Here’s another simple “stocking Stuffer” like idea, if you are looking to make your own foodie Christmas presents this year: Chocolate-Covered Roasted Cashew + Pretzel Rounds Brittle. Takes less than 15 minutes to prepare, an hour to chill/harden and then voila! A homemade present! You can, of course, use other nuts, but I am definitely partial to cashews here. If you want to make them a little cinnamony, that might be a nice twist too.
sweets
I found a similar recipe using delicata squash a while back and have finally gotten around to trying it — and wow, I am actually impressed at how delicious and flavorful this is. I mean, it’s nothing like a pumpkin pie or anything, but it is delicious, and if you aren’t a “pie person” this might be a good option as a Thanksgiving Day dessert. Definitely serve with ice cream and still slightly warm. Yum.
As many of you know, I try to make many of my Christmas pressies myself (including of course, cookie madness!), so trying to get a head start on some, I made Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mix. Quite easy to make, though bashing the hard caramels to bits first with a meat mallet and then the food processor was loud! I put ratios in the recipe instead of exact measurements, in case you wanted to make a lot or a little.
Three things went into the making of these Swedish Sourdough Cardamom Buns: 1. despite the fact that I am baking like crazy with Cookie Madness, I have to still feed Alice in Wondoughland, 2. I was having not such a great day and needed to cheer myself up; baking usually does that and 3. I love — no, I mean love-love Cardamom. If you aren’t a sourdough person, there is a yeasted version of these Kardemummabullar on this site as well. In the meantime, I am going to try not to eat all of these in one sitting. Yummy.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving! Long time followers will know that I often make a few things ahead of the big foodie holiday. I also typically try a riff on your standard cranberry sauce. This year,I found some fantastic italian plums at their peek so I frozen them to add to this Plum Pear and Cranberry Chutney. It’s delicious, and while it doesn’t take very long to make, it’s nice to have it ticked off the list. Should stay good in the ridge until Christmas, if you don’t eat it all at Thanksgiving.