have them anytime and Mary Mahoney's in Biloxi. These aren't quite as fluffy as those at the French Market, but are really good.

1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 egg, beaten
3 3/4 cups sifted flour
Confectioners sugar

In a large mixing bowl, pour the boiling water over the shortening, sugar and salt.
Add the milk and let stand until warm. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and add to the milk mixture with the egg. Stir in 2 cups flour and beat. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover with waxed paper and a cloth and chill until ready to use.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/2" thickness. Do not let dough rise before frying. Cut into 2 or 3-inch squares and fry, a few at a time, in deep hot fat (360º F.). Brown on 1 side; turn and brown on the other side. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with the confectioners' sugar and serve hot. Makes 30 doughnuts.

Recipe from Best of the Best From Louisiana
(and a newspaper clipping I've had for over 25 years)

6 oz. cherry flavored Jello gelatin
2 cups boiling water
1 can jellied cranberry sauce, mashed
1 cup cold water
1 large can Mandarin orange slices, cut
1 cup diced, peeled apples
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Dissolve the Jello in 2 cups boiling water. Add mashed cranberry sauce; stir until smooth. Add 1 cup cold water. Chill until thickened. Add apples, oranges (each slice cut into 203 pieces) and pecans. Pour into a 6-cup mold that has been sprayed with Pam. Chill for 4 hours; better if chilled overnight. Un-mold and serve. Serves 10.

(I first made this in 1973, when my son was two and my daughter nine. It became a favorite with my family, and I had to have it every Christmas. I've even given smaller versions to neighbors. It's wonderful!)

3 pints or 1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream
5 T. or 8 T. green cream de menthe
2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (I use whole Oreo cookies, the original type)
1/3 cups softened butter

Turn ice cream into a large bowl to soften. Pour the cream de menthe in and swirl to mix thoroughly. Pour into the cooled crust and freeze overnight. (Don't add too much cream de menthe or it won't freeze hard)

Use a 10" glass pie pan or a spring pan for the large amount. Roll the Oreo cookies under a rolling pin; crush into small crumbs like in a graham cracker crumb crust. Add melted butter; blend. Press into the pie plate with a fork to make a crumb crust.

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup water
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 1/2 T. butter
3/4 tsp. vanilla

Follow steps in order! Melt chocolate with water in a large glass bowl in the microwave. Add sugar and salt and cook five more minutes until thick. It will bubble.
Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Cool thoroughly at room temperature. After ice cream filling has frozen hard (best done in a chest freezer), drizzle the chocolate sauce over the pie top; return to freezer. Save the rest of the sauce for ice cream later.
You may need to remove it from the freezer 5 minutes before serving to be able to cut into pie slices.

This has been a favorite of my children (even as adults!) every Christmas morning, along with the Christmas Brunch. If I don't make it, they want to know why I didn't.

1/2 cup chopped pecans (or more)
1/4 cup sugar
2 T. ground cinnamon
3 ten-oz. cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup butter, melted

Sprinkle pecans evenly in the bottom of a well-greased 10-inch bundt or tube pan. Set aside.
Combine sugar and cinnamon. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Roll each piece (yes, this is a labor of love) into the sugar mixture and layer all in the pan. Pecans may be sprinkled in amongst the layers of biscuit pieces - it's better that way. Also, sprinkle some of the sugar mixture throughout. Pour butter all over the top of the mixture.
Bake at 350º for 30 - 40 minutes. Cool bread for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert on a serving platter. Mmmmm, Mmmmmm good!

I first had this in Colorado back in the 70's when I went to a school Christmas party at my principal's house. It it a strong punch, but tastes soooooo good.
My Mother was a tee-totler, but even she drank a bit of this.

Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl just before serving so bubbles will be present. Make an ice ring with orange slices, maraschino cherries and float in bowl.

This recipe goes back so far I don't think I'll say. When I was in college majoring in Home Ec., the department had a Christmas Tea. This was served in a silver tea server. Over the years I've made it, and we still love it. Serve it warm on a cold winter day. I make it in a Dutch oven and dip it out with a ladle. So much for the silver tea pot!

Place ½ stick of cinnamon and ½ tsp. whole cloves(in a cloth bag) and place in a very large pot with 12 ½ cups water. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Add 3 large tea bags. Steep for 10 minutes.
Remove tea bags and cloves and cinnamon. Add the juice of 3 oranges, 2 lemons and about 2 cups sugar. Serve hot. It's good when you leave some of the orange particles in the tea.

This is a funny recipe, but a real one. It's quite a delicious cake that I've made over the years, and converted it to fit the "Drunk Fruitcake Rcipe" for fun.

Go to the Drunk Fruitcake page to get this recipe. No need in repeating it again.

I got this recipe when I was doing my student teaching in Home Economics, many eons ago. I took the recipe home to Mther, and she made it often, as do I. Everyone loves it.

1 can Asparagus Spears
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 Hard Boiled Eggs
1/4 Cup Evaporated Milk
4 slices American cheese, torn into pieces
About 8-10 Saltine Crackers
You may want to add a little salt and/or pepper

Place the soup, milk and cheese pieces in a saucepan and heat slowly until the cheese has melted. Layer the eggs, asparagus, and soup mix two times in a small casserole dish. Crumble crackers over the top of the casserole. Bake aboaut 25 0 30 minutes until casserole is bubbling and crackers start to brown a little. Let cool a little before serving to set up or it will be very runny.

This Christmas Season would be a wonderful time for you to begin making Christmas Cookies with your children (not the slice and bake or twist off and plop on the cookie pan type, but the real, made-from-scratch kind). One of my warmest memories is the tradition of making cookies with my mother.We alsays made Christmas Cookies. When your children are grown, it will be too late to make Memory Cookies. Try this with your children.

This was always a necessity with ham or turkey and for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Seems to me that Northerners have mashed potatoes for the holidays, but Southerners have to have their Sweet Potatoes. My mother always put marshmallows on top of the casserole just before it was done so that they would melt and give the casserole a topping. I prefer the crumb topping. Either way, this is great!

3 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix the sweet potatoes with the sugar, eggs, milk, butter, banilla and spices. Place in a 13 X 9 X 2" buttered baking dish. Set aside. Mix the topping ingredients:

Sprinkle sopping on top of the potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Serves 12 to 12 people.

These aren't edible, but they are great to make to hang on the tree or decorate a wreath with. The scent is wonderful!

Mix together and roll out onto wax paper. Use gingerbread cookie cutter to cut out the shape. Poke a hole on the top with a straw. Let them air dry for a couple of days. Then, you may paint on them if you like. Enjoy!

3 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 pkg. Chopped dates
1 T. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt

Stir sugar and milk together in a saucepan and cook until it boils. Slowly add chopped dates. Cook, stirring, until it makes a soft ball in water. Add butter and cook for 2 minutes. Add nuts. Remove from heat and beat until it begins to thicken and loses its shine.
Pour into a clean, slightly damp cloth (like muslin) and roll it into a roll that looks like sausage. Refrigerate until firm; cut into slices.
Makes a lot of really good candy.

(Many people from South Mississippi and Louisiana Cajun Country consider gumbo a Christmas must have. This is a recipe I've compiled from a number of recipes, gleaning the best ingredients from all of them. A combination of recipes from my Mobile teaching days, from Ray Seafood Restaurant and Aunt Brenda's recipe.

The Secret of Gumbo is in the roux - you have to brown it until just before scorching it, so you have to stir and watch it and take it off the heat at exactly the right time.

1 quart water (pour in carefully and a little at a time and stir rapidly, for it will thicken quickly)
1 chopped onion (I use frozen chopped onions)
3 small cans stewed tomatoes
2 ½ cups frozen, chopped okra
1 tsp. garlic chips
1 bay leaf (remove when done - dangerous (not poisonous) if you swallow)
2 T. dry parsley flakes
Salt & Pepper to taste
3 T. Worchestershire sauce
3 tsp. curry powder
3-4 T. Gumbo Filé (ground sassafras leaves that grow in the South that really gives it the gumbo taste, and thickens it a bit. You can find it in the seasoning section, hopefully)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp. thyme
Touch of oregano

1-2 cans crabmeat
1 lb. or more of shrimp (you can get frozen or canned)
OR
Use chicken (Grandmother Entrican used to make good chicken gumbo.)

You need to plan to have a while to cook this. It has to "cook down" so that all of the seasons "meld" and it thickens a bit and everything. I always cook to taste, so I add a little more of this and a little bit more of that as I taste. You can leave some of the spices off if you don't like them. If you like it spicy, add some Tabasco sauce or a little dash or Cayenne pepper. Or, just add it to individual servings when you eat. This makes a very thick gumbo.

1 cup Butter
6 Oz. Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Cups flour
Optional: very finely chopped pecans

Cream butter and cream cheese that has been brought to room temperature. Add sugar and mix well. Add flour and mix well. Make ball of dough and chill one hour. Work with half of the dough at one time. Roll out on a well-floured board to 1/8 " thickness. Cut into 2" squares. Put ½ teaspoon of fruit filling in center. Sprinkle with pecans. Bring corners to the center and seal. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
They don't stay sealed very well, and the filling tends to spill out. Place a toothpick through the Kolache to hold it down; remove when cooled.

Cook the apricots and water covered until tender, about 15 minutes. Cook uncovered 5 minutes more to absorb water. Mash and stir in sugar. Makes 1 cup. Or use firm jam.

½ Cup butter, softened
4 Oz. Cream cheese, softened
1 cup all purpose flour
Fruit Preserves - apricot, pineapple, raspberry

Combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add four to butter mixture, blending until mixture forms soft dough. Divide dough in half; cover and refrigerate until firm.
Preheat oven to 375º. Roll out dough, ½ at a time, on a flowered surface to 1/8 ' thick. Cut into 3: squares. Spoon 1 tsp. preserves in center of each square. Bring two opposite corners to the center; pinch together tightly to seal. Then fold sealed top to one side; pinch to seal. Place 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 120 - 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to cooling racks; cool completely. Filling gets very hot.

(Martha Stewart says this is a most delicate and rich-tasting pastry. She says that the butter, flour and cream cheese should be in equal parts. I've made them several times using various recipes and they are always good.)

(This was a hit every year at our Media Center's Christmas Tea given for the teachers and staff. It disappeared extremely fast. The secret is combining the preserves with the cheese to produce a very delectable, unusual flavor.)

1 lb. grated Longhorn Colby cheese
1 small onion, finely chopped (I only use about 1/4 onion)
1 C. mayonnaise
1 C. finely chopped nuts
Dash Black Pepper
Dash Cayenne pepper

Grate the cheese by hand or throw hunks of cold cheese in the blender and grate. Mix all ingredients well; put in a lightly greased ring mold. Refrigerate for several hours.

Unmold and put preserves in the cheese ring's center. I have a special little glass bowl that I put it in that fits right in the middle of the ring. Serve with crackers (I use Wheat Thins).

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Updated 12/26/04

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