Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup shortening, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the shortening, molasses, brown sugar, water, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, until they are completely absorbed. Divide dough into 3 pieces, pat down to 1 1/2 inch thickness, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When the cookies are done, they will look dry, but still be soft to the touch. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks. When cool, the cookies can be frosted with the icing of your choice.

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

Basic Dough

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Chocolate

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate , melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peppermint

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes or 1/2 cup peppermint candy
• red food coloring (optional)

Directions:

• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. The dough will be very stiff and crumbly at this point almost like a shortbread. Don’t worry, you are adding liquid in the next steps.
• Divide the dough in half and add chocolate and vanilla to 1 half and incorporate with hands. Add egg yolk, peppermint extract, and crushed candy to other half of dough and incorporate with hands. (If you like you can add a drop or two of red food coloring to make the dough a pppermint pink.) Cover both with plastic and chill for approximately 5-10 minutes.
• Roll out doughs separately to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Place peppermint dough on top of chocolate and press together around the edges. Using waxed paper or flexible cutting board underneath, roll dough into log. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 2 hours or more. (I let my logs cool for 6 hours and they were very easy to slice.).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place cookies 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

• 2 cups warmed milk
• 1 serving cocoa mix
• 1 tablespoon crushed peppermint stick
• 2 ounces peppermint schnapps, optional
• 1 peppermint stick

Directions:

Combine milk, cocoa mix, crushed peppermint stick and schnapps, if desired, in a large mug and stir well. Garnish with a peppermint stick.

Green Bean Casserole

• 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans cut green beans , drained
• 1 1/3 cups French-fried onions (French’s)

Directions:

• Combine soup, milk and pepper in a 1 1/2 qt baking dish; stir until blended.

• Stir in beans and 2/3 cup fried onions.
• Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until hot.
• Stir.
• Sprinkle with remaining 2/3 cup fried onions.
• Bake 5 more minutes or until onions are golden.

Savory Spiral Cut Ham

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 (7 lb) spiral cut ham
• honey glaze mix (packet that came with the ham)
• 1 (14 ounce) can swansons chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate

Directions:

• You will also need: 1 large Reynolds Oven Cooking Bag (turkey size).
• Heat the oven to 325°F.
• Put the flour into the cooking bag and shake the bag until it is completely covered with the flour.
• Do not remove remaining flour from the bag (I didn’t anyway).
• This prevents the bag from exploding in the oven while baking.
• Place the bag in a large cake pan or a roasting pan.
• Open the bag and put the ham in it, cut side down.
• Set aside.
• In a small sauce pan mix the chicken broth, honey glaze mix, mustard and orange juice over medium heat until the glaze mix and orange juice concentrate are dissolved.
• Pour it over the ham.
• With a tie that came with the bag, tightly seal the bag.
• Cut 6-1 inch slits into the top and upper sides of the bag to allow steam to escape.
• Make sure the bag is completely inside the pan.
• Do not allow any of it to hang over the sides of the pan.
• Place on middle rack of the oven, allowing enough room for the bag to expand without touching the top heating coil.
• This prevents the bag from melting.
• Bake for approximately 1 hour or until the ham slices begin to separate and the top of the ham starts to brown.
• Lower the oven temp to 200°F and let the ham sit in the oven until the rest of the meal is ready.
• You could probably lower it to 175°F if you want to.
• Spiral cut ham is precooked so it does not have to reach a certain temperature.
• You are just warming it or making it hot for a hot meal.
• When you are ready, remove the ham from the oven.
• Allow it to cool enough to touch the bag.
• Remove the tie from the bag and slowly tear the bag open at the top of it.
• Remove ham and place it on a large plate or a platter.
• Allow to cool slightly before cutting it.
• Pour the juices from the baking/roasting into a saucepan and make gravy with it or pour it into a container and save it for soup.
• Taste the juice from the ham.
• If it is very strong tasting, (mine was) you may need to add water, a little at a time until it is at your desired strength.
• Save the ham bone to make ham stock or soup with, leaving some of the meat on the bone.

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:

• 6 large hard boiled eggs
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Miracle Whip or 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
• paprika

Directions:

• Peel shells off cooled hard-boiled eggs; slice into halves lengthwise.
• Remove yolks from whites and place in a small round bowl.
• Mash yolks with a fork into fine pieces.
• Add 2 heaping tablespoons Miracle Whip salad dressing, yellow mustard, sweet pickle relish, and salt and black pepper to taste.
• Stir mixture until creamy.
• Spoon mixture into a zip-lock sandwich bag; seal bag and snip off one corner of the bag.
• Squeeze mixture out of corner of bag into egg white halves.
• Sprinkle tops of filled deviled eggs with paprika.
• Chill in refrigerator 1 to 2 hours or until cold before serving.

by Lexy Ludwig