| This is not the prettiest-looking slice of pie in the universe. It is not neat. It is not symmetrical. But it is delicious. This is a real pie filling, in a real pastry shell, and when you eat it you are eating a real pie. |  |
| Jocelyn’s posted before about how to make wassail, a wonderful wintry drink made of spicy fruit juices. So, you know, naturally, I’m posting a new, low-sugar version in April, which in Texas is nice warm weather even in the wake of polar vortexes. 🙂 |  |
| See, my big not-so-secret secret is that I don’t have a pioneering thought in my head. 🙂 Jocelyn posts kolaches? I post kolaches. Jocelyn posts cinnamon rolls? I post cinnamon rolls. Jocelyn posts homemade chocolate? I post homemade chocolate. I’d be lost without my guru. |  |
These gingerbread cookies are quite tasty, and very fun. Since sugar cookies are almost impossible to make without refined white sugar (I mean really, what’s the point? They’re called SUGAR cookies, for goodness sake–they have butter, enough flour to hold them together, and sugar. Oh, and vanilla if you’re feeling fancy, and maybe an egg. Maybe.), these are the go-to “I want to use cookie cutters!” cookies at our house.
I love pumpkin bread, and if I made a loaf that Sean couldn’t have I’d almost certainly eat the whole thing by myself in just a couple of days. Since this is a really bad idea (:D) I figured
I’d best reinvent it.
Caramel corn. I love the stuff. I love it oh so much. I have to cut myself off, and it doesn’t always work. Sean’s dad makes really great
traditional caramel corn, but of course the usual recipe has massive amounts of corn syrup, which Sean can’t have. So, I have invented a new version. It is delicious, if I do say so myself, and has Sean’s stamp of approval as well.
Happy Epiphany of the Lord! Some folks make a cakey-cake for this, with a batter. However, most of the recipes I found are for a sweetened yeast bread with sprinkles on top, and that’s what I did. It’s really tasty, and turned out the first time, YAY! So, I hope this graces your Christmas season and pleases your friends. Just try to remember where you stuck the “baby” so you get a night off from hosting parties afterward :D.
I had never heard of wassail before the first cold day (after we were living in an apartment) in Irving, TX when Jennifer mentioned that it sounded like a tasty treat for such a nippy day. Apparently it’s a common holiday treat for her family. My family always tended more toward punch or hot chocolate, or maybe spiced cider, so I’d never heard of it. However, we made some and I decided it was quite nice :D. And, because it has so much fruit juice in it already, it was quite easy to adapt to use honey instead of white sugar. In this case the honey flavor is subsumed in the spices, and it just lends a nice light sweetness to the overall drink.
Yes, it is entirely the wrong time of year for pumpkin pie. After all, fall doesn’t even start for another month, and Thanksgiving is two months beyond that! I say, what of it? Okay, yes,
I’m not just being odd, there is a a real reason you’re getting a pumpkin pie recipe in August: my family is moving very soon and I have to use up my stores in the freezer. That means that the pumpkin puree that I made after Halloween and didn’t get to use for Thanksgiving needs to be used up or thrown out. I voted for pie over throwing it out, so here you go!
Happy New Year!
As a kid, eggnog from the store was a holiday staple in my house. As a matter of fact, my younger brothers still get very distressed if there is no eggnog purchased at various points during the Christmas and New Year’s period :-). I liked it okay, but it was rather cloyingly sweet, and such a funny shade of yellow. I’d never made eggnog from scratch until after I met Sean. You see, though you occasionally run across a sugar-free eggnog in stores (though it isn’t common where I’ve shopped), it is nasty. Sean actually didn’t really remember what eggnog was, so I took a stab at making him some. I didn’t let it get hot enough the first time I tried it, so it didn’t thicken properly, but my attempts this past holiday season have thickened up much more nicely. So, here I share the fruits of my labor with you!
