Homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream

Gran & Christmas cookies

My grandmother, "Gran" (technically, she was my step-mom's mom) got married to Gramps ...

And Gramps, of German descent, asked her their first Christmas together, "when are you going to start making Christmas cookies?"

She said, "what do you mean?"
He said, "you know, cookies you make at Christmas time."
Gran: I know, but what are they?
Gramps: Uhh...

He thought about it for quite a while to remember what was in his childhood... (his mother had been gone for a while at that point maybe, and he didn't have recipes I guess?)

So then he started describing some cookies to Gran. And I think she searched around and looked in cookbooks and asked friends... and came up with a compilation of Christmas cookies.

One really neat thing about my grandparents was they did everything they could to make each other happy. And I understand it now -- how important that is in a marriage.

Gran already loved to bake and was quite an accomplished baker. (I wish I had realized this when she was still around. What is it with kids who take their family for granted???)

So she took to making Christmas cookies with zeal. She made at least 15 types every Christmas.

My step-mom [Mom] and I can't quite hope to accomplish all that she did, so we have our favorites and make those every year.

Gramps really loved the Cherry Winks, so Mom used to make those for him as long as he stuck around. But he passed away last year the day before Thanksgiving. If I find the Cherry Wink recipe, I'll post it.

My favorite was always the Cathedral Windows. Mom doesn't know why I like them, she doesn't think they have much flavor. I love color! And they are always the prettiest cookies at any Christmas party on the plate. :) :)

And of course the Holly Berry Drops are really pretty on Christmas plates too - they are green! Last year for kicks I made a batch with a little cinnamon in the marshmallow and I added red food coloring instead of green. It was really great to have those on the Christmas plate too.

Mom's favorite are the Chow Mein Noodle Candy.

Last year I think I made about 6 batches in 4 weeks of those. And my 3 brothers & dad ate them so fast, we had none for Christmas!!

This year I've made 3 types already, and I am hoping to make the fudge again - that was really yummy! I also want to make the ginger cookies I have to find the recipe for then post on here...

Also, I need to post the cinnamon ice cream recipe and link where I got it from too...

Merry Christmas!!

Peppermint Candy Cookies

Ingredients:
Cookie dough:
1 cup soft butter (or margarine)
1/2 C sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 c all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup walnuts (or other nuts) finely chopped

Peppermint Fudge Filling
1/2 C crushed peppermint stick candy
1/2 C sifted confectioner’s sugar
2 T cream cheese
1 teaspoon milk
1/2 C sifted confectioner’s sugar
red food coloring

For the cookie dough, cream the butter. Add the 1/2 C sifted confectioner’s sugar and vanilla, creaming well. Blend-in the sifted flour and 1/2 C walnuts. Mix thoroughly. Cover; prepare Peppermint Fudge Filling. For the filling, combine the crushed peppermint stick candy and the 1/2 C sifted confectioner’s sugar. Set aside. Blend the cream cheese with the milk until smooth and creamy. Add another 1/2 C sifted confectioner’s sugar gradually; add the peppermint candy and confectioner’s sugar mixture (already combined), as well as one drop of red food coloring. Mix well.

Now, shape the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Make a deep hole in the center of each and fill with about 1/4th teaspoon of the filler. Reshape and seal. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Do not brown. While warm, roll in remainder of peppermint candy and confectioner’s sugar mixture. Cool; re-roll in candy mixture.

Choco-Mint Fudge

Recipe from Jodi's grandmother - Dorothy Loudon Peto "Gran"
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter or margarine
4 C sugar
Few grains of salt
1 can (1 2/3 C) evaporated milk
2 pkgs (12 oz. total) chocolate chips
1 jar marshmallow cream (7 1/2 oz.)
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 C chopped pecans

Mix sugar, salt, oleo, and evaporated milk in a large sauce pan. Cook and stir over low heat until dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook 7 minutes over medium heat – stirring continuously.

Remove from heat – add chocolate chips, marshmallow, and peppermint. Beat until smooth. Add pecans. Pour into a greased 9x12 pan.

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Notes by Jodi:
Pour into the greased 9x12 pan. Let it sit out in the kitchen by the window where the cold air is coming in even though the window is closed. Let it sit overnight.

Cut into bars or squares depending on how big you want the pieces of fudge.

Chocolate Cherry Bars

From Dorothy Loudon Peto "Gran" - my grandmother
(Yummy! – Gran)

Ingredients:
1 package fudge cake mix
1 can 21-oz cherry pie filling
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using solid shortening or margarine, grease and flour 15x10 or 9x13 jelly roll pan. In large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. By hand, stir until well mixed. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20-30 minutes.

While bars cool, prepare frosting.

Frosting:
1 cup sugar
5 T butter or margarine
1/3 cup milk
1 package (6-oz) semi-sweet chocolate pieces

In small saucepan, combine sugar, butter and milk. Boil, stirring constantly, one minute. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate pieces until smooth. Pour over partially cooled bars.

Makes 3 dozen bars.

Cathedral Windows

Ingredients:

1/4 lb - Margarine

12 oz - Chocolate Chips

1 cup - Chopped Walnuts

12 oz - Colored Mini Marshmallows

7 oz - Grated Coconut (optional)



Heat margarine and chocolate chips in the top pan of a double boiler over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Cool slightly. Put marshmallows and nuts in a large bowl. Stir in chocolate.

Tear five 9-inch sheets of waxed paper and sprinkle each generously with coconut. Divide dough into fifths and place each fifth on a sheet of waxed paper. Roll tightly into 2-inch diameter logs and refrigerate overnight. Before serving, unwrap from waxed paper and cut into 1/2" slices.

Makes about 60 pieces.

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We can't find the one my grandmother used to make, so I searched online to find a similar recipe last year. I found this one & made them. The cookies came out about the same. Same taste. I don't add the walnuts or coconut. My grandmother also used to make these in a glass baking pan - square - so the windows came out rectangular with a sprinkling of coconut on top. This recipe is for round cookies with coconut all over. I don't use the coconut, and I like the ease of the waxed paper. So this recipe is good enough for me. :)

Holly Berry Drops

From Dorothy Loudon Peto - Jodi's grandmother

Ingredients:

1 stick butter or margarine

32 large marshmallows

1 1/2 teaspoons green food coloring

3 cups corn flakes

Red cinnamon candies

Melt together the butter, marshmallows and the food color in a large pan. Remove from heat and add the corn flakes and then stir. Drop immediately by spoonful onto waxed paper. Shape with fingers and add 2 or 3 candies to each drop.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Chow Mein Noodle Candy

From Dorothy Loudon Peto (my grandmother)

Ingredients:

1 (12-ounce) package of chocolate chips

1 (12-ounce) package of butterscotch chips

1 cup salted nuts

2 (3 ounce) cans Chow Mein noodles

Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in top of double-boiler until creamy. Mix nuts and chow mein noodles in large bowl. Add to candy mixture. Stir carefully (noodles can break) until all are coated. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper covered surface. Cool until hard.


Jodi modifications:

2 (12 ounce) packages of chocolate chips

2 (12 ounce) packages of butterscotch chips

1 can of salted mixed nuts + a sprinkling of extra salt

1 12-ounce bag of Chow Mein noodles

Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in crock pot set on “low.” Stir every few minutes. It doesn’t take that long. Mix in the nuts and stir well. Add the chow mein noodles and stir carefully until all are dark with the chocolate. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper covering the dining room table. Cool until hard. This makes approximately 80 cookies.

Raspberry Squares

by Evelyn Snow Heckel

1 1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C quick-cooking oatmeal
1 C brown sugar
1 C melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 C walnuts chopped coarsely (or pecans)
3/4 C seeded raspberry jam

Bonne Maman raspberry preserves are good in this recipe.
Sift flour, soda, salt together. Add oatmeal chopped fine, brown sugar,
melted butter, and vanilla. Blend well. Add nuts. Press large half of
mixture (with spatula or piece of waxed paper) into 13x9x2 inch greased pan.

Cover with jam. Top with remaining flour mixture. (I have found it works
best to just sprinkle the flour mixture over the jam with your fingers. You
may think there is not enough to go around, but it does melt together while
cooking.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 23 minutes. When cool, cut into
small squares. Makes 40 squares.

These are delicious room temperature or cold and can be kept in a tight
container in a cold garage to save on refrigerator space. Enjoy!

My grandmother's cook book was called "More Fun with Cookies" and my parents
had it printed and sold at the Prin Book Store and some local book shops
sometime in the 70's. They are easy to make. Have fun.

Posted by Joan Snipes, from Mary Thompson

Eggnog Punch

1 3/4 - 2 quarts French vanilla or cinnamon ice cream
2 quarts dairy eggnog or canned eggnog - chilled (8 cups)
1 liter cream soda - chilled
Peppermint sticks, cinnamon sticks or candy canes (all are optional garnishes)

Place ice cream in an extra large punch bowl. Add 1/2 egg nog. Stir and mash mixture using a potato masher until ice cream is melted and it's well-combined. Stir in remaining egg nog. Slowly pour in cream soda, stir and combine.

To each glass, add a garnish (above). Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. (about 1/8 teaspoon per serving.)

Makes about 24 (6 oz) servings.

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I got this recipe from a Home and Garden, Dec, 2006 magazine while I sat in a salon today getting a pedicure. :)

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I made this for a church party in the punch bowl. I should have taken a funnel with me - I had a ton of punch left over & had to call my husband to bring a funnel. The people who actually tried it enjoyed it. Most folks didn't try it though - they had a pre-determined aversion to egg nog.

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I made my cinnamon ice cream from scratch because I didn't want to bother searching for it in the grocery stores. I used a recipe from Megnut.com -- will post that in a seperate place on this blog.

Pomegranite Tea

I got this recipe from a Home and Garden, Dec, 2006 magazine while I sat in a salon today getting a pedicure. :)

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3 Cups Water
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
4 regular tea bags or 1 family-sized tea bag
1 Cup Pomegranite juice
1/4 tsp almond extract
Lemon wedges (optional)
Raw sugar or brown sugar (optional)

1) In a medium sausepan, bring water and sugar to boil. Remove from heat. Add tea bag. Let it stand 30 minutes. Remove tea bag.

2) Add pomegranite juice and extract. Serve hot or iced. With lemon wedges. Sweeten to taste.

Makes 4 8 oz servings.

Leanne's Incredibly Easy, Non-Measured Smoothie

Makes 2 yummy smoothies

2-3 ice cubes
1 banana, frozen
a handful of frozen (organic if you can) berries, your choice (about
1/3 cup)
2 scoops protein powder (I use a vanilla whey protein powder)
1 10 ounce bottle of Stonyfield Farm low-fat yogurt smoothie (I use
vanilla mostly)
orange juice (just enough to add more liquid if you need it)

Put everything in a blender (I have a 450 watt blender that works
great!) and LET HER RIP!

COOKING NOTES:
For the berries option, you could use peaches, some more banana
whatever. Smoothies are pretty forgiving--the only necessary
component is frozen fruit to make it shake-like.

That's it. Pretty simple, isn't it? That's how easy breakfast can be
in the morning. This smoothie takes me all of two minutes to make.