Posted on 11/28/2017 3:26:23 PM PST by Jamestown1630
Now that Thanksgiving has passed, the bustle of preparing for Christmas begins. This weekend my husband put up our lights (every year he adds a little something, and by now I suspect our balcony and windows can be seen from space) and we've got most of the gift shopping done. Now I'm thinking about food.
I have never made Christmas cookies as much as I’d like because I felt they had to be done close to the holiday, when I'm usually very busy; and many recipes lose a lot if you freeze the baked product.
For some reason I didn’t think to make at least the dough ahead and freeze that, though I’ve done it with savory pastries. Here from All Recipes is a guide to freezing and then baking your cookie dough, and even your cookies:
http://dish.allrecipes.com/freezing-cookies-and-cookie-dough/
I recently obtained a copy of the first Food52 cookbook, " the first-ever online community cookbook", which has a lot of very interesting recipes, including a good recipe for Eggplant Parmigiana, and a roasted beet/citrus salad that I want to try.
It's a very nice book, the Kindle version of which is currently available on Amazon for $.99; and it includes ‘Secret Cookies’ - which apparently got their name because they were passed down in confidence by an elderly woman who said, “After I’m gone, you may give out the recipe.”:
https://food52.com/recipes/165-secret-cookies
-JT
SHABBY RUSTIC CHRISTMAS ANGELS
Insert cookies....foldover top. Punch two holes to close with ribbon.
Dangle a snowflake or glittering Christmas star from the ribbon.
Was looking at some new recipes in my inbox.
I don't have to tell people that powdered sugar dusted confections usually don't hold up well when stored for any length of time. Bourbon balls are the worst.
Old World recipes and new ones can be tempting. The best recipes are the ones you are used to making, don't have to stop and look up something again, think, and you've done it often enough that you can plan ahead better and glide through the process.
Probably the shape, but Liz's snowflakes reminded me of timbale cases which are a Swedish tradition, first had them paying a regular visit to some farm relatives where the wife was Swedish (Bishop Hill). So was the MIL and the DIL ended up so mad they moved her to town in a trailer causing a huge flap in the family, and the DIL had it all to herself. She was always so kind and hospitable, and she (DIL) is the one who had some timbale case cookies with coffee for adults. I loved them and when I grew up, I got an iron and made some. My children were positively enchanted by them. Probably not good for you. I like them but like others better. Wish I had the energy and will to make Ferden again this holiday season. Enough. One memory leads to another.
Oh my, who knew? So many different shapes some not great - Pinterest Timbale cases cookies
This one was the click bait for me. Scroll down center right for it, can get a recipe by googling or from the link. I only had 2 rosettes which ended up on a shelf in the basement and rusted, but the one I embedded is enough to make me want to get a new set if that is in it. They come with more shapes now. The set might make a nice gift. Nordic ware makes one, probably other mfr'rs and some on pinterest look improvised. They've lumped in funnel cakes with these but those never appealed to me.
I have one of the Norpro sets that make little containers for fillings - I make savory appetizers with them, and I’ve found that they keep long enough if they’re airtight that you can make the cases ahead. They also crisp up in the oven nicely:
My new favorite cookie recipe. I wasn’t patient enough to chill the dough, so I formed the newly made dough into small balls and pressed with a sugar coated small glass. It was greatly appreciated by family who thinks most cookies are too sweet. I also heard, “I hate raisins, but these cookies make them taste good.” This person says raisins are grapes that couldn’t pass the muster.
But I've ruined my day by wanting that particular rosette I posted. I'm like that. It must be an antique, can't find it anywhere, even looked on ebay. The second prettiest rosette (to me) I saw on Walmart, a partner co called bakedco.com. Went there, none left of that one. The regular rosette one in the Norpro set is pretty though. And we didn't present them (the cookie ones) upsidedown (edges up). And we didn't dip in icing. I think I prefer the powdered sugar. You can always freshen it up which seems like cheating but so be it :-(
My first ones on the farm visit were fried in lard I'm sure. I didn't use lard, probably oil, but they turned out nice.
What a cool idea for some of the new (and older) appetizer recipes!
I remember a hot chipped beef dip I really liked, first tried on a visit to my sister, lost the recipe. I think I would like probably chicken salad in one.
Speaking of salad. I love my tuna salad so probably wouldn't waste it in a timbale case :-(. Once I had to take something to a potluck and got some nice bakery crescent rolls (largish), split them to work for a sandwich, put on some lettuce (I use that butter lettuce now, so much easier and keeps very well), and spread the tuna salad on neatly and liberally, wrapped in saran and chilled. I had trepidations when it came to serving time but they disappeared in a hurry.
People still seem to love tuna salad, see it often chosen on visits to Subway.
I never get tired of tuna salad ;-)
Sometimes we open-face Tuna Melts - spread the salad on bread, put a couple slices of tomato and then cheese on top, and bake it in the oven until the cheese melts and the bread toasts.
Wouldn't you know, I found one of those snowflake sets at King Arthur Flour on sale. When I clicked on their link for the set it was on sale for $4.99. But it is sold out. Ebay had just the shape, 4 days to go, rather not.
I found some here but don't even know if they take US customers, checked the currency only 1 Czech in the converter, about $21 a set but if they'd even sell abroad and would probably charge a lot for shipping. Will be patient, don't have to have it..
Amazon sells a $hitload of that company's products for pretty expensive, but not that.
My daughter says I'm too negative. My gut reaction to tuna melts is no but if I tried one, it might really be good. I love tuna and noodles and 5-can casserole.
And I am totally weird. I try to find just the right tuna that doesn't have a fishy taste. Narrowed it down to Chicken of the Sea drained hard (press lid against the tuna and squeeze the water in a bowl). The cat loves it.
So by chance my daughter picks us a 7-oz size can of Chicken of the Sea. Best I can remember. Usually I always use 1 large can no matter what. So 2 of these cans will do nicely, will try again to see if it is consistently better or just a nicer cut going thru the line.
My daughter (have 2) remembers the rosettes as greasy. "I can make them not so greasy". Thought she might have been a little sick that day but no fond memory of them.
My other daughter had heart surgery a couple weeks ago, 54 years old. Go up thru the leg vein and look for the spots causing the afib. Says they found them and use a laser to scar over the tissue. With luck, won't happen again. Almost died a couple months ago. Just fell over in the garage. So it's been a scare.
My brother-in-law had the same thing last year but it was closer to the top and he opted for a different kind of surgery rather than a pacemaker that requires batteries. His is better but I think 90%.
We're at that age.
Sorry I'm in such a chatty mood. I found out I can eat salads again, so want to make Martha Stewart's blue cheese dressing. Love it, so good after sitting (keeps for a few days) I eat that out of the bowl (only if nobody is likely to be eating after me.
The day before yesterday, my daughter went to this new store called Fresh Thyme. Beautiful salmon again farm raised, tastes good to me, add spices, so I get 3.20#, filled a huge glass baking dish. 3 pieces left after daughter and grandson get through with it. That was 5.47# 17.48.
Then I feel so bad I haven't had a decent tomato in over 2 years and store ones are so $$$. So they had beefsteak but too $$$. They had the vine kind on sale. So daughter comes back with 6 medium, she pulled them pulled off the vine, but they may not be ripe enough. Those were on sale for .88#, $1.91 total. I was wondering if I put a couple on the counter they might get riper and more flavorful. That's to make bacon cheese tomato open face broiled tomato sandwiches, wrote about those B4.
I bet you never found that special horse cookie cutter you liked so well. Maybe it was somebody else.
Sorry hope I'm talked out. Drained listening to daughteer and grandson giggle right behind me.
No, the horse cutter was me. I never found one; I guess I’d have to make it.
Probably not but you never know. I'm sorry you never found one and hope you don't have to make it.
Sorry about the other rambling on like that and need to curb myself from it. or break it down and stay on topic.
You evidently found it at Country Living site. As a kid, I would have loved something like that set in a wooden box.
Easy to decorate. Surely there is somebody who would make you all of them. My Hungarian friend who passed away would have; he spent his retirement years keeping up his place and helping people he met on the internet, wonderful with his hands and improvising, fixing challenging things.
The only other thing is maybe you could call Country Living editors, point them to the web page, dated 2012, and see if you can find out who manufactured them. They don't seem to say anything about the box/set and don't show the actual cutters, don't want to speculate further and maybe I missed something.
Contact and other info about Country Living along bottom if you scroll down.
Will take a wild guess. Picked up the cutters separately, bought the box(es) at Michael's, Target, Hobby Lobby, google hobby store wooden box, do as they say about filling with excelsior, make cookies as instructed. If they stencilled the word FARM on the inside of toe box lid, they did a tip top job of it.
You could include the cutters with the cookies for a gift.
I’m sure I could find it if I tried real hard. But any horse would do.
It is a very cute gift.
Looks like it's patterned on the Westbury white horse, can't get a good photo of that to embed either, then browser crashed. Google Westbury white horse and can use one of the image screen captures for a pattern.
The thinner legs of the horse might stick in a cutter more easily but they are more artistic.
Hope something breaks for you. A nice unicorn just cut off the horn.
“the stupid new crockpot that gets way too hot”
I’ve noticed that too. I have to keep turning it on and off that sorta defeats the purpose!
Nopardons mention phosphate as a soda drink. Having encountered mention of it in my reading, I decided to finally look it up.
Found this link describing many of the delectable soda fountain offerings of days gone by:
Big List of Old Fashioned Soda Fountain Drink Recipes - CLASSIC SODA FOUNTAIN DRINKS
Includes the phosphate chocolate soda, egg creams, malteds, ice cream sodas, ice cream floats, rickeys and more.
There is someone who’s a regular on this thread who remembers phosphates; I can’t recall who it was now.
I run across mention of the phosphate soda, can’t recall exactly, but likely in one of Raymond Chandlers short stories....or not.
Should read “ran”.
Run, ran, feets get moving....
We posted some recipes for them a while back; but I can’t find things through google anymore. I’ll try.
My crock pot does that, too. It’s probably 8 or 9 years old. I can cook a bigger ham or large chicken in there, but it’ll burn anything that isn’t pretty large, or has a lot of liquid. I almost never use it, because of that. Even the warm cycle is too hot.
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