The actual 2024 Kitchen Gifts list

 

 Above you see the tentative Kitchen Gifts list from this year.  We did multiple batches of the Eggnog Logs and  Sacher Torte Cookies, and Chocolate Mint Crisps   so we would have plenty for various giftees.

I made a batch of the Golden Apricot Cakes and found that using the bakeable paper loaf pans I got on sale at King Arthur worked very well.  I was able to make 4 little loaves (and really, they're not all that little).  As I mentioned previously, I liked these paper pans a lot.  They were easy to work with and fill, nice and sturdy, and the cakes baked well in them.  When cooled, it was an easy matter to just wrap them in foil -- not plastic wrap and then foil, as I would do with cakes baked in ceramic or metal pans and removed to cool on racks.   

I made two double batches of Christmas granola, I think, and gave two jars and one tin away as kitchen gifts.  

Holiday Special Fudge winged its way to Nevada as a seasonal kitchen gift.

I had BBQ Pecans on my tentative list, but then I found a recipe for Spicy Peanuts that looked easier and less expensive, so shifted gears on that one.

And I needed one more gift for a grandson who enjoys spicy condiments (like barbecue sauce) but buying one was iffy because he can't have high fructose corn syrup.  So I made him a jar of our favorite maple barbecue sauce (recipe to follow here at some point) and he seemed quite pleased with it.

And there we have the actual Kitchen Gifts list!

The actual 2024 Christmas candy list

 

-- Photo from a few years back -- Josiah making buckeyes, one of his favorite treats, in his own home kitchen --

I always like to review my lists and compare the tentative list I made before the holidays to what I actually did end up doing.

So below is my tentative candy list:

As you can see,  I had six different candies on this list.  Of these, we made only four: 

Multiple batches of Heavenly Delight fudge,  and there will be at least one more, since my hubby has a half can of evaporated milk to use up.

He made one batch of  Easy Salted Caramel Fudge which lived up to his original nickname for it of Tasty Disaster Fudge.  It's delicious though and everyone loves it, so he's planning to make another batch.  (Sugar fast on the horizon!)

He also made Special Holiday Fudge, a chocolate fudge filled with nuts and raisins.  It tastes somewhat like an old-fashioned Chunky bar. This year we experimented with using marshmallow fluff instead of the marshmallows it calls for.  It actually worked out better, so that is going to be a permanent change, and the Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme is available at the dollar store, which helps with cost too.

Of course we had to make Chocolate-Dipped Orange Slices since they have become such a favorite.  So easy!  Just dip orange slice candies from the supermarket into melted dark chocolate.  These are always a fun addition to a cookie tray. 

And we tried one candy that wasn't on the list: the ones made with a small pretzel topped with a Rolo candy.  AllRecipes calls them Rolo Pretzel Turtles.  We just used the recipe from the Rolo bag.  Mr. T and granddaughter Ari made these.  We used the square waffle style pretzels.  We didn't want to put pecan halves on every one, so we used red and green M&Ms on some.  They were very easy to make and very good, but the Rolos were outrageously expensive, so we probably wouldn't do that again unless we found a great sale.

And that was our Christmas candy making for this year!

Happy New Year!

  

A warm thank-you to everyone who visited my Christmas Kitchen in 2024, and especially during the busy and wonderful month of December!  I hope that each of you will have a happy, healthy, and spiritually prosperous new year.

Isn't the border around the vintage greeting above just precious?  Look at all of the little vignettes!  I love the skaters, the deer in the woods, and the lighted candle in particular.

I believe that God has already given me a word for the coming year, and will be sharing that once I've had time to get my thoughts in order concerning it.  And --like most of us -- I have many goals for the coming year, and I hope to articulate them and blog about them either here or over at my Kitchen Table blog.  One of my goals is to spend more time in my Christmas Kitchen in 2025, sharing projects, ideas and inspiration with all of you.  See you again soon!

A fun gift idea for kids -- shopping around a favorite color theme

 

 This year I found myself in need of one more gift for a young granddaughter.  After spending more than a little time trying to figure out what it should be, I remembered a few years ago (actually 2016) when we gave a color-themed gift basket to her brother as a birthday gift featuring things in his favorite color -- green.

The wrapped gift basket

Some of the gift items

That had gone over very, very well so I thought Ari might enjoy a similar gift.  The snag we ran into, when I asked her mom for her favorite color, was that her favorite color may vary from day to day.  Finally she was able to nail it down to either pink or purple on that particular day.  So I decided to shop for both pink and purple items.  

I was wrapping this in a hurry on Christmas Day, so I didn't get pictures of all the components.  But here are a few of the things I found:

Pink Lady apples
Himalayan pink salt popcorn
Purple notebook
Metallic purple sharpie
Pink and purple journal
Fanciful Christmas ornaments shaped like popsicles and ice cream cones (see the popsicle one at top)
Pink bottle brush trees
Chocolate kisses in pink package
Individual bags of snack mix in purple packaging
Pink scissors

There was more, but I can't remember it all.  I had hoped to find a nice long-sleeve tee or sweater in pink or purple to include, or a hat.  But this was so last-minute that I didn't find those things in her sizes.  

I was thankful to find a Christmas gift bag in pink, as you see at top.  I wrapped most of the items loosely in pink tissue paper.

This gift was a hit!  We had her guess the theme, which she was able to do quite quickly.  I highly recommend this gift idea for kids or even teens.

Gingerbread Eggnog Coffeecake

 

 Here is another scrumptious coffeecake recipe.  My regular readers likely know that I am very prone to take muffin recipes and turn them into coffee cakes.  I just don't like going to the trouble of lining or greasing muffin tins, or washing them afterwards.  

That's just what happened with this recipe.  My hubby was looking for a way to use up about a half cup of eggnog.  I remembered this recipe which I had printed out a  couple years ago from Taste of the Frontier, apparently now called Yummi Haus.  But when I mentioned I thought muffins were too much trouble, he said, "Let's turn it into a coffee cake!"  My lazy ways are rubbing off on him, I guess.  Well, this coffeecake turned out absolutely delicious.  He took some to an outdoor event on Saturday, and came back with an empty plate and a request for the recipe.  So I knew my readers would like it too!

GINGERBREAD EGGNOG COFFEECAKE

Ingredients

Coffeecake

1 3/4 cups flour 

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup eggnog

1/3 cup molasses 

1 large egg

Streusel topping

2 tablespoons melted butter 

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar 

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze

1/2 cup confectioners sugar 

1 to 2 tablespoons eggnog

Pinch of nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2.   Grease a 13x9 pan with cooking spray 

3.  Sift together dry ingredients for coffeecake — flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.

4.  In mixing bowl combine cooled melted butter, eggnog, and molasses.  Add the dry ingredients and then the egg, beating until just combined.

5.Pour batter into prepared pan.

6.  For streusel, melt butter in small bowl.  Add flour, brown sugar and cinnamon; stir with a fork until crumbly.

7.  Sprinkle streusel evenly on top of coffeecake batter in pan.

8.  Bake 30 minutes at 350º or until toothpick test is clean.

9.  Allow cake to cool completely.  

10.  Whisk the glaze ingredients together and drizzle over cooled coffeecake.

 

And there is a very delicious Gingerbread Eggnog Coffeecake for your enjoyment!

Thinking ahead for spiritual growth in the new year

 

I don't have a Sunday Scripture for you today, but I thought I'd share a few thoughts about spiritual growth.

We're just a few days from the eve of a new year.  I'm not sure how 2024 flew past as it did, but it's gone.  It's that time again when we consider goals or resolutions for the coming year.  I prefer goals, personally.  It seems to me that resolutions can easily be broken (and discarded), but a goal is something you can keep working at even if you fall a little short of it at times.  Even if you don't fully realize a goal, you make progress toward it.  When I set goals for a new year, spiritual goals are always included. 

Our former pastor of many years always taught us (and very accurately, too) that there is no standing still in the Christian life.  We're either moving forward or we're moving backward.  That has always stuck with me through the years and I have seen it proved true over and over.  

So aiming for ongoing spiritual growth is very, very important and I find the start of a new year to be the perfect time to make a plan for it.  As the old saying goes, if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time.  So in every area of life, I try to aim at something, no matter how small it may seem.

I haven't fully formulated my spiritual goals for this year (more to come on that later), but here are a few of my plans for growth:  

🌲 To read through the Bible using a one-year chronological Bible.

🌲 To continue working on Bible studies. My current one is the Daily Grace Co. study of Habakkuk.

🌲 To continue studying Psalms in preparation for my Sunday Scripture posts on my Kitchen Table blog.

🌲 To continually add to my prayer journal in support of a more effective prayer life.

🌲 To grow through the Jim Berg video series we're studying in the adult Sunday School class.  Not just viewing the videos, but studying the lessons and doing the memory work.

🌲 To prepare to teach a ladies' Sunday School class when the video series finishes in a few months.

🌲 To fellowship with our church family and our Christian friends at every opportunity.

May I encourage you to aim for greater spiritual growth in the New Year?  You will not regret having done so.

Pepparkakor Spritz

 

And one more cookie recipe!  We tried this recipe in a previous year (2015) and I mentioned it in passing, but never blogged about it.  This cookie recipe is one of the many excellent ones in this classic baking book from the 1950s -- Best Loved Foods of Christmas -- the very one that came out every Christmas of my childhood as my mother began to plan her kitchen gifts.

I love my regular Pepparkakor recipe (for cutout cookies) 

and am probably not ever going to replace it with these pressed ones.  My regular recipe calls for the rind and juice of an orange, and I love that flavor component.  But the taste is very similar and very festive. My hubby enjoyed trying different shapes with the cookie press for this one, and he sprinkled them with red sugar.  

This is a delicious and somewhat different spritz variation!