Holiday Cookies, Candy and Treats

[Roxanne]

This is basically a post about what treats you plan on making, or like to make for Christmas. This way we can all get new ideas from each other.

Is there a recipe or recipes you make every year no matter how much other stuff you've made?
Is there anything you been meaning to make but it always gets pushed aside?
What new treats do you have planned on trying this year?
If you had to choose your favourite cookie, candy and drink - what would it be? You can only have one each!

Last but not least, post and share your recipes with us!

[Roxanne]

Okay so I'll start

Is there a recipe or recipes you make every year no matter how much other stuff you've made?
Every year I make chocolate crinkles, sugar cookies with frosting, white hot chocolate and liqueur spiked truffles. I'll be sharing these recipes closer to Christmas time since they are small batch and I need to make sure I have correct measurements and yield on the cookies in particular. Plus I want to make sure they turn out too.

Is there anything you been meaning to make but it always gets pushed aside?
So, it has been about 2 or 3 years in a row in which I would like to attempt to make a buche de noel or yule log but I make so many other things that it never gets made. This year I am not sure I am even going to list it as a possibility cause I have so many other things planned already.

What new treats do you have planned on trying this year?
Okay so, I found some tempting new recipes - rum & raisin fudge, snow capped cookies, chocolate hazelnut shortbread cookies, fudgy ginger shortbread, peanut butter bites, sacher bites, tiger butter, tolberone fudge. I also want to try making belgian truffles and chocolate marshmallows this year but those might be a long shot. The others I will try to get small batch recipes posted of them closer to the season.

If you had to choose your favourite cookie, candy and drink for the season - what would it be? You can only have one each!
Gosh for cookies, the chocolate crinkles I mentioned above.
Candy, I think I'd go with Kitten's Cracker Candy (I've also seen similar recipes by the name of chocolate brittle - delish!)
Drink, eggnog of course!

[MaMere]

Hi Roxi!

Nice thread topic, gets us in the mood for those Holiday Sweet Treats!

Let me see, recipes I make year after year, it simply wouldn't be Christmas without: Moms recipe for Candy Cane cookies, with pure almond extract, I just LOVE those, and when the aroma stars to waft through our home, it brings Hubby running!
Pecan Balls, so decadent, so good!
Newer favs of "candy": Chocolate Cheese Fudge, made with Velveeta cheese, whodathunk! Creamy, Chocolately and You would never know theres cheese in that there fudge! Pale Tigers Butter..sigh...so rich, so dreamy..soooooo darn good!

My one recipe that I have ALWAYS wanted to try huh?! Well, Let me tell you, THIS year its getting made as last year I didn't have time, and bought one at a bakery, I cannot even tell you how wonderful it was and PRICEY!!! I swear I'm going to open a shop and just make.....PANETTONE!! But I am revising mutliple recipes, and only including crystallized ginger, and candied citron, as Hubby is not a fan of raisins, or dried fruits, so making it to his liking

A favorite drink!? wow, that is difficult to bring it down to one..but would say, a nice warm cup of hot chocolate, laced with Captain Morgans Private Stock that I have heated with brown sugar and butter....sigh, bring on wintertime!

Recipes later for you!

[Roxanne]

Oh I think it was you who mentioned Tiger Butter in another thread and that's how I added it to my list. Right now my list is really long but I listed the things I would most likely make for sure here. That chocolate cheese fudge sounds...gosh I dunno, weird. But I'm intrigued now.

Oh wow, I just Googled panettone recipes and it looks super delicious! I am not a fan of citron myself but love crystallized ginger and raisins.

I forgot to add that this year I'll also make Trinidad Black Cake. It's one of those local recipes I grew up knowing and I can't remember the first time I ate it, but it is not for kids cause it an alcoholic type of cake using dried fruits soaked in cherry brandy (or kirsch) for 2 weeks before baking and then some dark rum is sprinkled over the finished product too. So good! It also tastes better as it ages. Will be posting that one as well in the near future. I want to make some when my g-parents visit this year so they can eat some here and take some with them.

Wow, your hot chocolate sounds super! Usually my Christmas drinks consist of the 2 I mentioned in my 1st post but this year I am going to try Hot Buttered Rum as well. I also saw a drink named Coquito which seems like a coconut version of eggnog. It's not a sure thing yet but I might try that one too.

[Marion_in_Savannah]

What do I make every year? Toll House cookies, spice cookies (http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/spice-cookies), peanut butter cookies (http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/easies ... er-cookies), and now Kitten’s 5-minute fudge.

The thing that usually gets pushed aside, probably because you do have to be a bit careful with them, are the Oatmeal Lace Cookies that I used to make with my mother when I was young. Easy to mix, but can be a bit tricky to get off the pan, and FRAGILE so they’re not really suitable for shipping as gifts. I just posted that recipe, so it hasn't been approved yet.

A new treat I’m going to try this year is TxGriffLover’s Thyme Toasted Pecans (http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/thyme-toasted-pecans), for sure. I’m also toying with trying a sugary-cinnamon nut, but I also want a non-sweet option which is where those Thyme Toasted Pecans come in.

A cookie, candy and drink? Just ONE??? If I could only ever have one kind of cookie ever again it would be those spice cookies. For holiday candy I’ve just got to go with a candy cane. If you mean a home-made candy it’s Kitten’s fudge, hands down, no question. For a drink over the holidays I’m such a huge eggnog lover that if I really indulged myself the way I’d like to I’d weigh 800 pounds!

[Roxanne]

Marion, I saved the spice and pb cookies and I think I saw the recipe for Kitten's fudge posted the other day too.

I never had luck with lace cookies till I came across this recipe which didn't use oatmeal or nuts. It turns out great and very delicious. Man, you talking about lace cookies has me thinking of them sandwiched with chocolate, yum! I will check out your recipe too, maybe it'll work for me cause it always bothered me I couldn't get those other types right!

I have a ton of pecans. I usually do the cinnamon-sugar ones too but these looks great for a change of pace. I was thinking of doing pecan brittle instead of peanut this year cause of the abundance of pecans I have on hand using Kit's no-fail recipe. I never made brittle before but I saw it mentioned by another member about how good it is so decided I would add it to my list.

I am a major eggnog lover too, especially with lots of freshly grated nutmeg on top, oh yum!

[Felix4067]

Is there a recipe or recipes you make every year no matter how much other stuff you've made? Absolutely! Over the years I've gotten to the point where I end up making a minimum of six batches of http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/grandm ... ingerbread

Is there anything you been meaning to make but it always gets pushed aside? Not that I can think of.

What new treats do you have planned on trying this year? http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/chocol ... d-roca-bar and for a friend's birthday on Dec. 26th http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/kitten ... layer-cake with cordial cherry preserves between the layers and cherry-cream cheese frosting

If you had to choose your favourite cookie, candy and drink - what would it be? You can only have one each! Cookie - it's posted at f.com. Parsley's Cream Cheese Walnut Drop Cookies. I always make at least a triple batch.

Candy? Probably Reese's peanut butter trees.

Drink? Don't so much have one, but if I had to pick, I'd say Ghirardelli White Mocha hot chocolate.

Working on sharing recipes, but most of what I make for the holidays isn't mine.

[invictus]

Is there a recipe or recipes you make every year no matter how much other stuff you've made?
There used to be. When I was just out on my own I would make pretty much the same thing every year which would very closely resemble what my mom would make most years. We would have fudge ( a quick microwave recipe), turtle bars, almond roca, and various cookies which are escaping me.

These days though I tend to mix it up a lot. There are so many recipes that I want to try and I truly enjoy baking above anything else so it seemed like the perfect time to explore new recipes. I do have some new favorites but they won't always show up on my cookie tray.

Is there anything you been meaning to make but it always gets pushed aside?
The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is a pumpkin roll. I would love to give this a go but it won't be this year.

What new treats do you have planned on trying this year?
If I can remember to I will come back to this later. I'm at work and don't have my recipes in front of me.

If you had to choose your favourite cookie, candy and drink - what would it be? You can only have one each!
Cookie - My current favorite is a gingerbread chocolate cookie but this changes often.

Candy - Pale tiger butter - again, a current favorite.

Drink - Hot buttered rum. So bad for me but so comforting.

Recipes to come later.

[Roxanne]

I've never had gingerbread Felix but I do like the taste of ginger, may have to try gingerbread one of these days. Oh man, those roca bars *drools* and can you share the recipe for the cordial cherry preserves? It sounds do decadent and delicious! I'm going to look up your favourite cookie, it sounds good! I also can't seem to resist Reese's no matter what holiday it is . Your drink also sounds really yummy, since I love white chocolate but I am not a fan of coffee in drink form . I like it only in desserts - weird huh?

Oh invictus, you reminded me of a turtle bar recipe I absolutely love. I got to remember to add it to my list. I got say I do agree, with so many yummy recipes out there it is hard to not want to try new ones for the holidays.

I will be trying Tiger Butter and Hot Buttered Rum for the first time this year so I am looking forward to your recipes for them.

[Felix4067]

Roxanne, I'm totally cheating and buying some from a local place. They used to only be available at the farmer's market, but now they have a small store. I don't have the patience to make preserves.

The gingerbread is fabulous, and dirt simple to make, should you feel like trying it.