holiday

Almond Coffee Cake

Frozen bread dough rolled out, filled with sweetened cream cheese and white chips, braided, and glazed with almond icing.

Almond Coffee Cake Blueberry Sour Cream

Sour cream bundt cake layered with a filling of grated almond paste, fresh blueberries and lemon rind.

Almond Croissants

Store-bought croissants split and spread inside and out with a creamy almond-and-lemon filling, then rebaked.

Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Enriched yeast dough rolled up with cinnamon and brown sugar, cut into twelve, and glazed warm with cream cheese icing.

Black Cherry Salad

Molded gelatin salad of black cherry Jell-O and applesauce, with sour cream, colored marshmallows and nuts folded in.

Butterscotch Sauce

Pourable sauce for ice cream and desserts: sugar, corn syrup and butter cooked with cream added in two stages.

Cafe Vienna Mix

Instant coffee, dry milk, powdered creamer, sugar and cinnamon stirred together as a keep-on-hand hot drink mix.

Caramel Coating

Butter, syrup, brown sugar and walnuts line the pan so cinnamon-filled dough twists bake sticky-side down and invert out.

Caramel Corn

Popped corn tossed with a six-minute boiled brown sugar caramel, then dried out in a 200-degree oven for an hour.

Caramel Twists

An overnight refrigerator dough — yeast, egg yolks and scalded milk worked into a buttery flour mixture.

Cheesy Potatoes

Frozen hash browns folded into sour cream and cream of chicken soup, baked under a buttered cornflake topping.

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Sliced potatoes and onions layered between a from-scratch cheddar sauce and baked about an hour until tender.

Chex Mix with a Twist

Pretzels, Cheerios, corn Chex, peanuts and M&M's tossed in melted white chocolate and spread on waxed paper to set.

“My family likes Pebbles cereal or Froot Loops better than Cheerios, so feel free to swap those in.”

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Cake mix, butter and two eggs make a soft drop cookie flavored with mint; they puff, then fall and crack on top.

Chocolate Mint Sandwich Cookies (Laura Winsor's)

Chilled chocolate dough rolled in sugar and baked, then sandwiched in pairs around a mint patty while still warm.

Cookie Brittle

Eggless shortbread dough with chocolate chips and nuts, pressed thin in a 15 by 10 pan and broken into irregular shards.

Corn Casserole

Cream-style and whole-kernel corn baked with small shell macaroni, butter and two cups of melted Velveeta or cheddar.

Cranberry Salad

Cooked cranberries and cherry Jell-O set with diced celery, apple, crushed pineapple and nuts if you want them.

Crème de Menthe Brownies

Chocolate syrup brownies baked in a jellyroll pan, spread with a peppermint crème de menthe layer and a poured chocolate glaze.

Crispix Cereal Mix

Crispix and cashews tossed with boiled brown sugar syrup inside a paper bag, then microwaved four minutes and cooled on sheets.

Crispix Munchies

Cereal coated in boiled brown sugar and corn syrup, baked an hour at 200 degrees with stirring, M&M's added after cooling.

Danish Puff

Two strips of cut-in pastry spread with a boiled almond batter, baked an hour, then iced and scattered with nuts.

Deviled Eggs

Eggs cooked by the off-heat method and iced, with the yolks pushed through a sieve and mixed with mayonnaise, sour cream and brown mustard.

Dinner Rolls

Egg-and-butter rolls kneaded in a mixer, shaped into two cake pans, then refrigerated a day or two before their final rise.

Dutch Letters

Puff pastry strips rolled around ropes of almond paste filling, sugared on top and baked; they freeze well.

Fluffy Rolls

Scalded milk and oil dough mixed the night before and left to sit on the counter, then shaped and risen two hours before baking.

French Silk Chocolate Pie

Butter, sugar and melted unsweetened chocolate whipped with eggs added one at a time, then chilled in a baked shell.

Frozen Punch Slush

Jell-O and a sugar syrup mixed with lemonade and pineapple juice and frozen, then cut with 7-Up as it is served.

Gingersnaps

Browned butter, molasses and both fresh and ground ginger in a sugar-rolled cookie baked slow at 300 degrees.

“Deb notes she usually uses 2 whole eggs instead of 1 egg plus 1 yolk.”

Grandma Fischer's Peanuts

Sugar and water cooked down to a syrup, poured onto a buttered sheet, salted, and baked to set.

Ham Glaze

Brown sugar, crushed pineapple and mustard thickened with cornstarch into a glaze for baked ham.

Honey-Wheat Dinner Rolls

Sixteen mixer-kneaded rolls of half whole wheat flour, risen twice in a 13x9 pan and brushed with honey butter.

Hungarian Sweet Rolls

Rich sour cream and butter pastry chilled overnight, rolled on powdered sugar, and cut into wedges rolled up crescent style.

Magic Cookie Bars - AKA 7 Layer Bars

Graham crust layered with sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, coconut and nuts, pressed down and baked twenty-five minutes.

Melting Moments

Cornstarch-heavy shortbread chilled, dropped in rough heaps, baked pale, and spread with vanilla powdered sugar frosting.

Mocha Punch

Sweetened coffee and chocolate base chilled overnight, then scooped full of vanilla and chocolate ice cream in a punch bowl.

“I did not use the whipped cream or chocolate curls.”

Moravian Sugar Cake

Yeast dough enriched with instant potato flakes, pressed into a 13x9 and baked under a crumbled brown sugar, butter and cinnamon topping.

Non-sticky Goop for Rolls

Brown sugar, butter and corn syrup boiled into a caramel you pour in the pan before setting cinnamon rolls on top to rise.

Orange Mint Salad

Crushed pineapple sets overnight with dry orange gelatin and marshmallows, then gets crushed butter mints and Cool Whip and goes in the freezer.

Orange Salad

Orange sherbet beaten into hot Jell-O, folded with mandarin oranges and Dream Whip for a soft, no-bake salad.

“Add a banana if you want.”

Orange-Apricot Salad

Orange Jell-O layered with apricots, pineapple, mandarins and marshmallows, finished with a cooked juice custard folded into whipped cream.

Pear Salad

Lime gelatin beaten with cream cheese and crushed pears, then folded with whipped cream, cherries and pecans and chilled firm.

Prime Rib – That I Use

A three-bone roast salted at least a day ahead, seared, cooked at 200 degrees for hours, then crisped under the broiler.

“THIS IS TOO LONG. THE MEAT GETS COLD!”

Pumpkin Pie - Deb Topp Style - Just Like Nick Likes It!!

Canned pumpkin filling whisked with two eggs, whole milk and a heavy hand of spice, baked hot then finished low.

“Some of the sugar can be Splenda, and Deb likes using a little heavy cream mixed into the total milk amount.”

Quaker Squares Praline Pecan Crunch

Cereal and pecans baked an hour at 250 degrees in a microwaved corn syrup caramel, stirred every twenty minutes.

Reuben Dip

Corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss and Thousand Island melted into cream cheese in the crock pot, scooped up with pumpernickel.

Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

A thick shortbread crust baked, covered with melted caramel and sea salt, then topped with the reserved crust crumbled over.

Sauerbraten

Beef roast marinated three days in vinegar with garlic and bay, browned, and simmered in a flour gravy finished with red wine.

Serves 12 (but not at the Schwaninger House!!)

A chocolate walnut tart: cocoa-walnut crust pressed into a tart pan and par-baked, then filled with melted bittersweet chocolate and baked until just set.

“Serves 12 — but not at the Schwaninger house!!”

Snickers Bars

Four no-bake layers in a 9 x 13 pan: chocolate-butterscotch base, boiled marshmallow nougat, salted peanuts, melted caramel, and a second chocolate layer on top.

Squash and Apple Bake

Butternut or buttercup squash softened in the microwave, layered with apple slices, and baked under brown sugar, butter and mace.

Sugar Cookies (Eileen's)

Sour cream rolled cookies chilled overnight, cut into shapes, baked briefly, and finished with cream cheese frosting.

Thin Mint Cookies

Copycat wafers rolled paper-thin from chocolate fudge cake mix, baked, then dipped in peppermint chocolate; makes 108.

Turkey Brine

Salt and sugar boiled with peppercorns, garlic and bay, then chilled with ice to soak a whole turkey before roasting.

“Amie put mayonnaise on the outside of the turkey before roasting and it was wonderful. Injecting butter under the skin of the turkey is good too.”

Vanilla Butter Sugar Cookies

Rolled and cut-out butter cookies with a full two tablespoons of vanilla, finished with powdered sugar frosting and colored sugar.