Christmas Cooking Tips

Christmas Cooking Tips

Christmas at our household usually means lots of cooking, baking, candy making and of course present making. But it didn’t all just come to me overnight, I spent hours in the kitchen with Nana and my mom learning all I could. Here are some great tips to help make your Christmas Cooking, Baking and Candy Making even more delicious!

1. Butter makes the best pie crusts, shortening is cheaper though. 🙂
2. KISS– Keep it simple Stupid (Silly) Whichever way you would like.
3. To make sure Christmas cookies keep their shape, triple-chill your dough. After removing chilled dough from the refrigerator, roll it out on lightly flour-dusted parchment paper placed on cutting board. Put board with the cookies straight into your fridge and chill again (15 min.) Flour your cookie cutter, remove chilled cookies and cut out the shapes. Re-flour between each cut. Line your baking tray with parchment paper, place cookies – and chill for a final 15 minutes before baking.
4. Instead of cooking hot green beans, consider making a festive bean salad with red, green and yellow beans – there are many wonderful recipes on the net. Make it the day before, cover and chill in your refrigerator to marinade. Introduce it as “Christmas Bean Salad” – and make it a tradition!
5. Mini-quiches freeze extremely well and can be made in advance, and then used as appetizers for the holidays.
6. Homemade crescent rolls are much better than store bought, I promise!
7. Pick up a sourdough bread bowl or two at your local bakery. Fill them with dips like spinach and artichoke dip, Cottage Cheese Dip or a family favorite.
8. Make the main dish appetizers and ask your family to bring their favorite with them. You get lots of great dishes and you didn’t have to slave away in the kitchen for days.
9. Make appetizers that freeze well so you can freeze the leftovers and of course cook ahead of time.
10. Don’t forget the cheese ball. This is one of our family favorites and ours includes bacon, sharp cheddar, cream cheese and of course seasonings check out the recipe here.