Liz Dodder

Sparkling Holiday Champagne Punch

by liz · Dec 16, 2018

This is a delightful winter holiday punch with pears, cranberries and Sparkling Wine. You can use Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, Crémant or any other type of bubbles you can find—we especially love all the latest Central Coast Sparkling Wine. If you use a drier sparkler, just use less ginger ale. You can also adjust the amount of pear juice to your taste—especially if you like a fresher, crisper libation. On the other hand, many folks prefer a sweeter punch, and pear nectar or soda will pack more punch in that area.

Sparkling Holiday Punch – recipe adapted from Meals.com

Ingredients:

2-3 cups of fresh pear juice or purée (or 2 cans pear nectar or soda)
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 can (12 oz) ginger ale, chilled
1 bottle (750 ml) sparkling wine
1/2 cup frozen cranberries

Directions:

PLACE nectar, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

REFRIGERATE for 4 hours or until chilled. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves with slotted spoon. Pour mixture into large punch bowl; stir in ginger ale. Float cranberries on top.

Sparkling Holiday Champagne Punch

Author: Meals.com

Recipe type: Drinks

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

Serves: 8 cups

This is a delightful winter holiday punch with pears, cranberries and Sparkling Wine.

Ingredients

3 cans pear nectar
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
½ teaspoon ground cardamom, (optional)
1 bottle (1 liter) ginger ale, chilled
½ cup frozen cranberries

Instructions

PLACE nectar, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.
REFRIGERATE for 4 hours or until chilled. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves with slotted spoon. Pour mixture into large punch bowl; stir in ginger ale. Float cranberries on top.

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No-Fail Sweet Potato Pie: Southern Charm on a Plate

by liz · Dec 13, 2018

Being from the South/Midwest/Above Texas, the thought of a sweet potato pie with a pecan pie topping really appealed to me. Plus, this one even had “No Fail” in the recipe title (thanks to Rene Garza for this recipe)!

After making the Roasted Banana Cream Pie with Butterscotch Ganache (so good!) in the Nestlé Kitchens during this summer’s pie contest, I was ready for something a little easier…a little slower, with a nice Southern drawl.

Watch the video above to see how easy it is.

No-Fail Sweet Potato Pie from Meals.com

Ingredients for 8 servings:

FILLING

3/4 pound sweet potatoes (about 2 large or 3 small to medium)
1/4 cup melted butter
1 can (14 ounces) Sweetened Condensed Milk (fat free is ok)
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell or Homemade Pie Crust

TOPPING

1 large egg
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

FOR FILLING

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Wash and wrap sweet potatoes in foil, as shown above.

BAKE for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on size. Unwrap and rinse potatoes under cold water; remove skin. Break apart in large bowl. INCREASE oven temperature to 425° F.

POUR melted butter in bowl with sweet potatoes. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Blend in sweetened condensed milk, grated orange peel, cinnamon, vanilla extract, nutmeg, salt and egg. Pour into unbaked pie shell.

BAKE at 425° F, as shown above, for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce temperature to 350° F.

FOR TOPPING

MIX together egg, corn syrup, sugar, butter and nuts in small bowl; spread over pie.

BAKE for an additional 25 minutes or until set.

No-Fail Sweet Potato Pie: Southern Charm on a Plate

Author: Meals.com

Recipe type: Dessert

Being from the South/Midwest/Above Texas, the thought of a sweet potato pie with a pecan pie topping really appealed to me. Plus, this one even had "No Fail" in the recipe title (thanks to Rene Garza for this recipe)!

Ingredients

FILLING
¾ pound sweet potatoes (about 2 large or 3 small to medium)
¼ cup melted butter
1 can (14 ounces) NESTLÉ LA LECHERA FAT FREE Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell or Homemade Pie Crust*
TOPPING
1 large egg
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

FOR FILLING:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Wash and wrap sweet potatoes in foil.
BAKE for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on size. Unwrap and rinse potatoes under cold water; remove skin. Break apart in large bowl.
INCREASE oven temperature to 425° F.
POUR melted butter in bowl with sweet potatoes. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Blend in sweetened condensed milk, grated orange peel, cinnamon, vanilla extract, nutmeg, salt and egg. Pour into unbaked pie shell.
BAKE at 425° F for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce temperature to 350° F.
FOR TOPPING:
MIX together egg, corn syrup, sugar, butter and nuts in small bowl; spread over pie.
BAKE for an additional 25 minutes or until set.

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Homemade Eggnog Ice Cream

by liz · Dec 11, 2018

One thing I’ve learned through my attempts to cook from scratch is that I now love foods I used to hate. Asparagus, eggplant, brussels sprouts and bone marrow are just a few items on the long list of foods that taste better made by me. Another one is eggnog.

I’d only ever had pre-made store-bought eggnog before, and it was so thick with a strong and manufactured, sweet, eggy flavor. It tasted too-strong and fake, much the way Mrs. Butterworth’s maple flavored syrup compares to real maple syrup from trees in Canada or Vermont. It always made me slightly queasy.

This year, I was in such a holiday mood, that when I came across a recipe online for old-fashioned eggnog, it sounded frothy and merry and delicious. I also realized our ancestors knew how to cut the cream and make anyone love eggnog: with a lot of liquor.

Using the old-fashioned recipe, I created my eggnog with one difference. I used only Cognac and Cointreau as the potent ingredients – but I followed the same overall measurement of liquor. It took an awfully long time to whip the mixture into peaks, but I was committed. I did both sets of whipping with vigor, for an especially extended period of time. When it was ready, it was delicious…the best eggnog I’d ever tasted.

It was so airy and light, with a lovely delicate flavor. But it was a bit difficult to drink, as the froth that had been whipped so superbly now stuck to the side of the glass heroically. But I wanted that foam with the drink, much like a perfect cappuccino.

I knew what would fix this! Ice cream. Putting the whole thing in an ice cream machine would freeze the mixture while still keeping it slushy because of the alcohol. It would be the perfect homemade eggnog ice cream shake. And so I froze it. And then I ate it. And drank it. And spooned it into my coffee in the morning. And served it to everyone who came into my house. Then, we drank more. It was the perfect beginning to my holiday mornings and the perfect end to my holiday dinners.

I really do love eggnog, now just as much as my ancestors did.

Sea Salt Mania & Chocolate Dipped Caramels

by liz · Dec 11, 2018

Chocolate Dipped Caramels with Sea Salt Recipe — Photo by Meals.com

This season it seems everywhere I look, I see chocolate topped with sea salt, caramel made with fleur de sel, or salted candies of some kind. And it tastes so good; that combination of salt, sugar and chocolate! I looked through our holiday recipes, and found a really easy sea salt, chocolate and caramel version. It looked easy enough for a kid.

So I enlisted the help of a very savvy 9 year-old in the kitchen. And I was right. My Little Assistant followed the directions, melted chocolate, dipped caramels and consulted on salt-chocolate flavor combinations. We ended up with 3 kinds: dark & mint chocolate with black lava sea salt, semi-sweet chocolate with Hawaiian clay sea salt and cinnamon, and semi-sweet chocolate with bamboo sea salt and lemon zest.

They were all delicious, but the ones with lemon zest added a lovely citrus twang, and reminded me of summer. So they were my faves (shown above).

Chocolate Dipped Caramels with Sea Salt by Meals.com

Ingredients:

1 cup (6 oz.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
1 pkg. (5.5 oz.) about 25 pieces, soft & chewy rectangular caramels, unwrapped*
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Directions:
LINE baking sheet with wax paper.

MICROWAVE morsels and vegetable shortening in small, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; STIR. The morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted; cool slightly.

DIP caramel pieces, using a fork, into melted chocolate. Shake off or scrape excess chocolate against side of bowl. Place on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until set.

* 25 square caramels can be substituted for the rectangular caramels.

Vin Chaud: Heavenly Mulled Wine

by liz · Dec 6, 2018

I once attended Christmas Eve Mass in an old cathedral built in the 1100s in Lausanne Switzerland. What I loved the most about this was the musty, mystical feel of the church filled with villagers in the cold night, the fact that I could understand much of the sermon in French, and the vin chaud (mulled wine) they served everyone at the end.

Being a new wine drinker, I’d heard of mulled wine but never tried it. This “warm wine” is heated and steeped with spices like clove, cinnamon and anise and then served hot, steaming with fragrant spices. It tasted like Christmas in a glass, but also of the vineyards. It was heaven. And I was drinking it in the perfect place.

I found mulled wine all over Europe during the holidays and through the cold winter months. It reminds me so much of winter holidays that I now make mulled wine at the end of every year, and into the new year too. I like to make it with local wines, especially young table wine and freshly-ground nutmeg to keep the experience original.

For a more modern, fusion vin chaud you can use white wine (making it more cider-like), add different combinations of fruit juices, grate fresh ginger into the mix and experiment with herbs to create different flavors. Make your own unique winter concoction and settle in for the winter.

Recipes to start:

from Nestlé Kitchens (easy)
from Food Network (easy)
from Epicurious (more involved)

Merry (Minty) Holiday Cookie Wreath

by liz · Dec 5, 2018

When December rolls around, I love to play holiday music, deck the halls of my little abode, and make some holiday treats. So, when I came across Jenny’s Holiday Baking video featuring this Very Merry Cookie Wreath, I wanted to try my hand at it.

I followed the recipe in the video, but made a few changes. I wanted to make my own cookie dough, because I love chocolate mint morsels during the holidays, which are sometimes hard to find. So, I dug up this Nestlé recipe to create your own flavor-infused morsels – just use peppermint extract in place of raspberry. Then, I wanted to make my cookie wreath a little healthier (that way I can eat more holiday treats!), so I used half the butter in the cookie dough and added 1 cup of chopped nuts.

Finally, I wanted to use real butter in my icing, so instead of buying something premade, I used this recipe for cinnamon butter cream frosting (from one of our Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Deconstructed bloggers), halving the recipe and replacing the cinnamon with 1 tablespoon of peppermint extract.

Putting the wreath together and decorating it was easy! I made my wreath with only 2 rows of cookies, only used half the icing to put it together and replaced the candy toppings with dried cranberries, shown above. Now, this was a minty festive holiday treat I could really feel good about.

Watch the video above to see how to make Jenny’s Very Merry Cookie Wreath step-by-step. Also included in the video are step-by-step instructions for another holiday favorite: Gingerbread Cutout Cookies.

Make Leftover Mashed Potatoes into Holiday Tapas

by liz · Dec 5, 2018

If you’re like my family, you have mashed potatoes at every holiday meal. They are a classic. We like to keep the skins on, then mash them with garlic, cream cheese, milk and butter to make them creamy and tangy…and delicious.

I wanted to find a way to make these favorite mashed potatoes into another dish, with a different flavor. I decided to use this Potato Pancakes with Applesauce recipe as a base, but replace the applesauce with a tapas-meets-middle-east tapenade. You can add diced leftover ham to the tapenade, or serve this alongside the ham. (And of course, you can also serve it with applesauce as in the original recipe – this would be great with ham too!)

For the tapenade, you’ll need:

1 jar Kalamata olives
1 clove garlic, diced
orange zest + orange pieces from 1 orange
1/2 cup orange/tangerine juice
1/4 cup olive oil
fresh basil, chopped
salt & freshly ground pepper
cooked ham, diced (optional)

Chop the olives and cut the orange pieces in half, then combine the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix. Set aside. Mold leftover mashed potatoes into golf-sized balls.

Pour enough cooking oil into a large skillet to cover bottom with thick film. Heat to very hot but not smoking, and drop potato balls in. Flatten immediately. Fry for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown; flip and brown other side, as shown above.

Drain on paper towels. Serve with tapenade (photo above). Or, try the original recipe and serve with applesauce and sour cream.

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