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Daily living · Recipes

Christmas Eve 2011

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Christmas Eve… so exciting! At home, this is the evening when we open a few gifts. Some years it was gifts from grandparents, and sometimes it was gifts for/from siblings. Andrew & I were really good and didn’t open any on Christmas Eve! Part of the reason was because we were pretty busy.

We had decided to just invite two other couples over for Christmas dinner. We weren’t up to planning a big thing like we did for Thanksgiving! So a lot of Christmas Eve was spent in the kitchen, actually! Andrew wanted to try out a recipe he had for dinner rolls (they turned out so yummy!):

And I wanted to get some baking done. I hadn’t made Christmas cut-out cookies yet (I always make some of these at Christmas), and I also wanted to make some of the mint candies for our dinner guests! Then I looked at the cheesecake recipe I was planning on…and saw that it was going to be a bit time-consuming. So that needed to get started Christmas Eve as well. Needless to say, I was up later than I had anticipated.

Once Andrew got his rolls done, he made a nice fire in the living room. I didn’t get to enjoy it much from the kitchen, but it definitely helped add to the “Christmas-y” atmosphere!

Look at all of those presents!!

Part of the reason I was up so late was because I chose to use a rather tedious way to decorate my Christmas cut-out cookies. I used Royal Icing, which is supposed to give a smooth, matte finish. The reason it’s time-consuming? First you pipe out the outlines for each area (and I was using lots of colors), and then you thin out the icing to fill those piped areas with liquid to “flood” the surface of the cookie. If you watch the video on the website I linked to above, you can watch how long it takes to do just ONE cookie! I was probably in the kitchen icing about 3 dozen cookies for 3 hours or so. We have tile floor, so my feet were pretty sore after that!

Once the cookies were done, and after I took a break to make dinner, it was back in the kitchen to make gingerbread cookies. Yes, I forgot to look at the cheesecake recipe, which calls for homemade gingerbread cookies to make the crust. *Sigh* So I only ended up making the gingerbread cookies on Christmas Eve. I figured I’d finish it up the next morning after opening presents!

Recipes

Farmhouse Barbecue Muffins

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This is another recipe I got from my mom. It’s another one of those “homey” meals that I use frequently because it’s quick and easy. Plus Andrew loves these muffins! I usually make corn as a side dish to go with these.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 20 minutes
Serves: 10 (or 12)

1 tube (10 oz) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits*
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. ketchup
3 T. brown sugar
1 T. cider vinegar
1/2 t. chili powder
1 c. (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

1. Separate dough into 10 biscuits; flatten into 5-inch circles. Press each into the bottom and up the sides of a greased muffin cup; set aside.
2. In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. In a small bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, and chili powder; stir until smooth. Add to meat and mix well.
3. Divide the meat mixture among the biscuit-lined cups, using about 1/4 cup for each. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 375F/190C for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

*As with the Cheeseburger Biscuit Bake recipe, I make my own biscuits for this. Since I’m making my own biscuits, I usually make 12 instead of 10 for a couple extra muffins!

**Each muffin has about 225 calories, 9 g fat, and 14 g protein**

Recipes

Cream Cheese Mints

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I love cream cheese, and I love mint, so I really liked these soft candies! They were very quick and easy, although the do have to chill overnight.

Makes: about 60 mints

1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened (I used those little mini packages)
1/4 c. all-vegetable shortening
1/2 t. peppermint oil (2 t. peppermint extract can be substituted)
4 c. powdered sugar (you may need slightly more if using peppermint extract instead of oil)

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, shortening, and peppermint oil with a mixer until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until well combined. (Dough will be soft and elastic.)
2. Roll dough into small balls, and place each ball on prepared baking sheet. Press fork into each ball to flatten. Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap, and chill mints overnight.