The Wassail Bowl with Baked Apples recipe below likely will happily remind “Kitchen Kapers’” readers of the classic Christmas carol lyric, Here We Come A’Wassailing. Yesteryear’s wassailing (singing carols from house to house at Christmas) evolved into today’s Christmas caroling, which we hope will go on forever, though sadly not nearly enough caroling seems to be happening these days. The now antique word wassailing is rarely encountered, now mostly found only buried deeply in old books and in senior folks’ Christmases Past memories and in those old Christmas carols. Even just as a nice nostalgic antiquity, that wonderful old-fashioned word wassail calls out to be used more in these contemporary times and coming new decades, maybe even in new centuries of Christmases to come. That is why discovering in our Apopka area community cookbooks a wassail bowl recipe has been such a very pleasant part of this Christmas. That Wassail Bowl with Baked Apples recipe in Calvary Church of the Nazarene’s “A Harvest of Recipes” happily is helping keep Christmas wassailing still surviving in this community. It is hoped all of this week’s other recipes will help create in readers’ lives some very festive Christmas feelings this holiday season, especially the Monkey Bread. Hopefully, home chefs will find in this week’s good recipes below inspiration for cooking some interesting and appreciated gifts of food for family and friends this Christmas season, brightest and happiest season of all the year, bringing great cheer and joy to all. Time given to baking and sharing festive holiday gift food treats like those below makes the holidays happy and merry indeed, both for recipients of and for those who give holiday time, energy and inspiration to creating delicious edible gifts for others. A Very Merry Christmas season to all!
ANGELA HOUSE’S
WASSAIL BOWLWITH BAKED APPLES
Recipe from A Harvest of Recipes
3 large cooking apples, cored
1 gallon apple cider (16 cups)
6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 (6-ounce) can of frozen orange
juice concentrate
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cinnamon sticks (optional)
About 45 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Halve apples and place cut-side-down in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Bake apples for 25 minutes or until apples are forktender. Meanwhile, in covered six-quart saucepot over low heat, simmer two cups of the apple cider, cloves, allspice and nutmeg for 10 minutes. Add remaining apple cider, undiluted orange juice concentrate, brown sugar and lemon juice. Heat until hot, but not boiling, stirring occasionally. Pour hot cider mixture from saucepot into heated large punch bowl or crockpot. Float apples (skin side up) in the punch. Ladle about half a cup of the hot punch into each punch cup. One cinnamon stick may be added (optional). Recipe yields 17 punch cup servings or 34 half-cup servings.
KRINGLES
Recipe from Habitat for Humanity’s
Home Sweet Habitat
1 cup water
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
3 eggs
Bring water and margarine to a boil in saucepan. Boil until margarine melts. Add flour quickly, stirring with wooden spoon until mixture is smooth and leaves sides of pan. Stir in almond flavoring (or vanilla). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon into circles on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool. (Kringles may be filled with whipped cream if you wish, optional.)
LYNN GOODWIN’S SNOW FLAKES
Recipe fromTreasures and Pleasures
1 (12-ounce) bag chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter
1 box (12.3 ounces) Crispix cereal
3 cups powdered sugar
Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and the butter over low heat. Put cereal in large pot or bowl. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal. Toss with wellwashed hands until well coated. Put powdered sugar in large clean paper grocery bag. Pour in coated cereal and shake, shake, shake!
HOLLY SPRIGS
Recipe from Habitat for Humanity’s
Home Sweet Habitat
30 marshmallows
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon green food coloring
3-1/2 cups cornflakes
1/2 to 3/4 cup red hot cinnamon candies
Combine marshmallows, butter and vanilla in microwave-safe dish. Microwave the mixture until smooth, stirring occasionally. Stir in food coloring. Add cornflakes, stirring until coated. Drop by teaspoons-full onto waxed paper. Decorate with the red hot cinnamon candies. (Kids will love making these.)
ANNABELLE ESCRIBANO’S
QUICK AND EASY CHRISTMAS CHEESE BALL
Recipe from A Harvest of Recipes
1 (8-ounce) package Cheddar
cheese
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
One-eighth to one-fourth of an onion,
chopped
Pineapple jam
Mix together the cream cheese, Cheddar cheese and chopped onion until well mixed. Form a ball. Pour pineapple jam on top.
CHRISTMAS COOKIE CUTOUTS
Recipe from
Partners In The Kitchen
4 cups (or more) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup lard
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 eggs
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg together; set aside. Cream butter and lard in mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar; beat well. Stir in apple cider vinegar and eggs. Add flour mixture gradually, beating well after each addition. Chill for several minutes. Roll dough on floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on nonstick cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for eight minutes or until brown. Cool on wire rack.
MATTHEW EDMISTON’S
CHRISTMAS CAKE CONES
Recipe fromTreasures and Pleasures
Fill flat-bottomed ice cream cones about half full with cake batter and
place the cones in muffin tins. Bake as you would cupcakes. When cool, ice
with red or green icing or swirl food coloring through white icing. Sprinkle with
colored sugar or top with Santa candles or little chips of peppermint candy
canes. “Granny helps me make this recipe,” the recipe’s contributor in this 1990 local cookbook’s Young Cooks section wrote in a note under his recipe for Christmas Cake Cones.
SHARON HULLINGER’S MONKEY BREAD
A CHRISTMAS TRADITION
Recipe from A Harvest of Recipes
1 package Parkerhouse or white
rolls (or 1 and a half loaves frozen
bread dough)
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
(optional)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Lightly grease a 10-12-cup Bundt pan. If using loaves of dough, divide whole loaf into sixteen equal pieces and the half loaf into eight equal pieces. If using rolls, there is no need to divide dough. In a bowl, combine sugar, nuts and cinnamon; set aside. Dip each piece of dough in melted butter and then roll each buttered piece of dough in the sugar mixture. Place each piece of dough evenly in pan. Let the dough rise until double in size or until the dough has risen to just under the top rim of the pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for thirty to forty minutes. The bread should be well-browned and sound hollow when tapped on top. Remove from oven and turn out of pan immediately.
