Merry Christmas

Preview of what I'm working on for the ladies in my family! ^ It's a mixture of flower pins, hair ties, hair clips & a button-cluster headband. I've decided I am too broke to spend a fortune on everyone this year, but I want to give everybody something special! What gift could be more special than one handmade with that person in mind? (And would could be cheaper??). Can't go into too much detail about WHO these gifts are intended for.. :D But they were all pretty easy to make, just took a few dabs of hot glue and a couple of stitches.

In addition to these, I am going to be making some edible gifts as well! Including jam, chocolates, and holiday cookies (all made by muah). As far as presentation, I've decided I'm going to first check out Good Will and see what kind of containers/baskets/jars/ect they have that would be more unique than a batch of uniform containers from Hobby Lobby or Walmart. Now SHHHHHHH don't tell anybody what I'm doing!!!

Now time to make dinner :)

Thanksgiving is sneaking up on me... yikes only 4 more days left before I host my FIRST Thanksgiving dinner at MY house! Ahhhh!! Ok I'm fine... really I'm not nervous... but I have been practicing my sidedishes all week with dinner (just in case).

Thought I'd share in my experiments! I have some other dishes coming up in future blogs, like cranberry jam, pear jam, and some holiday inspired cookies as well!

Tonight after our left over dinner I decided to do some tests on some Thanksgiving bread choices. I came up with two different recipes, and I really like them equally, so I might make them both! :P

Cinnamon-Nutmeg Beer Biscuits

First one was inspired by the beer biscuits I used to see my grandmother make in her kitchen on the farm (laugh it up), which were always very rich & crumbly. This made about 5 or 6, here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 450

Aprox. 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose mix
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tblsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Tblsp ground nutmeg
Aprox. 1/2 of a 12oz. bottle of the beer of your choice

Mix first four ingredients together before adding beer. Mix together til googey dough forms. Drop heaping spoonfuls onto a non-stick baking sheet 2in apart, and lightly dust tops with another pinch of cinnamon & nutmeg. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Serve hot with butter or with whipped cream cheese (bonus if it's flavored as well with cinnamon & walnuts!). These would be good as a flavor balanced side dish, little bit of sweet to go with your spicy and salty dishes.

Shortbread and Hot Pear Topping

This recipe was sort of thought up while my batch of beer biscuits were in the oven. This recipe only makes about 8 short cakes.
Shortcakes:

Preheat 450

2 cups all-purpose mix
3 Tblsp sugar
3 Tblsp melted butter
1/3 milk

Mix together all ingredients. Drop heaping spoon fulls of dough onto baking sheet, and bake for 9 or 10 minutes (or until lightly golden brown on top).

Meanwhile....

Hot Pear Topping

2 sliced ripe pears, loosely chopped (or get creative, what other fruits in your kitchen might be good?)
1 & 1/2 Tblsp cinnamon
1 & 1/2 Tblsp nutmeg
3-4 Tblsp butter

First boil chopped pears on the stove for a few minutes, until they are soft. Drain the pears, and leave in the pot, returning to heat. Quickly add remainder of ingredients, and simmer for several minutes.

When short bread is baked and your hot pear topping (or other fruit topping! :) has been simmering for a few minutes, serve short cakes with a helping of your hot pear topping poured over top! This would be a great Thanksgiving day breakfast pastry to go with your coffee that won't stretch your stomach out too soon! Or if you're too full for pumpkin pie, this would be great after dinner as well (of course, with more coffee!!!).


Besides my cooking adventures today, I also began making my first Christmas gifts for relatives this year! I've decided I am not buying gifts for anyone this year... I'm MAKING them! This will include some edibles like Christmas chocolates, holiday cookies, and seasonal jams.... Today I made some accessories for my female relatives, I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow. Maybe... I just wouldn't want their intended recipients to see them!! I'll consider it..


PS Leave me a comment if you have ideas or you try new things with these recipes! :)