Holiday baking

[_zeezrom]

Today is banana bread. What are you baking this fine, Christmas season?

[_Sethbag]

Are you pre-heating that pizza stone before putting the bread pans on it? I'm curious. Those loaves look really good!

For Thanksgiving I made a dessert I called "Apple Goot". My wife's family has a traditional dessert called "Berry Goot" which is essentially a graham cracker crust with a 1/4" or so layer of a cheesecake filling on top of that, topped with blueberry pie filling and whipped cream.

I took the recipe and modified as follows. I made the crust using two parts crushed (in a blender) Ginger Snap cookies, one part crushed graham crackers. I added a bunch of cinnamon to the cheesecake filler. I used apple pie filling on top of that, and I skipped the whipping cream in favor of a light dusting of crushed graham crackers. Whipping cream was available on the side for those who wanted it.

I'm happy to say that my Apple Goot was a smashing success.

I have somewhat of a reputation for experimenting with the Goot tradition ever since, around 15-18 years ago, I took a failed batch of fudge one of my SILs had made (it failed to set up into a dry solid, so a piece of this fudge would "slump" if left to sit on a plate, and it was still sticky). I made the familiar graham cracker crust and cheesecake filler of the Berry Goot recipe, and then spread this failed fudge recipe on top of that. I called this recipe the "Wrath of Goot". It went over extremely well with the family, as I recall. I shall have to reprise this recipe sometime.

[_zeezrom]

Sethbag, that sounds delightful. Yum.

Yes I heat the stone first. We bought it for pizzas and just keep it in there.

[_Blixa]

I wish I had some pics but I don't... I've been cooking up ribsticking comfort foods: meatloaf, various casseroles and mac n' cheese...

[_Blixa]

I may make some of this...aged in brandy:

[_MCB]

I just started a batch of this:

Rice pudding

Mix in crock-pot:
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup dry milk
1/2 cup sugar (sweetener would do well to further reduce the sugar content)
generous squeeze of vanilla
15 oz tub of low-fat ricotta cheese

Add and stir in:
3/4 cup white rice
generous amount of raisins

Set your crock pot on high, stir after an hour.
Let cook another hour or so, and enjoy.

[_Doctor Steuss]

Ozark Pudding.

I had heard about it on NPR (a special on Presidential dishes -- If I recall correctly, this was one of Truman's favorites), and recently made it for the first time. Definitely needs some fine tuning (maybe a little cinnamon, nutmeg, and another 1/3 cup of finely chopped pecans on the top). Right out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and it’s almost a mind-altering experience of delicious goodness.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/puddin ... 30620j.htm

[_Quasimodo]

Fruit cake. Not the one that everyone gives as gifts and that usually end up being used as door stops. This is the real deal that everyone that tastes, loves.

My mother's recipe and done under her close supervision. She's 92 now and no longer can do the heavy lifting required. I provide the grunt work and she directs.

Maybe we'll have a shot at plum puddings, as well.

[_beastie]

Homemade sticky buns for Xmas morning. My famous chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate cherry cake. Lots of carb loading, obviously.

[_Morley]

I may make some of this...aged in brandy:

This weekend, I'll start on a variation of this recipe from a dear friend. (She's one of a group of good friends I've never met in real life).


Grandma Laura's Brandy Fruit Cake

1 cup cooking oil
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups candied cherries (sliced in half or diced. Save few whole ones to decorate the top of the cake)
1 1/2 cups candied pineapple
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup currants
3 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (or pecans or both)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 cup (apricot, peach or unflavored) brandy

Heat oven to 275 degrees. Line loaf pans with lightly greased brown paper. Combine oil, sugar, eggs and beat two minutes. In a large bowl combine 1 cup flour with fruit and nuts. Sift rest of flour with baking powder, salt, spices. Stir into oil mixture alternating with brandy. Pour batter over fruit and mix well. Turn into pans. Place pans inside larger shallow baking pan filled with water and place this on the lower rack. Bake cakes 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Cool on wire rack before removing from pans and peeling off paper. Wrap each loaf in a large piece of cheesecloth soaked in brandy. Then wrap in foil. Store in a cool place for three weeks, each week take out and re-wrap with fresh brandy cheesecloth.