Christmas Gifts From Your Kitchen
There really is nothing wrong with giving food items as Christmas Gifts. And it’s even more special if you make the goodies yourself. Christmas time is baking time so it’s always a good idea to double or triple your baked goodies so you have enough cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls, or cake pops for the family, relatives, friends, neighbors, Teachers, mailman, or whomever else you want to give a gift to this Christmas. Here are a few goodies from my kitchen that you can also make. There’s still plenty of time to get the ingredients and make all the treats as pretty as can be.
Click on the highlighted text to get the recipe for each item.
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Apple-Cinnamon Rolls
- Peach Marmalade Cinnamon Rolls
- Twisted Cinnamon Bread
- Plain Or Chocolate Chips Cinnamon Rolls
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Toffee & Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate Chip Brownies
- Cake Pops
- Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Buttery Gooey Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Or you can always make fruitcake. 
Christmas Sugar Cookies For 2011
Making sugar cookies complete with decorations thanks to my mediocre talent is a tradition in my family. It started with my son when he was 5 years old. Now it’s with my 5 year old daughter while my 13 yr old son just helps out with the decorating part. This year I made the dough while the kids were with the husband during an appointment for the car, and a haircut for Caine. Actually, my husband told me he’d take the kids with them so I can have time for myself. So I made the cookie dough then stored it in the fridge coz it’s always better to do that before rolling it out to cut in different shapes. I could have started the latter process and then baked cookies after the dough spent an hour chilling in the fridge but I decided to wait for my daughter coz I know how much she loves making sugar cookies with me. Good thing I did that coz apparently she was a little bad during the car appointment.
She knew it too as soon as they got home coz she was very quiet. I told my husband that perhaps she just missed me. A few minutes after I said that, she stood up from the floor, went to a corner wall and was silently crying. So I knew she felt bad for acting out. I let her have a moment with the wall for a few minutes then asked if she wanted to make cookies. Instantly, her eyes lit up and smiled so sweetly.
And off we went to make cookies.
I’m not posting the recipe here. I’ll just direct you to an old post where you could get all the ingredients and instructions to make Christmas sugar cookies with/for your family too. This year I’ve also used edible markers to make some of the designs. I found out at the last minute that I ran out of red coloring so red is not represented much this year. The kids helped out with the decorating but they got tired after a while so I finished the whole thing by myself. And FYI, there are cookies inside the tins and Santa Clause cookie jar too. My back was really hurting after all the cookies were decorated and the kitchen was back to its organized and clean state.
The sugar cookie recipe is actully good for any other occasion like Valentine’s Day, Easter, or Halloween. Just match the cookie cutters and decorations for each holiday. The cookies are great to bring at holiday parties and gifts for family, friends, and neighbors. Use cute tin cans as containers.
Tip to avoid breaking the cookies if mailing them out to friends and family: Wrap 4-5 cookies in a saran wrap as tight as you could get. Do this for like a set of 5 or more depending how large the tin can is. Line the tin cans with either a bubble wrap or gift tissue papers then carefully place the wrapped cookies.
Entry for Food Friday. 
How-To Make Homemade Whipped Cream
It’s always easier and more convenient to just buy that whipped cream tube or a tub of cool whip to top the pies with. But believe it or not, it’s also very easy to make homemade whipped cream. All you need are chilled mixing bowl and whisk, heavy cream, a little bit of powdered sugar, and patience.
I’ve only used 1/2 cup of the 1 pint heavy cream for the pumpkin cheesecake that I made for Thanksgiving. My husband saw the box of heavy cream in the fridge so he asked why I didn’t make whipped cream out of it for the cheesecake. I actually thought about it but I didn’t think we really needed whipped cream since the pumpkin cheesecake already has dulce de leche topping. It was the day after Thanksgiving when I decided to whip the remaining heavy cream.
| How-To Make Homemade Whipped Cream |
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla(optional)
- Chill the mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Make sure to do this. After the chilling process, beat the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla(optional) in low speed at first. Turn it to med-high speed once everything comes together.
- Continue to beat the mixture until it’s fluffy and you get a soft peak texture.
- Serve it in dollop form on top of a pie or a cheesecake, or transfer it in a piping bag with decorated tip for an added decor on the dessert. Store remaining whipped cream in the fridge. Beat it again with the mixer the following day.
Thanksgiving Day Recipes
Looking for easy recipes to make for Thanksgiving Day? I’ve curated the recipes from my own Thanksgiving Day Menu throughout the years that I’ve posted in this foodblog for easy access. Just click the links to get the recipes. The print button for each recipe is located underneath the title and in newer posts, it’s also located within the recipe box, top-right.
Foodblogging Tips
Anyone who owns a foodblog or write for a foodblog for a living will know that there’s more to it than just cooking, taking pictures and writing about the food. I love my foodblog but sometimes the process frustrates me because believe it or not, for one decent shot, I have to take maybe about 5 or 10, if I’m lucky, You add that up with step-by-step pictures and I’m surprised my food ends up in the table in time for dinner. Fortunately I’ve been doing this for a while and I’m very familiar with my kitchen so that lessens the time.
Besides cooking and taking pictures, a foodblogger also thinks about how to present the dish. That means you have to find dinner plates. Experts will tel you that white plates are so much better in pictures. I will eventually get to using white plates because I can’t shop for more stuff to fill my already full cabinets right now. Having a small kitchen doesn’t help the lack of storage problem.
I make a lot of pasta dishes and I usually just serve each member of my family with their plates of pasta from the pot. Someday I would like to use pasta bowls set to serve at the table itself. That would definitely make a great picture for the foodblog.
Speaking of the table, I have a huge round table that’s hard to find tablecloths round for. The largest I have found 70″ and that still is not big enough for my table. Yes, my table is really big.
All these and more will help in having a foodblog once you’ve gotten used to writing in a blog platform, and “decorate” your theme however you want.
Under $20 Goodies From The Local Farmer Vendor
The last time I went to the local farmer vendor I only spent $13. This weekend I spent $16.50 but that’s only because of the jar of apple butter. If it wasn’t for that I would’ve just paid $11. Nevertheless, under $20 for the whole thing is still a very good deal. I also didn’t mind paying $5.50 on a jar of apple butter because it’s all natural unlike the branded versions sold in grocery stores.
$13 Worth Of Goodies From My Local Produce Vendor
Before going grocery shopping today, we decided to jinx the veggies from the store and just buy some from the local produce vendor that’s situated in the circle plaza of where we live. I knew the veggies would be much cheaper but I didn’t expect to only spend $13 for all the stuff I bought. Actually, it’s $12.50 but my husband told the vendor to keep the change.
The Winner Of The Corabella Pasta Giveaway
The winner of the Corabella Pasta Giveaway is Jennifer M: “I’d toss the gnocchi with spinach and gorgonzola.”. Congratulations. I’d contact you in a bit for your shipping address.
Thanks everyone for participating in the giveaway.
Split Pea & Pork Belly Soup Cooked In A Hurry
I cooked this soup for an hour and a half last Thursday. I really couldn’t think of what to make for dinner. It was 5pm, and my husband was due home in an hour and half, at least. I grabbed the pack of pork belly from the fridge and thawed it in the microwave….
Tequila-Lime Chicken
I learned about this Tequila-Lime Chicken dish while watching Barefoot Contessa on Food Network last Monday evening. As she was showing the ingredients and doing the step-by-step process, I realized I have all the ingredients so I said, oooh I’ll make that tomorrow night. And this is what we had for dinner last night.
I’ve copied the recipe with additional *twists from me.
