A sampling of Christmas recipes from The Zondervan Family Cookbook
Christmas Breakfast
Serves 5 or 6
1 pound sausage
5 slices cubed white bread
5 ounces grated cheddar cheese
5 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Saute sausage until no longer red. Drain fat. Layer bread, sausage and cheese in a buttered 9" X 13" baking dish. Mix together eggs, milk, salt and mustard, and pour over ingredients in baking dish (If using a multiple of recipe or a different sized dish, make sure baking dish is no more than 3/4 full.) Cover and refrigerate overnight, if desired. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until set.
Christmas Porridge
serves 6-8
1 cup white rice, uncooked
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
4 cups whole milk
1 stick cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cover the rice with water, add salt and butter, and cook at a rapid boil for ten minutes. Add milk and cinnamon stick and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, until milk is absorbed. Near the end of the cooking time add sugar and vanilla. Serve in dessert bowls while hot. Top with butter, sugar, and cinnamon.
Fructsoppa (Swedish Fruit Soup)
serves 4 to 6
1 cup dried apricots
3/4 cup dried apples
1/2 cup pitted dried prunes
1/2 cup seedless raisins
2 quarts water
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons quick tapioca
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 cup raspberry or strawberry juice
whipped cream
slivered blanched almonds
Soak apricots, prunes and raisins in water for 2 hours. Without draining, add sugar, tapioca, cinnamon stick, cloves and orange peel. Bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, until fruits are very tender. Remove from heat and add raspberry or strawberry juice. (You may want to remove cinnamon stick and cloves at this point.) Chill. To serve, top with whipped cream sprinkled with slivered blanched almonds.
Holiday Cranberry Salad
This is best made a day ahead.
Equal portions of the following:
cranberries, ground (frozen or fresh)
pecans, chopped
apples, chopped (a tart variety)
crushed pineapple, well drained
sugar
Combine, cover and refrigerate until served.
Wassail (WAH-sul)
about 16 servings
1 gallon apple cider
1 cup brown sugar
1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate*
1 (6 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate*
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
cinnamon sticks
lemon slices
In a large kettle, combine cider, sugar, lemonade and orange juice contrates. In a piece of cheesecloth, tie together cloves and allspice and add to cider mixture. Add nutmeg, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Remove cheesecloth bag. Serve hot. Decorate with cinnamon sticks and lemon slices.
*Editor's Note: The recipe can be made either by using the concentrates undiluted (as in the original recipe) or diluted according to directions on the cans. We tested it both ways and both were delicious. The undiluted version is just more powerful!
Weinacht* Stollen (*Christmas, in German)
Makes one large stollen or two smaller ones
1 cup milk
1/2 sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages yeast
5 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup (1/2 pound) butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup citron, finely chopped
1/2 cup glace cherries, sliced
1 cup sliced blanched almonds (optional)
1 cup raisins
grated peel of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
melted butter
confectioners sugar
Scald milk, add sugar and salt, and let cool to warm. Dissolve yeast in warm water. To cooled milk add dissolved yeast, nutmeg, and 1 cup of flour. Beat until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Add 3/4 cup of the butter (reserving 1/4 cup), beaten eggs, citron, cherries, almonds, raisins and grated lemon peel. Stir in 3 more cups of flour and turn out on a floured surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes) using as much of the remaining flour as needed. Let dough rest for 5 minutes, then roll out into one 12" X 18" oval or two 15" X 9" ovals. Spread remaining 1/4 cup of butter on oval(s) and sprinkle with a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Fold dough over like an omelet and place on a greased cookie sheet. Curve ends slightly to form a crescent. Brush top(s) with melted butter, cover and let rise until doubled. Bake at 350F for 25 to 35 minutes for smaller stollen, 35 to 40 minutes for large, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and dust with confectioners sugar.
Flemish Almond Cookies
These cookies are very crisp and sweet, almost like candy.
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups brown sugar
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Cream together butter and brown sugar. Sift flour, soda, and cinnamon together, and mix with creamed mixture until combined and crumbly. Stir in boiling water, then slivered almonds. Form into long rolls about 2 1/2" in diameter and wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze until ready to bake.
Slice thin and bake on a greased baking sheet at 350F for about 11-12 minutes, until golden brown. Watch very carefully during final minutes as they burn easily.
Banket (BON-kett)
A traditional Dutch holiday favorite
Pastry:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
2 cups butter or margerine (or half of each)
1 scant cup cold water
Paste Filling:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 pound almond paste, crumbled
Glaze:
1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water
sugar
To prepare pastry sift together flour and soda. Cut in water until crumbly. Stir in water. Stir thoroughly. Prepare paste filling by mixing together eggs and sugar. Add almond paste. Mix well and chill thoroughly.
When ready to use, cut pastry into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into an oblong 5" X 18" strip. Divide paste filling into 8 portions and arrange one portion along the center of the length of each pastry strip. Bring pastry edges together to form rolls and seal edges and ends well.
Place the rolls on cookie sheets, 4 to a sheet, with space between them so sides will brown. Brush each roll with egg and water mixture and sprinkle with a little sugar.
Rolls should be frozen before baking to get a flaky pastry. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, then at 350F until nicely browned, about 30 minutes. The baked rolls can be frozen after they have cooled. Wrap well in plastic or aluminum foil.
Twyla's Christmas Fruit Cake
2 cups butter
3 cups brown sugar
6 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup brandy
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon]
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon mace
1 teaspoon soda
2 teaspoons warm water
1 cup cooked or canned prunes, pitted and drained
1 cup spiced gum drops, cut up with scissors
1 pound raisins
1 pound dried currants
1 or 2 cups walnut pieces
Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in beaten egg yolks, molasses and brandy. Sift together and add flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and mace. Mix well. Mix soda with warm water and stir in. Add prunes, gum drops, raisins, currants and walnuts. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Line various greased baking pans or coffee cans with parchment paper. Fill 2/3 full and bake at 325F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pans, peel off paper. Cool and store wrapped in foil or in tightly covered cans.
