The festiveness of the holidays is upon us and it's time to make a plan of attack. What to serve? How to serve it? What I am bringing where? And how the heck am I going to feed all these people?
Anyway, I'm hardly the first one who thought of this but it's a staple around here during the holiday season. This is one of those great, quick appetizers you make in a moments notice. Stock your fridge with a few logs of goat cheese (it lasts a long time), some dried cranberries and shelled pistachios.
The sweet cranberries, salty nuts and earthy taste of the goat cheese are a great combination.
If you have unexpected guests, or have to work late before a party and don't want to show up empty handed...this is perfect. Also, if you have to travel a long way and need something to hold up in the car....this works well. Even if you have planned every detail down to the millisecond, this is still the perfect appetizer to put out for your guests.
Holiday Goodies
Holiday Goodies
All Hail the King Cake
This morning as I was headed to work wishing that I was celebrating Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, Mobile, Venice, or anywhere other than snowy New York; I walked past the local bakery where I was aghast to see a King Cake for sale in the window for $65 dollars!
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of a King Cake, it is a fairly simple brioche pastry twisted into a wreath and decorated with multi-hued icing in colors of purple, green and gold.
The delicacy (and I use the word in jest) is sometimes filled with cream cheese or cinnamon, but the true secret to a King Cake is that baked somewhere inside is a tiny plastic baby and the person who finds the trinket, and hopefully doesn't swallow it, is considered king for the day.
A French tradition that in this country is centered around Mardi Gras, King Cake is eaten during the pre-Lenten hurrah right up through Fat Tuesday, the final day in while unbridled Bacchanalian abandon is allowed to continue.
Cocktails & Cookies Christmas Extravaganza
"The holiday season would be unthinkable - and a bit unbearable - without plenty of goodies, both sweet and intoxicating. Hear are some of our favorite recipes, some classic, some simple, all sure to put you in the Christmas spirit."
Cashew Linzer Cookie Wreaths
Chocolate Souffle Cookies
Italian Pizzelle Cookies
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Mocha Kissy Cookies
Mocha Mint Biscotti
Valerie's Neapolitan Cookies
Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti
Rice Krispie Coconut Snowballs
Sugarplums
Buche de Noel with Chestnut Filling
Best Red Velvet Cupcakes
Double-Chocolate Peppermint Bark
Homemade Chocolate Truffles
Candy Cane Martini | Champagne Punch | Cranberry-Spiced Martini |
Eskimo Kiss | Happy Elf
Haute Holiday | Holiday Pomtini | Hot Buttered Rum | Matt's Winter Cocktail | Mulled Wine
The Silver Bell | Spiced Mulled Cider | White Christmas Cocktail
How to Make Italian Pepper Biscuits
Now you may be asking yourself, "what is a pepper biscuit?" This recipe was my grandmother's original and has been in the family for over 80 years. It's a savory Italian biscuit made primarily of flour, olive oil, black pepper, and fennel seeds. They can be found in many Italian delis and are usually ring-shaped biscuits that have been boiled.
My family's pepper biscuits are baked instead of boiled. When you bite into one, you'll find the texture to be satisfyingly crisp and slightly crumbly. They're all-occasion biscuits too. Serve them as a part of an antipasto. Crumble them into "croutons" for a unique salad topping. Or savor them with a hot espresso or tea.
Pepper biscuits make great easy and inexpensive Christmas gifts too because they can be made ahead. Once cooled, store in air-tight container (preferably tin to maintain their crispness) and keep in a cool area; they should last up to a month.
Even though my mom loves to make pepper biscuits, she prefers when my dad does because he twists each cookie so uniformly. If you're not into twisting, you can also roll the dough into a cigar shape and simply form a circle. They're equally delicious no matter what shape they come in.
Crescent Mummy Dogs
When I think of Halloween, I think hot dogs. People tend to find this association odd, some are even angered by it, but to me it feels perfectly natural. When I was younger, my mother used to grill hot dogs in our driveway for the trick or treaters and dole out beer in red plastic cups to the adults, providing a bit of a respite for parents whose kids were running around the neighborhood injected with copious amounts of sugar.
I was never much of a walker and I never got off on
travelling in packs (why I live in New York I don't know), but
even more importantly, I loved and still adore a good hot dog.
Essentially, this ritual made my Halloween quite perfect.
The ritual ended, sadly, when I moved to New York to go to
college. There are very few driveways in Manhattan, and there is a bar
or a Gray's Papaya on every street corner, so if people need a beer or
a frank, they are basically set year round. Nobody shared my passion
for hot dogs at Halloween, unless they were terribly after drunk taking
too many orange jello shots at some themed downtown party, in which
case that little beef wonder became something of a valuable commodity,
a bonafide savior in fact.
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