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Christmas Breakfast & the Love of Traditions

Sitting by the fire is a favorite Christmas tradition in my house

Christmas is full of all kinds of traditions that people cherish. They are diverse and unique, but can mean so much to the people who hold them.

According to the dictionary a tradition is: a continuing pattern of cultural beliefs or practices; something that is handed down.

I love traditions. As I reflect on childhood, so many of my cherished memories are attached to traditions. As an adult I am seeking to draw upon those and forge my own as well. I find that they are hard to establish, and some that we have established have been difficult to maintain, due to changes in circumstances and life stages. But I love them and want to

work to create and carry on traditions in my home.

I believe these rituals anchor us. They provide security for us in some way. The familiar is comforting, when life is so ever-changing and unpredictable. They are something to anticipate. They cause a break in the mundane. Songs, activities, rituals, books, and of course, food make up many of the holiday traditions I savor.

Knowing that Granddad Williams would come in the house, when they arrived in Knoxville, with his gloves in hand, ready to put them on and carry in the beautifully wrapped packages to place under the tree each year, brought comfort and joy to my childhood world.

And the medley of Christmas songs that he would play on the piano signaled that Christmas was here. (Click on player below to hear a recording of Grandad's Christmas Medley. This was recorded around 2000, when he was in his late 80's.)

The stack of baked goods, made with love from the women in our family, packed in metal tins, labeled with masking tape, is a Christmas tradition that I’ve always loved. The tins are filled with all kinds of treasures: Peanut brittle, sand tarts, divinity, chex mix, thumbprint cookies, white chocolate covered peanut butter crackers, chocolate covered coconut squares, peanut butter balls, and more.

Nativity Scenes set up around the house have always helped me center on Jesus, and the wonder of Emmanuel: God with us. My mom has a thing about Nativity Scenes. She loves them. People give her sets for gifts and she has accumulated quite a collection. They are made out of a variety of materials, hand-made and store-bought, and include various characters in the scene. She leaves some up all year, and at Christmas, we often have a “count the nativity scenes game" at their house.

We have a little Fisher Price Nativity at my house that is one of my favorite decorations. It sits on the coffee table and the kids play with it the whole season, and set the people and animals up in various ways. Sometimes I find shepherds over by the television, “abiding in the fields”, or the wise men in the east, over on the bookshelf. Other times they are all lying down resting from the big event and the long journey. They oftentimes are circling baby Jesus, appropriately focusing their attention on the Christ child.

Christmas breakfast is a time when we want something tasty and crowd pleasing and also easy. There's no time to be standing in the kitchen when there are presents to open and a fire to sit beside! Monkey Bread is something we have made for years on Christmas morning. Not every year, but a lot of years. We have made several varieties throughout the years, some with yeast dough, some with biscuit dough, some with pudding mix, some with brown sugar and spices. A few years ago I discovered Paula Deen’s Gorilla Bread. It’s a ramped up version of Monkey Bread. (She always ramps it up). The recipe says it’s called Gorilla Bread because it “kicks monkey’s butt". Hilarious, that Paula! And she’s right. It is monkey bread (a loaf of cinnamon coated bread) but with a blob of cream cheese hidden inside. She puts pecans layered between the rolls and I put both pecans and dried cranberries. It's pretty and the Craisins add a nice tart element.

The prepping of the biscuits, coated with cinnamon sugar and stuffed with cream cheese, and the measuring out of the remaining ingredients can be done the night before. Then layering it all in the pan in the morning is fast, simple and tidy.

Gorilla Bread (adapted from Paula Deen's recipe)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

4 cans refrigerated biscuits (10 count)

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1 heaping cup of dried cranberries (Craisins)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small dish. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well (or in a glass bowl in the microwave); set aside.

Cut the cream cheese into 40 cubes/ blobs.

Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts and 1/3 cup of cranberries into the bottom of the bundt pan. Place half of the prepared biscuits in the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts and 1/3 cup cranberries.

Layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar, pour the remaining butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of nuts and 1/3 cup cranberries.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and fully baked. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes.

Place a plate on top and invert.

Merry Christmas to you! May you cherish old traditions, enjoy starting new ones and savor the season.

Detail: Christmas Breakfast & the Love of Traditions

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Cranberry-Pear Cake Bars

Sometimes you can predict how good a recipe is just by taking a look at the list of ingredients.

This recipe, for Cranberry Pear Cake Bars, that I make in December, is case in point.

Just check out some of the ingredients included in the recipe:

butter –always a good sign

cinnamon- festive

light brown sugar- makes everything better

  grated orange zest- zest always adds a zing

pears-  a lovely fruit that melts when it is baked

fresh cranberries - colorful and tangy

Yum, Yum and Yum.

In my opinion, complex baking techniques are not the sign of a quality recipe. Rather, the list of ingredients is the key.

I am a huge fan of the cranberry/pear combination...and I love cranberry/orange too. So to put them all together is a lovely trio! [It's similar in tartness/sweetness/mellowness/color of my favorite summer combination of blueberry/peach.]

This Cranberry-Pear Cake recipe is another one of my favorites from Everyday Foods from several years ago. Not knowing what the texture or flavor would end up being, I made it because the list of ingredients looked so delicious. It was love at first bite.

It is moist, sticky, and kind of like coffee-cake. It is made in a 9 X 13 and isn't frosted. It's not that beautiful, except for the pop of those red cranberries, but it is comforting. I took it a few years ago to the Hunt house for Christmas, thinking it would travel well. It did and was gobbled up.

Cranberry-Pear Cake Bars

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

 2 cups flour 

1 tsp. soda 

1 tsp. cinnamon

 1 tsp. salt 

1 3/4 cups packed light-brown sugar

 2 large eggs

 1 tsp. vanilla 

1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest

 2 firm pears, peeled, halved, cored, and diced

8 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries 

1/2 cup walnut pieces, optional

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9 x 13″ pan lightly with cooking spray. Then line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and zest until smooth. Add flour mixture; mix just until moistened (do not overmix).

Fold in pears, cranberries, and walnuts. 

the batter is thick and chunky

Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool completely in pan set on a rack. If using parchment, pull the overhang out to easily cut.

It's tasty topped with whipped cream, or with a side of vanilla ice cream. It's great warm, cold, even for breakfast (I mean, it's basically fruit, right?).

right out of the oven

Christmas on a plate

I've been baking a lot this month and have many things I want to post, but decided on this because not only is it one of my perennial holiday favorites, but it is a recipe I somehow lose every year! When I couldn't find it last week, and couldn't locate it on Everyday Food's Website, I had to email my friend, Melissa to get the recipe. (She also makes this cake and is a regular user of Everyday Food recipes.) I think I misplace it because it is seasonal and because it is an awkward sized, loose recipe in my life. I figured if I write about it here, I will remember where I put it!

I am a fan of these magazines, and recipes from magazines in general, but I have a hard time figuring out a great system for storing them.

What are we to do with recipes from magazines?

I have tried many methods of cataloguing them:

*pasting the clippings in Sketchbooks

*3-hole punching the pages and putting them in a binder

*putting them in plastic sleeves in a binder

*just keeping the magazine in tact, if it's a cooking magazine

*and piling them in a massive stack – which is currently overflowing in baskets under my desk, and the recipes haven't been used, or even looked at for over a year. (Clearly this is the LEAST effective strategy).

I think there are pros and cons to each method.

I like the look and feel of the sketchbooks best – I have an affinity towards spiral bound things, but there is no order to them, and so now I am on book #4 and I find myself going through all of them to find the recipe I'm looking for. If I had had the forethought when I began, I would have made one for main dishes, one for desserts, etc. But instead they are all together. I'm thinking maybe I should create a table of contents at the beginning of each volume. At least that would simplify the search.

Do you have a system that works?

Please share!

And don't forget to buy some cranberries while they are still available (READ HERE if you don't know about the very short season of cranberry availability). While you're there buy a couple of pears and go home and make a cake!

And listen to some Christmas Music while you do it. (Our favorite new Christmas Album of the year is Matt Wertz's Snow Globe).

Detail: Cranberry-Pear Cake Bars

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Cranberries are in...better stock up!

Years ago, when my friend Hannah had her baby Frances, I wanted to take her a tasty baked good and squeeze that little girl. I found a cranberry orange muffin recipe in a Martha Stewart cookbook, whipped them up, and took them over to her. Hannah is one of the most lovely gift recipients! She expressed her gratitude on the spot. Then a few days later I received this postcard from her.

My inspirational bookmark

It was a thoughtful note that I wanted to keep, so I stuck it in the cookbook as my bookmark for the cranberry muffin recipe. It continues to be my bookmark (and inspiration to give the gift of muffins).

The next year I decided, when planning a brunch with some ladies, that those muffins would be a good fit for the menu. I volunteered to bring them. Little did I know that cranberry orange muffins in February are NOT a reality UNLESS you have done some stowing away of the cranberries. I was not aware that the “cranberry season” lasts all of 2 weeks…okay a little longer than that…2 months maybe. I had no idea! And unlike the blueberries and strawberries that I can find in the freezer section of my grocery, I cannot find cranberries (which by the way I do not understand… there is money to be made on these amazing berries year round)! Appalled, I called my mom and she said, “Oh, did you not know? They have a very limited availability in the stores and you have to stock them up and freeze them!”

So I learned my lesson. My mom, who is a bulk-buyer (in life) suggested that she and I buy a case and split it when the season rolls around again. I said, “YES! That should last me a calendar year”. Well, when my 13 bags of cranberries arrived and we were trying to fit them into my one little side by side freezer/fridge Dave said, “Really? Do we need this many? What are we making with them?” I said, “You know muffins and stuff”. Of course, my mom has 6 freezers in her life, so the storing is not that big of an imposition. At my house we were eating bowls of ice cream and cooking meat from the freezer that week to make room for the cranberries.

About June, when we had approximately 10 bags remaining, and our household was having to alter our ice cream purchasing because of the cranberry stockpile, Dave suggested we ramp up the cranberry recipe making! And we did. And eventually, about 2 years later, we made our way through them all.

So I learned another lesson. Buy in bulk proportionate to your freezer capacity and the amount you realistically think you will use in a calendar year. I am getting better over time at predicting this. And am trying to be sensitive to the small amount of freezer/refrigerator space, and the shared dominion over them.

It is November. I have been watching and anticipating the cranberry season. And I am thrilled to tell you that I came home one day this week and opened my fridge and you won’t believe what I found stacked on the shelf in my refrigerator… 4 bags of fresh cranberries that Dave bought when he was at the grocery! I let out a squeal! Not only are cranberries in, but Dave’s cranberry resentment is gone…he actually purchased them voluntarily!

Lucy, in her costume, helping me top the
bread with cranberries- a great counting game!

I have been having a cranberry fest this week. I am writing about cranberries, talking about them and making cranberry recipes! Earlier this week Lucy, my 2 year old, and I made a Cranberry Pecan Bread recipe, that my friend Emily emailed to me recently. Yesterday my college student friend, Caroline, came to bake and we made Cranberry Oat Muffins and Cranberry Orange Salad.

It has been hard to decide what to post. I have included the Martha Stewart –"Welcome baby Frances" Cranberry Orange Muffins I told you about, Cranberry Oat Muffins (my favorite), and my mom’s Cranberry Orange Congealed Salad that I request every Thanksgiving! They all have a cranberry-orange element to them, which I love. There might be some more cranberry recipes coming on future posts, but I'll try to keep it under control.

In the meantime I suggest you go buy your stash of cranberries and clear some space in the freezer. The clock is ticking!

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Cranberry Oat Muffins

1 ½ cups Whole Wheat Flour (I use part whole wheat/part white whole wheat)

¾ cup quick-cooking rolled oats

¼ cup buttermilk powder (dry milk)

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped

½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

1 Tbsp orange zest

2 large eggs

¾ cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

Glaze:

1 Tsp orange juice

½ cup powdered sugar

Whisk together the dry ingredients, stir in chopped cranberries and nuts. Whisk together the orange zest, eggs, milk and melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stir until fully combined but don’t beat it or over-stir! Fill greased muffin cups almost to the top.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 16 to 18 minutes, until they are golden. Remove from oven, leave in pan for 5 minutes. Stir glaze ingredients together, adding powdered sugar and orange juice to get the desired thickness. Dip the tops of the warm muffins into the glaze.

Using this handy pampered chef chopper makes the cranberrry and pecan chopping simple.

Zesting the orange!

Dipping the tops in orange glaze

Several years ago I found this recipe in a King Arthur Flour ad. Because I believe in King Arthur Flour, I tried it and LOVED it! It became my new favorite. They call them Cranberry Whole-Grain Muffins but I call them Cranberry Oat Muffins because the oats are such a defining characteristic of the muffin. They have a crispy, craggy crown and a hearty, dense crumb which I appreciate in a muffin. I love the wholesome complexity of them.

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The Cranberry Orange Salad is my favorite cranberry dish for Thanksgiving. It is a congealed salad that my mom invented by merging a couple of other recipes. It is chock full of fruit and texture and is both tart and sweet. It goes great with all the creamy, rich, savory foods of the season.