Tag Archives: holiday recipes

Twice As Naughty Baked Potato

a baked pot

Christmas is a time for traditions and celebratory meals ! Growing up that meant this favorite side dish, twice baked potatoes. My mom always made these for our Christmas meal – we would only them once a year, which makes the dish twice as special . We would eagerly anticipate having this special potato dish , which gets it name from baking the potatoes twice. First, you bake the full potato , next it’s cut in half and you scoop out the flesh of the potato , add lots of lovely ( naughty ingredients such as butter, mayonnaise and cheddar cheese and then bake the potatoes a second time. You will love the richness and texture of these twice baked potatoes. Start your own tradition this Christmas making this luxurious side dish!
From by the bay, wishing you naughty food memories!
Maryann

Twice Baked Potato

Serves 6-8

6 russet potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

½ cup whole milk

½ cup scallions, chopped

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

3 tablespoons chives, chopped

Directions

Preheat over to 350F. Sprinkle potatoes with olive oil and spread to coat the potato. Wrap each potato in aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 1 to 1 ½ hour until potatoes are tender. Remove from oven and let cool until you can touch. Cut each potato in half with a serrated knife and scoop out the potato from each half into a bowl , leaving the outside skin in tack. To the bowl with the potatoes add butter, mayonnaise, milk, and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Fold in the scallions, salt and pepper. Fill each potato skin with the potato mixture. Place onto a baking sheet and top the stuffed potatoes with grated cheese and paprika. Bake in a 350f oven for 15-20 minutes and until heated through and cheese is melted. Remove from oven, sprinkle with chives and serve warm.

 

Cranberry Pecan Tassies

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Cranberry Pecan Tassies
makes 24 cups
Crust:
1 3oz. package cream cheese, softened
½ cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Filling:
1 egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon orange zest
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/3 cup fresh cranberries
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
Directions
Make the crust by blending cream cheese, butter and flour in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. To make filling mix together using a spoon beat together  egg, sugar , vanilla, zest and cinnamon. Add melted butter to the mixture slowly, stirring constantly. Stir in the cranberries and pecans. Preheat oven to 350F. Divide the dough for crust into 24 small balls, approximately the size of an acorn. Place each ball into a small muffin tin and press down to line bottom and side of the tin. Spoon filling into each cup. Make sure that there is cranberries in each cup. Be sure not to over fill the cups. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove pans from oven and cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Carefully, remove tassies from the pan using a knife or small spatula. Will last one week in an air tight container or four weeks in the freezer.

Cranberry Glazed Ham

I started entertaining over the Christmas holidays, when I moved into my first apartment. I had moved from my parents home on Long Island and into a small apartment in Queens. That first year,  I had a small Christmas party so that my parents could come and pick up all the Christmas presents and drive them back to Long Island so I didn’t have to carry them home on the train. So I started in a very small way something that has become an elaborate tradition. I was not a very accomplished cook and I didn’t have alot of extra cash, so the menu was simple and economic – baked ham,deviled eggs, mimosas and cookies. It was an easy brunch and everyone had a great time and I’ve been entertaining for the holidays ever since. I still like to make  a baked ham, it’s easy , delicious and looks like alot more effort than it really is. This cranberry glazed ham is one of my favorites – whether it’s for Christmas Day, Christmas Eve or any other Holiday meal you have a lot of guests to feed. It’s great for get togethers with children accompanied with macaroni and cheese or for adults served with cornbread and cranberries, like the recipe below. I find that most guests are excited to see a festive holiday baked ham on the table. Start your own holiday traditions using this recipe, it’s a perfect one to prepare!
From by the bay wishing you the berriest Christmas memories!
Maryann
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Cranberry Glazed Ham

Serves 12 Dinner

Serves 18 Buffet

1 6-7 lbs fully cooked spiral-cut bone in half smoked ham

4 oz cranberry jelly

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup dijon mustard

¼ cup cranberry juice

1 tablespoon bourbon

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon allspice

Directions

Preheat over to 350F. Place ham in an aluminum foil lined baking pan. In a bowl combine remaining ingredients and whisk together, Brush on to the ham and between the slices. Bake for one hour, until the ham is fully heated. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Butter Cookie Recipe

It’s Christmas time and who doesn’t love to have  a platter of cookies at the ready? Whether you are preparing for guests or just trimming the tree alone – it’s nice to have cookies around the house. This is really the only time of year that I would have containers of different types of cookies around the house. It’s one of my favorite excesses at Christmas. A great cookie to try is this french butter cookie. It’s easy to make and I like having a recipe that doesn’t require a lot of work to add to my cookie assortment. This is my version of a cookie I ate in Paris that was topped with a little pillow of chocolate ganache. It was bliss. I also, make some of these topped with jam, since my sister Nancy is not a big chocolate lover. I suggest doing half of the recipe with jam and the other half with the ganache. Even if you don’t consider yourself a baker, this is an easy recipe to try. Enjoy!
From by the bay wishing you the sweetest memories of cookies and Christmas!
Maryann
blog butter cookie
Butter Cookie Recipe
Makes 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
2 cups all – purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
extra granulated sugar to roll dough
jam to fill cookies
Directions:
In a large bowl add the butter, sugar and vanilla. Use an electric mixer and beat ingredients until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat in well. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture slowly and mix at a low speed. Once blended turn out into a sheet of plastic wrap , flatten and wrap. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Place extra granulated sugar onto a plate. Roll dough into acorn size balls and then roll in the sugar. Place each ball onto an ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger to flatten each ball. Take your thumb and make a small well in the center of the flatten dough. If you are making jam filled cookies, take a small spoon and fill well with about 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite jam. I like to use apricot, raspberry or red currant jam. If you plan to fill with chocolate ganache ( recipe below) bake as is. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Store in air tight containers.
Chocolate Ganache
Makes 1 cup
Ingredients:
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Directions:
Combine all ingredients into a saucepan and place on medium heat, stirring until the chocolate melts and everything is well combined. Pour into a bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator until you can spoon and shape into small pillow of chocolate to place on top of plain french butter cookies and serve. Don’t stack this cookie on your tray.

Curried Cashews

It’s winter and there is a definite chill that comes across the water by the bay , so when I entertain guests on those cold chilly evenings, I love to serve something warming along with that cocktail. My curried cashews just do the trick . The heat of the curry in these wonderful nuts is the perfect welcoming to guests coming in from the cold. Home roasted nuts are so easy but it makes your guests feel that you took some extra time to prepare to welcome them into your home. Additionally, you can’t buy anything ready made to taste as good as these warm nuts do. Try it the next time you entertain and you’re be receiving all kinds of praise!

From by the bay, wishing you the warmest food memories!

Maryann

blog curry cashews

Curried Cashews

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon curry powder

¾ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups raw whole cashews

Additional coarse sea salt to taste

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Heat olive oil in pan add curry powder, salt, cayenne pepper and cook until fragrant – approximately 1 min.

Add cashews and coat nuts for one to two minutes. Remove from heat and place on baking sheet in one layer. Bake for 12-15 minutes, stirring once. Remove from oven, sprinkle with additional sea salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Spritz Cookies

 

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Definition: Spritz Cookies are make with a cookie press. A cookie press allows the baker to shape dough into uniform shapes quickly. Cookie presses come in a variety of shapes but this is especially wonderful for Christmas entertaining. Cookies can be made into wreaths, trees, stars etc. These butter cookies are really a holiday staple.

 

My fondest Christmas cooking memory is making cookies with my mother. When I was a little girl, our Christmas tradition was making these wonderful little spritz butter cookies and decorating them. We made them only  at Christmas and we would enjoy them through out the holidays. An equally wonderful memory was when my mother handed over to me the official role of baking these cookies for the holidays along with her cookie press. She came over to my house and taught me exactly what to do. I was not so great at making the shapes when we first started so don’t get discouraged when you first attempt these little cookies. If you don’t like how they look just grab up that dough and throw it back into the cookie press and try again. I had to do that a few times before I finally got the hang of it. I was under close supervision by my mother when she taught me how to make these cookies. The way I knew that I had succeeded in my baking was at the end of the afternoon, mom said to me, why don’t I leave the cookie press here with you now.  You’ll love these cookies and will want to make it part of your Christmas traditions!

 

Come back for more Christmas food ideas!

 
From by the bay wishing you the warmest Christmas food memories!

Maryann

 

 

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Spritz Sugar Cookies

5 dozen cookies

1 lb unsalted butter

1 ½ cup fine sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

5 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Optional: sprinkles, colored sugar, candied cherries, chocolate to decorate

Requires : cookie press or spritz

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. In a bowl add dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix and keep to the side. Using an electric mixer, beat together butter until fluffy. Add sugar gradually and beat well. Add eggs one at a time until well combined. Add vanilla until blended. Add dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well until the dough is smooth. Using a spoon put dough into cookie press. Press shaped cookies onto an non stick baking sheet. You can decorate the cookies with colored sugar or sprinkles or candied cherries depending on the shape. Bake in oven for 7 minutes. If using two trays, after 3 minutes rotate baking sheets on oven rack and then bake another 4 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies start to brown. Store cookies in an air tight container.

Holiday decorating

Wreaths: decorate before baking with candied cherry pieces and green sugar.

Trees : with multicolor chocolate sprinkles.

Stars: pressed into a long log and cut into 2 inch pieces. Dip the ends in melted chocolate and then dip into sprinkles

 

Porcini Mushroom and Chestnut Dressing

Once the holidays end, I think we forget how good a side dish dressings are during the winter. This dressing recipe is inspired by my mother. I tried to recreate one of her food memories from her childhood. My grandfather cooked with many Italian influences that he gathered from both his childhood and his days working at sea. This recipe is based on my mother’s memory combined with my own Italian food memories. The results is a delicious combination of ingredients featuring both porcini and baby bella mushrooms combined with chestnuts . It’s a perfect complement to roasted pork or poultry. This one is for you Mom with all my love !

From by the bay wishing you porcini food memories!

Maryann

 

 

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Porcini Mushroom and Chestnut Dressing

Serves 6 to 8

 

Ingredients

8 cups country bread, cut into ½ inch cubes with crust, approximately 1 loaf bread

1/2 cup olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons olive oil

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

4 ounces pancetta, cubed

8 ounces mushrooms such as Baby Bella, cleaned and sliced

1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced in rings

2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced

11/2 tablespoons fennel seed

1 jar whole roasted chestnuts, 14.8 ounces

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups low sodium chicken stock

1 cup porcini liquid

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Directions

In a medium bowl add the dried porcini mushrooms and cover with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degree F. On two baking sheets toss the bread cubes  with 1/2 cup olive oil and then spread the bread in a single layer on two rimmed large baking sheets. Bake about 10-12 minutes until bread is golden brown. Set aside to cool, then place in a large mixing bowl. In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons olive oil, add pancetta and cook until crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove pancetta with a slotted spoon and place in the mixing bowl with the bread. To the same skillet used for the pancetta heat the remaining tablespoon olive oil over medium heat and then add the leeks. Saute until softened about 10 minutes, separating the leek rings, then add the Baby Bella sliced mushrooms and red chili flakes and saute until softened another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add to the bowl with the bread and pancetta. To this bowl add the chestnuts crumbling them.  Add the cheese, thyme leaves, fennel seeds and parsley to the bowl.  Take the bowl with the porcini and remove the porcini mushrooms keeping the soaking liquid. Coarsely chop the porcini mushrooms and add to the bowl with the dressing.  Strain the soaking liquid to remove any dirt or grit at the bottom of the bowl and add one cup of this liquid to your dressing. Add 2 cups of chicken stock. Mix the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. If dressing is not moist add some additional chicken stock. Mix well. The dressing can be made up to this point one day in advance and refrigerate until ready to bake. To bake the dressing, remove from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, until dressing is heated through the top is golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.

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Leftover Eggnog? Try Eggnog Pancakes!

blog eggnog pancakes

Every year as I am looking towards the holiday, I’m stocking up on all kinds of food items for entertaining my family and friends. Once we get past Christmas I’m beginning to see what I still have left and how to use it. Something I buy every year is eggnog, I can’t help myself, but no one really seems to drink it anymore. It doesn’t stop me from buying it though, in fact, I like to use eggnog to transform something ordinary into a delicious holiday or post holiday treat. This year was no different as I looked into the refrigerator to see a bottle of eggnog with a mid january expiration date, I decided  to make pancakes for a weekend brunch with fantastic results. The eggnog gave a richer egg taste to the pancakes, but the pancakes were still light and fluffy. I think it’s the perfect comfort food for a cold January weekend morning to bring some warmth and a little post holiday cheer into your day.

 

From by the bay wishing you, eggnog food memories!

Maryann

 

 

Eggnog Pancakes
Serves 4-6


Ingredients
11/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 cups eggnog
2 large eggs, at room temperature
optional: confectionery sugar and maple syrup

Directions
In a medium bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix. To this add the eggnog and eggs and combine. Do not over mix. Batter will be a little lumpy.  Set aside for 20 minutes. Heat a griddle pan and spread 1/4 cup of batter for each cake, Cook two minutes on the first side until the edge starts to bubble and flip and cook another minute. Place on baking sheet and keep warm in oven until all cakes are made and ready to serve. Serve with confectionery sugar and maple syrup



Port Soaked Cherries, Blue Cheese and Pistachio Dip

Here is a perfect holiday cheese dip for New Year’s Eve or any festive party. This delicious dip starts with uses fresh cherries soaked in a port wine reduction and then added to a creamy cheese base with the flavor really kicked up by adding some crumbled blue cheese. As if these flavors weren’t enough the dip gets some nice crunch to it’s texture by adding chopped pistachios. This dip has beautiful color – reds and greens mixed together. Serve with some crusty bread or potato chips on the side and enjoy!
From by the bay wishing you festive food memories!
Maryann
blog port cherry dip
Port Soaked Cherries, Blue Cheese and Pistachio Dip
 
Ingredients
1/2 cup port wine
1/4 cup fresh chopped cherries, pitted
1/4 cup roasted and salted pistachio nuts, chopped
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup good quality mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
optional: extra chopped pistachios for garnish
Directions
In a small saucepan add port and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes thickening the liquid and reducing to half. Add the cherries and set aside for an hour. In a food processor add all ingredients except the port, cherries and pistachios. Blend well. Remove from processor and place in a bowl. Strain the cherries from the port and add to the dip along with the chopped pistachios. Fold well to combine all ingredients. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use in an air tight container. Allow to come to room temperature before serving. Sprinkle some chopped pistachios to garnish.

Almond Saltine Toffee with Sea Salt

I enjoy making little food gifts to share with friends and family. A favorite is this saltine toffee, it’s sweet and salty. It’s crunchy and chocolatey.  It’s a treat that captures the holiday season.
Enjoy!
From by the bay wishing you sweet and salty food memories!
Maryann
blog toffee
Almond Saltine Toffee with Sea Salt
 
Ingredients
1 sleeve saltine cookies
6 ounces butter ( 1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
12 ounces chocolate chips or buttons
2 tablespoons blanched sliced almonds
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt , such as Maldon
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with non stick cooking spray. Arrange the crackers side by side in a single layer on the baking sheet. In a heavy medium size saucepan place the butter and brown sugar. Stir while the butter is melting and then bring to a rolling boil. Remove from the heat and carefully pour over the crackers on the baking sheet trying to cover all the crackers. Place in the oven for about 5 minutes, so the toffee bubbles and spreads across the crackers. Remove from the oven and cover with the chocolate buttons. Put back into the oven for 1 or 2 minutes so the chocolate softens. Remove from oven. Use an offset spatula to spread the melted chocolate evenly covering the entire surface of the toffee. Take 3-4 saltines and crush them into small pieces. Sprinkle on top of the chocolate while it’s still sticky and soft. Next sprinkle the almonds on top and finally the sea salt. Place the pan in the refrigerator for at least one hour, to cool and set. Once set, break into smaller uneven pieces and serve. Store in an air tight container for up to 10 days.
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