Saturday, December 15, 2012

Favorite Christmas Treats- Guilty as Charged

There is just something about the goodies you can get this time of year that you just can't get any other time. My husband's favorites are the Reeses Christmas Trees, which we jokingly call the Reeses Arrowheads because they didn't go to too much trouble on the shape of the mold for them, but he (and I) love the fact that there is SO much more peanut butter in them than a regular Reeses cup. One of my favorites is of course the Little Deb Tree cakes. I once made up a song about it...I can't remember it now, but it was to the tune of "O Christmas Tree" and detailed how wonderfully edible they are. LOL

I love the store bought Holiday butter and sugar cookies. The cheap ones, which for some reason always taste better, but I'm also a fan of those Danish Butter cookies in a tin. When I can't find cookies like those, I can always make my grandma's Basic Spritz cookies, which are a buttery type cookie made with a cookie press.

My family and I have started the tradition of giving some of our family and friends tubs of homemade treats, so this year, the spritz cookies made the list of goodies. Another favorite is Peppermint bark, Chocolate Cream Cheese cookies, my hubby's Lemon Drop cookies, dipped pretzels, Chess cake and Peanut Butter fudge.

I've attempted Chocolate Fudge a couple of years in a row, but this year I decided against it. I've yet to find a no-fail recipe that works for me, so I'd rather not use my family and friends as guinea pigs until I get it right. ;)

I have done butterscotch haystacks before, but the flavor and aroma of butterscotch tends to overpower all the other flavors and sort of takes over. I have a recipe for Rolo Turtles that I'd like to try that simply involves small twist pretzels, Rolos & pecan halves.

 This year I'm going to attempt making a Pumpkin Roll, which I hope is as easy to fix as the Youtube video I watched. I might have to watch it again before I fix it, just to make sure I understand what I'm doing with it.

Pumpkin pie is always a favorite dessert and pecan pie, or turtle pecan pie. I personally would love a chess pie. Hubby's chess cake comes close but it's still just not quite the texture I expect with that flavor.

My dad has done a fruit salad for our Christmas dinner here in my home. My grandma has made apple pie. My mother-in-law and her husband usually brings us more treats than we can shake a stick at.

And Christmas Eve morning, when we have breakfast with my father-in-law's bunch, I've done a variety of dishes, from Pineapple Surprise to breakfast burritos. I think one year I made monkey bread, another time a honey bun cake. This year I'm thinking of making homemade (or almost homemade) cinnamon rolls with thawed bread loaves that you let rise and then bake and homemade cream cheese icing or maybe just my powdered sugar drizzle. I haven't decided yet.

As you can tell, food is kind of the center of our holiday celebrations. I am guilty as charged.

What are some of your family favorites or holiday traditional goodies that you enjoy?

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