Wisdom From Grandma

With Thanksgiving now a fond memory, I begin collecting recipes to try for the next holiday, Christmas. This Festive Christmas Bread recipe seems interesting. Has anyone tried it?

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups flour
2/3 cups brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter
½ cup chopped nuts
1 jar (10 ounce size) maraschino cherries

Directions:

Drain cherries and reserve 4 tablespoons juice. Roughly chop cherries and set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. In a separate bowl cream together butter, sugar, eggs and the 4 tablespoons cherry juice. Mix well until fully combined. Add the butter and sugar mix to the flour mixture and mix well. Then gently fold in chopped cherries and nuts.

Lightly grease a 9-inch loaf pan and scoop batter into pan, spread evenly.

Bake bread in a preheated oven at 350F for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden and baked through. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes.

This recipe for Spiced Apple Muffins is great for snacks or an on the go breakfast during the holidays.

TIP: Before adding walnuts, separate out enough batter to make a small pan of nutless muffins for friends and family who don’t like the taste of walnuts. In my family, several people actually have a sensitivity to these nuts.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 cup peeled and grated/shredded apple
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions:
In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix in brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk and butter. Mix well. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix (do not over mix). Fold in apples and walnuts (if using). Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin tin. Bake in preheated oven at 350F for approximately 20 minutes or until golden and baked through. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

If you have family coming from out of town to spend the night, you’ll need to serve them breakfast. However, when you’re already trying to cook a half dozen dishes for Thanksgiving dinner, who has time to make complicated breakfast dishes? Try this Easy Cinnamon Roll recipe for an easy and delicious breakfast treat.

TIP: Make sure you start this recipe two hours before you plan to serve breakfast. It’s easy and doesn’t take up a lot of actual prep time, but it is not fast. The dough will need to rise before you can make the rolls.

Ingredients:

1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed
2/3 cups brown sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

Roll dough into a rectangle shape and brush with the melted butter. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts then layer over dough. Then starting with the long end, roll the dough up into a log. Moisten edges with a little water to seal.

Then cut roll into slices. Place rolls into lightly buttered cake pans and set aside at room temperature. Allow to rise for approximately 1 ½ hours (dough will have doubled). Finally pour the heavy cream over rolls and bake at 350F for approximately 25 to 30 minutes.

Combine sugar, milk and vanilla and drizzle over rolls during the last 5 minutes of baking.