Many folk around this time of year, start preparing their “traditional” gifts, cookies, home made breads, jams, :shudder: fruitcake.
I make mustard. 8 different kinds (varieties include: Chili-garlic, garlic-tarragon, pub style, horesradish, roasted garlic, cranberry, jalepeno, jerk style). My friends/family all get mustards as part of their packages.
what do you do?
My mother and sisters make a variety of candies, including chocolate covered peanut butter balls, brownies, and others. The high point are Monster Cookies, huge cookies which have everything in them. Oatmeal, nuts, M&M’s, chocolate, everything.
Christ, my mouth is watering just thinking about them.
I do homemade breads: pumpkin, banana, nut, raisin-nut, etc.
I also make chocolate pretzels. I use store-bought pretzel rods, dip them in melted chocolate and then roll them in red and green sprinkles. Very festive and very easy!
My sister makes chocolate fruitcake that is positively orgasmic. It is sort of like a chocolate poundcake, with the chopped dried fruit, and then she soaks it in brandy or rum for weeks. It is NOT like the commercial fruitcakes you can buy at the grocery store.
wring, I would love to try mustard. Do you share you recipes or are they closely-guarded family secrets?
My mom makes bourbon balls around this time of year and lets them age until Christmas. Mmmmmmm.
My dad makes rolled dough cakes, which are these little yeasty cookies, some with apricot filling and some with walnut filling. We eat a bunch then put the rest in the freezer for the holidays. It takes him an entire day to make a batch. I remember as a kid sneaking down in the middle of the night to steal a couple out of the freezer, then going into the basement and eating them. I thought if I only took two, nobody would notice. Of course, I did it every night, so by the time Christmas rolled around, there weren’t many left. Nobody cared, though, because I love the apricot ones and everyone else likes the walnut ones!
“Well, the thing I most like to bring out at this time of year is my balls.”
“Mmm…your balls are so tender.”
“I can’t wait to get my mouth around this ball.”
“My balls are made from a secret Schweaty family recipe. No one can resist my Schweaty Balls.”
Jman
** Kinsey ** - all my recipes are at home. But, one of them I sorta remember - 1 cup dry mustard, (I think 1/2 cup,it may have been a cup) brown sugar, pinch of salt, 1 cup flat beer (different varieties give it different tastes. it needs to be flat so the mustard doesn’t bubble up later). other varieties took longer and used seeds and so on.
Mmmm, I’d love to get some mustard for Christmas. Not that I’m hinting anything…
This year I’m going to make Mandeln, which is a German kind of candied almond. It’s not hard to make, just time-consuming, and people love them. I also make fresh baked bread and rolls whenever I’m invited to a party. I think the most popular are my pretzel rolls with celery seed.
Well, requests start coming in from my friends for my cheeseball about a week before Halloween and don’t let up until after New Year’s! I’ve been trying to hint to my husband that if he wants me to keep making cheeseball, he’s going to have to buy me a larger food processor but I don’t think it’s working!
I also make sausage balls.
Heheh, this year I think I’ll make salty chocolate balls.
Has anyone made gingerbread houses? I’d like to try, but I’m a little intimidated. Does it take a lot of artistic skill or can a klutz like me make them?
Anyone can make them, tatertot. Of course, not everyone can make them look like houses!
Yep. My traditional gift is cash, so every year about this time I head toward the office and start making money.
Where the HELL is that damn green toner cartridge?
** KInsey !!! I checked the recipe - it’s One cup dry mustard, one Half cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup flat beer, (touch of tumeric, touch of salt). is your e-mail listed???
** tatertot I’ve done the Gingerbread house, and managed to not screw it up badly, so my guess is that you’d do fine!
** Chickenhead ** how can I get on your list? 
** evilbeth ** sounds good (was going to make some rude “ball” reference, but it’s to take the high road once in a while.)
Yes, wring, it is listed.
It’s Kinsey94@Yahoo.com
Thanks!
TaterTot, I’ve often wished I had the nerve to make a gingerbread house. I guess I’m always afraid it will end up looking like a tornado disaster site rather than a cute country cottage. Good Housekeeping usually has instructions and blueprints in either their November or December issue. Maybe I will be brave enough this year.
I’ll make the rude “ball” reference. Last year when my son was 3, he made Christmas tree ornaments in preschool. They used a styrofoam ball, painted it with glue, dipped it in glitter, and jammed a bent pipe cleaner into it. When we got home, he ran into the living room to put them on the tree, and proudly proclaimed, “I hung my balls on the tree!”