Every year I come up with a plan of what I am going to bake for Christmas. I decided to try to make a chart this year with the names of the recipes going horizontally and ingredients needed going vertically. I only put ingredients on there, with their quantities, that I might not have enough of. Flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon are examples of things I would not include. I did add butter because almost everything I make seems to need butter.
Of course, a week after making the list, I discovered five other things I want to make and no room left on the chart. I blame Pat and her constant posting of delicious sounding recipes on Facebook.
What I did instead was make a list, in pencil, of all the things I might potentially bake. There are family favourites like my chocolate brownies, soft ginger cookies and Macintosh drops that I know will get made at some point. There are the snacky recipes like caramel corn, sweet popcorn twists and clodhoppers that may get made on a day with extra people over or when we need a munchy snack. This year I decided to make three things that my mom makes that I had not yet made myself.
Last January, when I visited my parents for a few weeks, I got to help finish off her Christmas baking. It was rare for our family to make it “home” for Christmas so I never really got the chance to eat the things that my mom makes.
There is this almond slice which is very addictive. It has a pecan pie kind of texture but obviously you use sliced almonds instead of pecans for this one.
The next thing is mom’s nuts and bolts. Every year I get this message from my sister in-law Jana around December 23 asking for that recipe. I am not sure why I never made it before but perhaps the quantity it makes felt daunting.
The last recipe is a childhood favourite of mine. Scuffles are the equivalent to a cookie sized cinnamon bun but have an almost pastry taste vs bread taste. The recipe derived from a Ukrainian recipe called Rohalyky. Mom had given me the recipe that she had used for years that had yeast and was multi step. I just never made them because it looked like too much work. She now makes this much quicker and easier version that tastes the same.
Here is the easy recipe.
The full recipe makes 80 so, depending on your crowd, you may want to halve the recipe.
Every year something new gets added to my baking list and others only get made the one time. I like to try different things and hope that everyone will enjoy at least one of them.
You are well prepared for your guests.