Brilliantly Easy Holiday Recipes

November 27th, 2007, 06:48 PM

I'll get us started with one of my fave recipes that impresses, yet is simple to make.

3 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c white chocolate chips
3 c powdered sugar
1/4 c butter
1 c Bailey's Irish Cream
1 1/2 c nuts, chopped -- optional
Truffle Topping:
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c white chocolate chips
4 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream
2 tbsp butter -- cut in pieces

Melt chocolates with butter until chocolates are soft enough to stir smooth. Do not overheat.
Add chocolate/butter mixture to powdered sugar and Baileys. Stir until smooth, add nuts and mix well. Place fudge in an 8" X 8" pan, oiled. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on top and gently press to smooth fudge.

Truffle Topping:
Melt chocolates until soft. Remove from heat. With a fork, beat in butter and Baileys until smooth. Spread topping over fudge with knife. If a very smooth top is desired, place plastic wrap over top as in above. Refrigerate until firm; 1-2 hours.
Can be frozen.

Using All semi-sweet chips (instead of white chocolate) will yield a deeper, darker fudge.

I have personally found that this fudge does not keep overly long. It starts to get dry and crumbly, no matter how you store it, within about a week. But, having it around for more than a week is usually only an issue if you make two or more batches.

November 27th, 2007, 07:45 PM

Here is a simple dessert that can make you look like a genius

Chocolate Cream Cake

Two packages chocolate wafers
375 ml whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
an ounce or two of brandy
Shaved dark chocolate

Whip the cream until almost stiff. add sugar. continue whipping untill quite stiff.

Using a wide knife spread a quarter to a half an inch of whipped cream on a wafer. lay another wafer on the cream on the first wafer. Add another dollup of cream on the second wafer and add another wafer. Do this until the wafers stand by themselves on a cake plate. Keep on adding cream and wafers until you finish a row across the plate. Start and finish another row beside the first. Add two more rows of wafers and cream. Try to make the cake reasonably square but don't worry if it is not.
Sprinkle the brandy lightly over the cake. Use the rest of the whipped cream to cover the whole cake. Shave dark chocolate on top of the cake.
Let cake sit in fridge for at least three hours,
Cut the cake across a corner before you bring it to the table so you get an attractive striped effect from the wafers and cream. Continue cutting at the table.
Don't tell anybody that it took fifteen minutes to make...

Cheers

PS: The chocolate wafers absorb a bit of moisture from the cream and soften and expand a bit to end up like cake that took a lot more work.

November 28th, 2007, 10:48 AM

A question

Is there such a thing as a bad pecan pie?
I have had pecan pie in all manner of restaurants, coffee shops, etc. In Nanaimo, the best I've found is at the Crow and Gate pub but pecan pie is like sex.....It's all good....some is better.....


PS: My own pecan pie is really the best

November 28th, 2007, 11:03 AM

Here's an easy appetizer.

Ingred:
raw broccoli (one head)
raw carrots (a pound should do it)
raw cauliflower (one head)
dry ranch dressing mix
16 oz cream cheese
soft large tortillas

Grate veggies fine in food processor or blender and mix together with dressing mix and cream cheese. Spread mixture over tortillas and roll up like a jelly role. Slice and serve cold.

Be sure and role them really tight. It helps if you have time to do it the night before and slice just before serving.

This is also good with a filling of crushed pineapple, corned beef, and cream cheese. Forego the dressing mix.

November 28th, 2007, 11:04 AM

Here is my contribution:

Single Malt Scotch

Fill glass with 1.5 ounces of single malt scotch

enjoy!

November 28th, 2007, 11:09 AM

Sounds good Triedit
Do you use "spreadable" cream cheese or the ordinary?

November 28th, 2007, 11:16 AM

Take your pick.... http://www.scotchwhisky.net/distilleries/index.php

November 28th, 2007, 11:17 AM

Coke in a glass with a straw

Here's a simple recipe for the holiday season. It will make you look like a genius. lmfao.

Here's what you'll need:

1 Can of Coke (You may substitute the can for a bottle)
1 Glass
1 Straw

Step 1

Gather up all of the ingredients.

Step 2

Open bottle or can of Coca-Cola and pour contents into glass.

Step 3

Insert straw into glass.

Step 4

Suck.





It's a timeless holday tradition for my family and many others. Coca-Cola. It's the real thing.

November 28th, 2007, 11:20 AM

So many choices... I would like to sample all of them.

November 28th, 2007, 12:28 PM

Easy Sausage rolls

One package uncooked breakfast sausage(usully 14 - 16 sausages)
One package puff pastry....or make ordinary pie crust

Put sausage in frying pan. cover with water and poke each sausage with a fork several times.
Simmer sausage for twenty minutes. Drain, allow to cool.

Roll out pastry dough to about an eighth of an inch thick. Cut pastry in strips as wide as the sausages are long. Cut strips just long enough to wrap sausage with about a half an inch overlap. Wet the underside of overlap with water and seal

Place sausage rolls on cooky sheet with seam side down. Cook at 400 degrees F. for eight to ten minutes.

Serve just warm

PS: The sausage rolls can be cut in half carefully just before cooking to make twice as many.

November 28th, 2007, 12:41 PM

Oh, pig in a blanket..... or is that with weiners?

November 28th, 2007, 01:34 PM

I use the regular cream cheese....

November 28th, 2007, 02:10 PM

Looks kinds small to me, not that there is anything wrong with that.

November 28th, 2007, 02:13 PM

You probably have a few years of Scotch drinking on me.

November 28th, 2007, 02:17 PM

Mine is something to add that little extra to something.

Whiskey Tomatoes

A couple of nice ripe tomatoes diced or chunked.
tbs Fresh Basil chopped
Pinch of salt
Pepper to taste.
tbs EV olive oil
2 oz single malt Whiskey.
I prefer Bushmills Black Bush Irish Whiskey.

Top an omelette, or eggs benny, Pasta, pork or potatoes.
Anything you want to add a little zing to.

November 28th, 2007, 02:19 PM

What, you mean today?

November 28th, 2007, 02:57 PM

Bacon wrapped dates (wrap pitted dates in bacon, skewer with toothpick, bake @350)

Bacon wrapped water chestnuts (same deal as the dates, but you can marinate the chestnuts in garlic and soy if you like, or not)

mini shrimp kabobs....

one package cooked shrimp, one can maraschino cherries, one can pineapple chunks. skewer a maraschino cherry, a shrimp (with tail pinched off), and a pineapple chunk. Plate up and serve.

I love the easy things!

November 28th, 2007, 04:08 PM

Kerrie, you're like a question wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in bacon.

ummmmmm bacon glaglaglaglagla