This year we hosted Christmas. We had people over on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Second Day of Christmas (26th)
Also, along with hosting Christmas I baked a lot of stuff as presents for people.
The week from December 13-19, I baked stuff that could be frozen.
I made two pumpkin breads, two chocolate chip pumpkin breads, two coffee cakes - one plain and one blueberry, a banana cream pie, and two batches of Springerle cookies.
I froze everything except the Springerle cookies. I looked up on ehow.com on how to freeze pumpkin bread and banana cream pie.
The coffee cake recipe from Cook's Illustrated explained how to freeze it. The coffee cakes were presents for my mom.
One regular pumpkin bread and one chocolate chip pumpkin bread were presents for Trisha's brother.
The banana cream pie, one pumpkin bread, and one chocolate chip pumpkin bread were for guests and remained in the freezer until needed.
I made a test batch of Springerle cookies that Trish took into work. The other batch was a present for my dad. These obviously were not frozen but can be made well in advance.
On Monday the 21st, I made a Key Lime pie from the Betty Crocker cookbook. This was my first time making a Key Lime Pie. I didn't use enough lime and no one could taste the lime. I am now on the hunt for some real Key Lime juice for baking.
I baked some Christmas cookies for our garbage collectors.
I finished baking the second batch of Springerle cookies.
On Tuesday the 22nd, I made mini-pumpkin pies, two batches of Homemade Honey Wheat bread, and two batches of cornbread for the cornbread stuffing. The cornbread could sit out for a couple days according to the recipe before finishing the stuffing.
On Wednesday the 23rd, I made a pecan pie, peeled the potatoes, and peeled the sweet potatoes. We let these soak in water overnight in the refrigerator. This is a trick Trish told me about from working in the high school kitchen. Trish and the kids made more Christmas cookies for guests, and I prepared a slow cooker breakfast. I put all the ingredients in the crockpot the night before and it was ready the next morning. This way I didn't have to make breakfast when I was preparing for guests.
On Thursday the 24th, Christmas Eve, we had the slow cooker breakfast for breakfast, and then I made the mashed potatoes, the mashed sweet potatoes, the Broccoli Cheese Casserole, and the Cornbread stuffing.
On Wednesday the 25th, Christmas Day, I made more mashed potatoes, more mashed sweet potatoes, another broccoli cheese casserole, and some more homemade bread as presents for Trisha's grandparents.
On Thursday the 26th, I went to the store, reloaded, and started baking. I made more mini-pumpkin pies, mini-pecan pies, mashed potatoes, and the second cornbread stuffing.
So, what went wrong -
The Key Lime Pie wasn't strong enough.
The first Pecan Pie I made was a bit runny and people ate it more like a pecan cobbler.
The cornbread stuffing I used turkey breakfast sausage. It was still good but next time I'll make it with regular turkey meat.
For the slow cooker breakfast, it used hashbrowns. We bought hashbrowns. I tossed them in the freezer. When I pulled them out to use them, they were obviously frozen solid and the package specifically said "Do not freeze". So, at 10:15pm, I'm going to Meijer to buy more hashbrowns.
Other than that, everything went well. Everyone enjoyed the food, the company, and the presents. As much baking as I did, I do like baking, but in the years that we host, we're always like, 'wow, it's a lot of work to host'. Then the years we travel to other people's homes for Christmas, we're like, 'wow, it's a lot of work to travel, and pack the kids and presents.' So, it's a lot of fun either way with some effort but it is well worth it.
The recipes that I have on my blog are:
Homemade Honey-Wheat Bread
Springerle Cookies
Cornbread
http://marksbakingadventures.blogspot.com/2015/12/cornbread.html
Cornbread stuffing
Breakfast Casserole
http://marksbakingadventures.blogspot.com/2015/12/slow-cooker-breakfast.html
Mini pecan or pumpkin pies
I did not add recipes for mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, or the Key Lime Pie. The mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes can be found in just about any cookbook. I happen to use the recipes in the Betty Crocker cookbook. The Key Lime Pie is probably one of the easiest recipes to make - the trick is actually finding Key Lime juice. May need to pick some up next time I'm in Florida if I can't find any locally.
The Key Lime Pie wasn't strong enough.
The first Pecan Pie I made was a bit runny and people ate it more like a pecan cobbler.
The cornbread stuffing I used turkey breakfast sausage. It was still good but next time I'll make it with regular turkey meat.
For the slow cooker breakfast, it used hashbrowns. We bought hashbrowns. I tossed them in the freezer. When I pulled them out to use them, they were obviously frozen solid and the package specifically said "Do not freeze". So, at 10:15pm, I'm going to Meijer to buy more hashbrowns.
Other than that, everything went well. Everyone enjoyed the food, the company, and the presents. As much baking as I did, I do like baking, but in the years that we host, we're always like, 'wow, it's a lot of work to host'. Then the years we travel to other people's homes for Christmas, we're like, 'wow, it's a lot of work to travel, and pack the kids and presents.' So, it's a lot of fun either way with some effort but it is well worth it.
The recipes that I have on my blog are:
Homemade Honey-Wheat Bread
Springerle Cookies
Cornbread
http://marksbakingadventures.blogspot.com/2015/12/cornbread.html
Cornbread stuffing
Breakfast Casserole
http://marksbakingadventures.blogspot.com/2015/12/slow-cooker-breakfast.html
Mini pecan or pumpkin pies
http://marksbakingadventures.blogspot.com/2015/12/mini-pecan-pies-and-mini-pumpkin-pies.html
Broccoli Cheese Casserole
Broccoli Cheese Casserole
I did not add recipes for mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, or the Key Lime Pie. The mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes can be found in just about any cookbook. I happen to use the recipes in the Betty Crocker cookbook. The Key Lime Pie is probably one of the easiest recipes to make - the trick is actually finding Key Lime juice. May need to pick some up next time I'm in Florida if I can't find any locally.
