Now that I've begun my Christmas cooking, I'm going to blog (if I remember) the preparation of some of the recipes in this book.
But first, I'm going to share the book with you. On some of the pages there are pictures of my kids and grandkids when they were much younger - nice illustrations for the pages.
The Title Page
Emily making snow angels was the perfect accompanying picture for Angel Bites. I stopped making them though because the kids decided they didn't like them. Strange people!
This picture of Mike (now an old man of 31) is a family classic. I found him in the kitchen after breakfast one day sitting on the table scooping Nestle Quik out of the can and making a great mess of it. Luckily I had the presence of mind to take a picture of him before cleaning him up. The recipe - Death by Chocolate - has become our Christmas dinner dessert and is very easy to make.
The Marshmallow recipe is a time intensive one because the mixture has to be beat for 15 minutes, but it's such fun to have these treats. It always surprises people that you can actually make real marshmallows from scratch. After I cut them I roll them in crushed almonds, shredded coconut and/or colored sugar and cake decorating candy. Everyone loves these.
I prefer the sour cream cookies featured here to sugar cookies - they're easier to roll and make a softer cookie. Auntie Cath's Shortbreads are my favorite.
The thumbprint cookies are Lloyd's favorites. I put green, red and purple jelly in the centers of them.
I love the pictures accompanying these recipes. With the Cherry Ball recipe is a picture of our baby Emily on her first Christmas (1986). I have to make a batch of these treats for Sara every year. The little guy with the cracked gingersnap recipe is our first grandson, Jonah. He's now 13 years old. This page is even more special now because at the family Christmas party last week, one of the treats was these Cracked Gingersnaps made by Jonah. They were delicious.
The Antipasto recipe here is a labor intensive project, but well worth the effort. It makes 11 pints of the most delicious stuff - great for eating with crackers. Last year Jenny's request for a Christmas gift was a whole batch of Antipasto. She got it too.
To help celebrate the new century almost 10 years ago now, I made the Shrimp Surprise Spread. It's my favorite party dip and I always eat way too much of it. The glasses everyone is wearing in the picture are in the shape of 2000. Remember Y2K?
Mum's recipe for Nuts 'N' Bolts is a family favorite. She doesn't include peanuts in the recipe here but I always add them, because I love them. And the Nanaimo Bars are Mum's recipe too. Everyone loves them. Amy has already made hers and brought me a sample yesterday - yummy.
The turkey stuffing is a very casual recipe. If I have leftover mashed potatoes I'll put them in the dressing too. When Rob was still at home he used to stuff the turkey for me. He liked carving it too and Lloyd sure didn't mind relinquishing that honor to his son.
And that's my Christmas cookbook.
