dealnews Family Holiday Recipes: What we're cookin'

Cocktail
Louis' Uncle's Sangria - Louis Ramirez

Side Dishes
Bacon Buttercup Muffins - Keith Ford
Dried-Cherry and Italian Sausage Stuffing - Dan de Grandpre
Grandma Cox's Cornbread Stuffing - Nathan Cox
Grandma Pearl's Potato Salad - Jeffrey Contray
Nutty Mushroom Herbed Rice - Cherri Simonds
Whole Orange Ginger Cranberries - Stuart Obermann

Deserts
Caramel Oatmeal Bars - Jeremy Globerson
Christmas Spritz Cookies - Alison Barretta
Coffee Can Pumpkin Bread - Jeff Somogyi
Cracker Cookies - Cherri Simonds
Cranberry Cheese Bars - David Wimberley
Frozen Chocolate Pie - Kristen Hains Louis' Uncle's Sangria
Thanksgiving dinner wouldn't be the same without my uncle's annual pitcher of sangria. Sure, the smell of turkey and stuffing are nice, but nothing whets the appetite and gets you in the mood for dinner like a potent glass of fruit-filled sangria.
-Louis Ramirez

Ingredients:
1 orange, thinly sliced
1 apple, cut into small chunks
1 bottle of red wine (rioja)
1 shot of brandy (Mondavi)
1 shot of rum
1/2 cup of club soda

Directions:
In a large bowl or pitcher, introduce the fruits and the wine. Pour the brandy and club soda next. Add a shot of your favorite rum. Chill for a few hours. Stir slowly with a wooden spoon. Bacon Buttercup Muffins
We have these every Christmas morning and eat them throughout the day. They are small enough that I think there are no calories, at least not on Christmas day.
-Keith Ford

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
2 sticks butter, softened
8 ounces sour cream
1/2 pound of bacon, fried and crumbled

Direction:
Mix flour, butter, and sour cream with hands; stir in bacon. Put in miniature muffin tins and bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. Dried-Cherry and Italian Sausage Stuffing (from RealSimple.com)
Every year, I demand most humbly request this from my wife.
-Dan de Grandpre

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
6 celery stalks, finely diced
2 medium onions, finely diced
1 loaf French bread, cut into 1" cubes and toasted (about 10 cups)
1 cup dried cherries
3/4 pound Italian sausage—casings removed, cooked, and crumbled
3/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 14-1/2-ounce cans chicken broth

Directions:
Melt the butter in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onions and cook until translucent, 5 - 7 minutes. In a large bowl or pan, combine the celery and onions with the bread, cherries, sausage, parsley, salt, and pepper. Add the broth and stir until well combined. Using a large spoon, loosely stuff the mixture into the turkey just before roasting. Cover and bake any unused stuffing in a 325-degree oven for 1 hour; uncover and bake for 15 minutes more. Serve warm. Grandma Cox's Cornbread Stuffing
Although cornbread is nothing new, what makes it a tradition is the cornbread stuffing our family enjoys for Thanksgiving.
-Nathan Cox

Ingredients:
peanut or olive oil
2 cups of flour, non-rising
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
buttermilk
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1/4 cup of chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, smashed or minced
1 medium-sized apple chopped, skin-on
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon chopped jalapeno (if you're a wimp)
1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, cilantro, or basil, chopped
sea salt
black pepper
1 egg, beaten
chicken broth

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12" cast-iron skillet with oil.
Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add buttermilk until you have a thick batter. It should be thicker than pancake batter and barely pourable. Evenly distribute the batter into the skillet. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until all of the oil is absorbed into the bottom of the bread.
Move the skillet to the broiler and cook for another 2 - 3 minutes, or until the top of the bread is golden brown.
Immediately turn bread out of the the skillet and cool on a pizza stone or rack.
Crumble half the bread and combine with onion, garlic, apple, pecans, jalapeno, mushrooms and herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in egg. Stir in just enough chicken broth to moisten the entire mixture. Stuff into turkey and cook as you normally would. Grandma Pearl's Potato Salad
Every holiday at my grandparent's house featured this surprisingly day-glow Yellow potato salad. For years, none of us never knew what went into this salad to make it so tasty, so unique, so ... well ... Yellow. We had assumed some strange mustard, but it turns out that the secret ingredient is curry! Not the good Indian stuff, but the generic powder you can find at any grocery store. Given my Polish and Lithuanian roots, I have no idea where it entered into the equation, but it's the one taste of the holidays that I can't live without.
-Jeffrey Contray

Ingredients:
1 package of dried onion soup mix (store brand is fine), put through sieve and use only the powder
1 cup sour cream
1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
dash garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried mustard
5 pounds of potatoes boiled, skinned, and cut into 1/2" cubes
6 eggs boiled and cut into small sections
3 small garden onions or 1 small onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
salt
pepper
diced chives (optional)

Mix first six ingredients. Add garden onions (tops finely chopped), celery, green pepper, eggs, and potatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Can add more mayo if too dry, and more curry powder if desired. Add chives if desired. Nutty Mushroom Herbed Rice
This, along with the Cracker Cookies, are two items I make every year that are soooo easy and sooo good. (If I didn't make these every year there would be a mutiny.)
-Cherri Simmonds

Ingredients:
2 8.8-ounce packages Uncle Ben's whole grain brown Ready Rice (the wild rice flavor is fine too)
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup chopped mild onion (red onions are too strong)
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, etc)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (smoked pepper works great too)

Directions:
Heat the Ready Rice in the microwave according to package directions and set aside. In medium skillet, over medium heat, melt butter*. Add nuts and toast for 1 - 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and onions and cook until tender. Add fresh herbs, rice, garlic, and pepper and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

*If at any time during the cooking process the mixture seems too dry, add more butter. Whole Orange Ginger Cranberries
This is one of our family favorites. It beats the hell out of that congealed cranberry glop from a can. -Stuart Obermann

Ingredients:
16 ounces of fresh cranberries
2 cups white sugar
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
Splash of ginger
1 whole orange cut up

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat until berries pop open, about 10 minutes. Skim and discard the foam that rises to the top. Cool and refrigerate covered. Can be made a day ahead. Serve in glass serving bowl for color. Caramel Oatmeal Bars
Here is a recipe that I treasure very close to my heart and have never given it out publicly before. These things are amazing!
-Jeremy Globerson

Ingredients:
1 14-ounce package of caramels
1/3 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups oatmeal
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup softened butter
6 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13x9" pan.
Melt caramels with milk in saucepan. In a separate bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and egg with butter until crumbly. Press 1/2 of crumb mixture into greased pan and bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chips and drizzle with caramel mixture. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture on top. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool for 30 minutes, then loosen edges. Christmas Spritz Cookies
My mom has been making these cookies every year for as long as I can remember ... since whenever she purchased her cookie press. (That's where the recipe is from.) It wouldn't be Christmas at my house without them.
-Alison Barretta

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened (margarine can be substituted)
3 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Colored sugar crystals (red and green)

Directions:
Mix the butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour and mix by hand. Spoon batter into a cookie press and press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar crystals. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 7 - 10 minutes. Coffee Can Pumpkin Bread
My mom has been making these during the holidays for as long as I can remember. Instead of a regular loaf pan, this recipe uses three coffee cans to bake the bread. Weird, right? Sure, you could make it in a pan, but it tastes better from a can. Of note: You need to use coffee cans that you've had to open with a can opener (the "easy open" ones have a "lip" that will prevent you removing the baked good, once you're done.)
--Jeff Somogyi

Ingredients:
3 cups White sugar
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
3-1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup walnuts
1 cup of raisins (boiled for 1-minute, drained, and cooled)
2/3 cup water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour three coffee cans.
Cream together sugar, eggs, and vegetable oil. Add pumpkin and mix well. Add flour, cinnamon, allspice, salt and baking soda and combine. Stir in nuts, raisins, and water. Fill each can to 2/3 full and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes in the cans before removing the bread. Cracker Cookies
The cookies may not sound that great, but they really are awesome! Especially if you like a little bit of salt with your sweet.
-Cherri Simonds

Ingredients:
42 Club Crackers (2-1/2x1")
1/2 cup butter (or margarine)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup slivered almonds or chopped pecans

Directions:
Place crackers in a single layer on a foil-lined baking pan.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add sugar and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes then remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour mixture evenly over crackers then sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove cookies from pan immediately, cutting between crackers if necessary, and cool on wire racks. Cranberry Cheese Bars
This recipe is very similar to one my mother used to make, which was never written down.
-David Wimberley

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
8 ounces cream cheese
1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 can (16 ounce) whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar and butter until crumbly. Set aside 1-1/2 cups of this crumb mixture. Press remaining mixture firmly onto the bottom of prepared baking pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside.
In a small bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Stir in lemon juice. Spread over prepared crust.
In a small bowl, combine one more tablespoon of brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in cranberry sauce. Spoon evenly over cream cheese layer; spread with a butter knife. Top off with the crumb mixture you held back.
Bake 40 minutes until golden. Let cool, then refrigerate. Store covered in refrigerator. Frozen Chocolate Pie
This is my mom's chocolate pie recipe. She's been making it since 1976. It's pretty much a deal-breaker at Christmas time ... If she doesn't make it, well, then it's nothing but coal in her stocking. My diabetic uncle brings extra insulin on Christmas day, just so he can indulge. Yes, it's so good, it's worth risking diabetic coma.
-Kristen Hains

Ingredients:
9" pie shell
6 ounces of chocolate chips
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
2 cups whipped cream

Directions:
Heat chocolate until melted and cool for 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup brown sugar, coffee, salt, and vanilla on low speed until smooth. Add egg yolks and melted chocolate and beat on high speed until smooth.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form; beat in 1/3 cup brown sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Reserve 1/2 cup whipped cream and fold remaining whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Pour into shell. Mound remaining whipped cream on pie. Garnish with grated chocolate. Cover and freeze for 8 hours. Remove 20 minutes before serving.