Favorite Christmas dessert?

[highplainsdem]

Mine is cheesecake. Once upon a time I might bake one or two. These days I take the easy way out and get the trays with slices in a variety of flavors.

[Phoenix61]

1. My homemade fruitcake and gingerbread cookies. nt

[highplainsdem]

2. Sounds wonderful!

[rsdsharp]

3. Two favorites from childhood: Santa face sugar cookies,

and gingerbread boys. When I was a kid we would hand frost with table knives. Today my wife, daughter and the grandkids do them with piping bags.

The MUST be done the same way every year. The Santa’s have red caps, white beards, blue eyes and a red mouth. The gingerbread boys have three white buttons, each with a red hot candy, yellow caps, mittens and boots, and blue eyes and a red mouth.

[highplainsdem]

4. Wow! Don't think I've ever seen such carefully decorated Christmas cookies. Homemade ones, anyway.

[Wicked Blue]

5. The Jello-cranberry thing I make

Cranberry Jello Salad

2 small boxes black cherry Jello (or strawberry)
2 cups boiling water
1 15-oz can whole berry cranberry sauce, chilled
1 1/2 cups cold cranberry juice
1 large (15 oz) can mandarin orange slices packed in juice (or two small cans), chilled
1 very small carton heavy cream for whipping (or Cool Whip) chilled.
You can also add a tablespoon or two of lingonberry jam if you have it.

Chill an empty bowl for the cream to be whipped in.
Empty the Jello into a large heat-proof bowl.
Boil water and measure 2 cups into the bowl.
Stir thoroughly until Jello is completely dissolved.
Add the cold cranberry juice and stir.

Cover and refrigerate for an hour or two, until the Jello is halfway set.
Add cranberry sauce and drained mandarin slices to the Jello.
Use an electric mixer on low speed to chop up and mix in the fruit. Don't overmix - you want pieces of fruit visible. I use a hand blender
Clean the mixer beaters and dry them.
Pour cream in the pre-chilled bowl and whip until it forms peaks. You can also use Redi-Whip
Fold the whipped cream into the Jello mixture. Then blend the cream and Jello until it is pink all through, but with small bits of fruit.
Put it in a nice serving bowl, refrigerate (with plastic wrap over it) until set (about 1 hour), and serve.

[highplainsdem]

9. This also sounds very good. I have family members who really love Jello salads.

[Tetrachloride]

6. Popcorn, butter, black pepper

[highplainsdem]

10. Really interesting. I've never tried black pepper on popcorn, was just googling it.

[Tetrachloride]

13. Go for a test run on a small bowl. Then you know.

ps. never add sugar.

Lawry salt was another popular version as a kid

[yellowdogintexas]

7. German Chocolate Cake we always had it for Christmas

second favorite: coconut cake and a cup of boiled custard with flavoring* added.


*Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

[highplainsdem]

11. Love both German chocolate cake and coconut cake, any time of year.

And that custard with whiskey added sounds enticing.

I like rum cake, too. And one year I made a brandied fruitcake torte, several layers, that came out way too sweet. Not sure if the recipe was bad or if I'd made a mistake after drinking some of the brandy while I was making the torte.

[wnylib]

8. Why make dessert when there are

Christmas cookies and boxes of chocolates on hand for the holiday? Take it easy after all the Christmas hustle and bustle for weeks.

[highplainsdem]

12. I like cookies, chocolates, and especially fudge with walnuts. But it's nice to have a special

dessert after dinner.

And as I said in the OP, I no longer bake that dessert myself. Easier to buy it...

[wnylib]

19. True. I find that, now that I'm older

it's a nice convenience to buy things that we used to make ourselves.

[electric_blue68]

14. Just about anything dark chocolate! 😄 ...

Cake, chocolate chip & chocolate chocolate chip cookies, eclairs, chocolate ice cream...
Chocolate with raspberries
[NO chocolate covered cherries]
Pecan pie
Lemon cake, lemon tart are nice, too.

[highplainsdem]

15. All sound delicious!

[electric_blue68]

20. Ty! And cheesecake various varieties are delicious, too. 👍

[applegrove]

16. Cantley pudding: a cranberry Christmas Pudding with not much sugar.

Then you drissle a buttery sweet sauce on top. The sour cranberries and sweet butter sauce mix in your mouth. It is like an explosion of flavor.

[highplainsdem]

17. Never heard of that before! It sounds fabulous!

[applegrove]

18. I will ask my aunt for the recipe again and share it here. Unfortunately

we can't go over for Christmas dessert this year because of covid.

[highplainsdem]

22. I'm so sorry you couldn't see her this year. But I appreciate your getting the recipe from her,

and I want to post the link to your GD topic with the recipe here:

https://democraticunderground.com/100216183119

[applegrove]

24. Thanks. I wanted to get it to as many as possible but forgot about your thread. Thanks

Last edited Sun Dec 26, 2021, 04:43 PM - Edit history (1)

for fixing that.

[3catwoman3]

21. My own Spritz butter cookies.

We also like Claxton fruit cake.

[highplainsdem]

23. Both sound very good. My mom always made those cookies.

[smirkymonkey]

25. I am not a huge dessert fan, but there are a few things I will make an exception for.

One of them is Russian Tea Cakes (or some people think of them as Snowballs or Mexican Wedding Cookies, basically the same recipe). Anyway, they were always my favorite to make when I was a child, which was kind of unusual because they aren't terribly sweet, but they are very buttery and melt in your mouth.

Also, they are usually made with walnuts or pecans. I think I like pecans better. You can also use hazelnuts or even add dried fruit. I think cranberries or currants are the best, but I prefer them without fruit. However, almost any variety will please me!

I am one of those people who likes things that are on the "sweet-ish side" but not sickeningly sweet, which is why I like a lot of European-type cookies and desserts. They just aren't overwhelming and cloyingly sugary. I always feel like Mr. Creosote whenever I have even a bite of desserts like that. It just pushes me over the edge.