Christmas Party Stars: Shrimp Mousse
Shrimp Mousse
A friend gave me this recipe when we lived in Jordan, and I have used it ever since. It is one of the all-stars! Looks and tastes so elegant, and makes up SO EASY. Everything you need is available here in Kuwait, and this is a great way to make use of Kuwaiti shrimp, only available this year until January.
You can also serve it in slices as a first course on a lettuce leaf with some parsley. Keep back several shrimp to cut in half and use as embellishment.
1 can tomato soup
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
2 envelopes Knox Gelatine
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup (or one can) small cleaned and cooked shrimp
1/4 cup cold water
Heat soup and add cream cheese, stir until it becomes all smooth and creamy. Remove from heat. Dissolve Knox Gelatine in 1/4 cup cold water, add to soup and cream cheese mix. Let cool and add mayonnaise, onion, celery and shrimp. Pour into 1 1/2 quart mold and chill in refrigerator until firm. (I use two smaller molds) Unmold and serve with crackers.
Christmas Party Stars: Herbed Cheese Ball
Herbed Cheese Ball
Herbed Cheese Ball tastes just like Boursin, but even better, because you make it yourself and it is FRESH. It tastes great, it is EASY, and it is also very fattening. You can make it ahead of time, and it will last quite a while – weeks – in the refrigerator. Boursin cheese was hot in the 70’s.
If you live in Kuwait, you can find everything you need between the Co-op and the Sultan Center.
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temp
16 ounces cream cheese, room temp
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon oregano
1/3 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
Mix together until all is well blended. Serve in ramekin or form into a ball, May be rolled in coarsly ground pepper as a variation. Serve with crackers.
Christmas Party Stars: Artichoke Cheese Dip
As with all the cookie and candy recipes, these ones are really really easy. This first one is very flexible, so flexible I don’t even use the recipe any more. You can use canned artichokes, marinated artichokes, frozen artichokes, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, etc.
I’ll give you the basics. You make it a time or two, and then . . . play with it. Make it your own. Share the results with me! 🙂
At one party I gave, two men stood by this dip for an hour, and polished it off between them! Some people don’t like the heat of jalepenos, and if you think your guests like less heat, you don’t have to add them.
Artichoke Cheese Dip
After you have made this a couple times, you don’t even have to measure – you just sort of throw things in. A sure fire crowd pleaser.
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped canned red pimentos
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack Cheese
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon (just a pinch) cumin powder
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1-2 finely chopped jalepenos (optional, but these make it the BEST)
Combine all ingredients, turn into baking dish (I use a quiche dish) and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until bubbling hot. Serve with tortilla chips.
Off the Charts
Yesterday I was stunned to discover this blog on the WordPress Top 100 Blogs. It was #87, near the bottom, but I was astonished to even see it there at all, and delighted. Alas, such success is fleeting, and it was only for the one day. Checking this morning, I am now off the chart.
In the meantime, it is so much fun watching what people are downloading – Mom’s Fruitcake. Christmas Divinity. There is such a need out there for EASY recipes for time-challenged Christmas celebrators.
In the meantime, dear ones, time is flying! If you need two easy recipes, these two are the very easiest: Chocolate Macaroons and Russian Tea Cakes. Happy baking :-)!
Christmas Punch – Rum and Rumless
Brrrr. . . . .it is a COLD in Kuwait. The Qatteri Cat walks around begging me to sit at the computer so he can snuggle up next to me and snooze. I wore a real sweater today, it was that cold!
And – it is time for Christmas Punch. We all love this punch; it makes your house smell wonderful, it makes your throat feel good if you have a sore throat, and cranberry juice and pineapple juice – WOW – it’s even good for you.
This is the original recipe. Try it, but now when I make it I cut the sugar in half. Sometimes I don’t even add any sugar at all. And, this being Kuwait, no rum at all, but it still tastes wonderful, warm or cold. We store the leftover punch in the refrigerator in the cranberry jars, and just microwave it when we want a glass. It is SO good, and so EASY.
Christmas Rum Punch – and Rumless
2 32 oz. jars Cranberry Juice (Can be Cran-Rasberry, or Cran Grape, or what the Sultan Center has!)
1 32 oz. can Pineapple Juice (or 1 liter Pineapple Juice in the refrigerated section at the Sultan Center)
1 cup brown sugar
12 inches cinnamon stick
3 Tablespoons whole cloves
1 orange peel
Original recipe: In 30 cup coffeemaker, put cranberry and pineapple juice in bottom, and place coffee basket with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel in top. Perk juices through basket. When ready light comes on, add 1 quart Meyer’s Dark Rum. (Yeh, it’s a punch, you can use something else, but Meyer’s Dark Rum is SOOO good in this.)
In Kuwait – don’t add the rum!
Alternative when you don’t have a big coffee pot – Put juices into large kettle, add cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peel, sugar and bring to simmer. When hot, use strainer to fish out cinnamon sticks, cloves and orange peel – Do this sooner, rather than later, or the juice will get too spicy.
Add 1 quart of rum – or not! The juice is good either way, good for you, and has a very Christmas-y smell.
Old Fashioned Christmas Gingerbread Cookies (Advanced)
I will tell you honestly, I don’t make these any more. They are too difficult. But if you are fairly experienced at baking, these are totally amazing cookies my French grandmother used to make.
Gingerbread Cookies
Preheat oven to 400 F/ 200C
1 cup molasses (Brer Rabbit Green Label)
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup hot water
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons Royal baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups flour
Add hot water to molasses, sugar and shortening. When well-mixed and cool, stir in sifted dry ingredients.
Roll out to 3/4 inches thick, sprinkle with sugar and cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets and bake about 10 minutes, maybe a little longer.
Doesn’t sound so hard, does it?
This is a very soft dough. My grandmother says it rolls easier if you chill it before rolling it out, but even so, it is very soft. The rolling surface should be well floured, as well as the rolling pin, and it is best to work fast.
Note to my niece: Little Diamond, I sent the fruit cake. This is the recipe for the cookies you promised to send 🙂
Christmas Cookies: Butter Tarts
These are particularly easy if you can buy ready-made pie crust. If you can’t, use the Never Fail Pie Crust published earlier in this blog. You can freeze what you don’t use for later. Easy easy easy.
Butter Tarts
Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C.
Cream together:
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup brown sugar
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 large cup currants, sultanas or raisins
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Line patty or tart tins with pie crust (cut with cookie cutter to fit) and drop in enough mixture to nearly fill. Small tart tins work fine, and make a great one-bite sized tart.
Bake 10 – 12 minutes,
Christmas Cookie Making Photos
This weekend (Thursday and Friday are the week-end in Kuwait) was the big cookie making weekend – the upcoming two weeks are busy with occasions that require plates of cookies. (See cookie recipes in early December/late November).
In military campaigns, in event planning, after scoring a major business coup, there is an event called the “after action report.” Now matter how well you have done, it helps to sit down, right after the event, and brainstorm where you did well and where you could do better.
Here is where I did really well – the cookies taste great. Making the dough ahead of time and then cooking it up when I have time is a good game plan.
Areas where I need improvement. . .
Sugar Cookies
1) When using the food processor to make cookie dough, take off the blade protectors before beginning. Fortunately, I figured out what had happened while the pieces were relatively large, and easy to pick out of the cookie dough.
2) I didn’t realize in my January move that in the two boxes that went missing was my rolling pin. The good news is that a long, smooth sided plastic glass worked just fine. Better, in fact, than any rolling pin, wooden or plastic, I have ever used before.
I forgot what a big mess cookie-making makes . . .
This is what they look like after they have been glazed and green sugar crystals added.
They don’t have to be fancy – just relatively uniform – to make a pretty cookie plate.
Swedish Rosettes
3) Where did my big transformer go? The Fry Daddy I use to keep the oil at a steady temperature for the Swedish Rosettes needs 1200 watts, and the biggest transformer I have on hand is 1000 watts. Why on earth am I still using a 110v appliance after 8 years of living in 220v countries?
I ended up using the low-tech solution:
Although I have gas burners as well as electrical burners, I am terrified of the potential for fire using so much hot oil over the course of several hours. I don’t know why, I suppose it is not rational, but it just FEELS safer using the electric burner. It is hard to maintain an even 370 F, and quality control is problematic.
This is one of the first ones, when the oil isn’t quite hot enough. The flavor, however, is awesome! That’s the good thing about the rejects.
You can see the variation in color below. Save the darker ones for the last. You can still serve them with enough powdered sugar.
Ready to serve:
Russian Tea Cakes
These were a piece of cake. SOOOOOO easy. The ones on the right, are fresh out of the oven. The ones on the left have been rolled in powdered sugar, and are ready to eat. Yummmmm.
I buy my sparkling crystal sugars at Market Spice, in the Seattle Pike Place Market, but when I checked, they no longer sell online, and refer us instead to Amazon where they have a truly astonishing variety of sugar decorations available through the mail.
Christmas Cookies: Extra Credit Chocolate Macaroons
These are so good, and go so fast, that you might consider doubling the recipe even the first time you make it . . . Easy, easy, easy.
Chocolate Macaroons
(See Meringues for hints on separating yolks from whites)
2 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring (optional)
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut (available now in the Sultan Center)
1 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
(Melt chocolate on low power in microwave, or in a pan over hot water. If you try to melt it directly over the stove, it will burn, and it will smell terrible.)
Heat oven to 275 F / 140 C.
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold in sugar and salt, beat again until smooth. Add vanilla, then stir in coconut and chocolate. Drop by small spoon on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet before removing.
Christmas Cookies: Extra Credit Meringue Cookies
Don’t even think of making these on a humid day – the meringue will get all rubbery. It’s worth waiting for a dry day.
In the comment section of Christmas Cookies: Get Ready Little Diamond gave two recipes for her favorite cookies, which she calls Angel Kisses. Since we are related, it is no great surprise that I like them, too, and you will want to take a look at her recipes.
I even like the name Angel Kisses, but I just think of them as Meringues. And I kinda like them plain white. Sometimes I fold chocolate chips inside, but the flavor is always vanilla:
My friends, these cookies are SO simple. The toughest part is beating the egg whites. How tough can that be? Just try it, try it, it’s EASY. And for these are relatively low sugar, for a Christmas cookie.
(Separating Egg Whites from Egg Yolks
To get egg whites to be really stiff, there can’t be any yolk at all. The very safest best way to separate the egg yolk from the white is to use your HAND. Your hand doesn’t have any sharp edges to break the yolks.
Get two little bowls. Tap an egg on the edge of a cup, and open the shell slowly, over one of the bowls, and let the white fall into the bowl, tip the shell so that the yolk falls into your cupped hand and let the white flow through your fingers into the egg white bowl. Take the whole egg yolk and put it in the second little bowl.
Empty the egg white into the mixing bowl where you will be whipping the eggs. The reason is, while you are separating eggs, sometimes a yolk will break. If you are holding your hand over the egg white bowl, the entire bowl of whites can be ruined by a little piece of egg yolk. So always break the egg over a small bowl, and when you are finished, put the egg whites into the mixing bowl. That way, if you have a goof, it will only be one egg, not more.)
No greasing pans on these cookies, either, but you will need parchment paper, or good old brown paper bags, cut to fit the cookie pan. The secret to the success of these cookies is long, slow cooking at a very low temperature.
Meringues / Chocolate Kisses
4 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar (here is where you need really fine, white granulated sugar for really pretty meringues)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 325°F / 160 C.
Beat egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer at high speed until foamy. Sprinkle in cream of tartar and salt; continue beating, add sugar slowly, slowly, beating continually until stiff. Fold in vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips, if adding.
Drop by spoonsfull on prepared baking sheet. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until cookies are firm to the touch and just beginning to brown around edges. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
Chocolate Meringues
3 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar
3 T. unsweetened cocoa
Preheat oven to 325 F / 160 C.
Combine egg whites and cream of tartar, beat until foamy. Slowly, slowly beat in sugar, continue beating until thick and shiny. Sprinkle cocoa in, beat just long enough to incorporate. Drop by spoonsful on prepared baking sheet, bake 30 – 40 minutes or until cookies are firm on the outside. Remove carefully to wire racks, cool thoroughly.
There is a recipe for Almond Meringue cookies for diabetics at Cooks.com.
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