25 Treats of Christmas

Hellooooo out there! I’m still here! I had some bad depression episodes and am still pulling myself out of the hole a bit. It made it really hard to have any motivation to do anything other than read silly things and pet the dog. Part of my coping skills for these were to try to do things as normally as I could and that meant that I made Christmas treats for work again! We did have an Epiphany party, but it was super tiny. We were okay with this, as I couldn’t find the table cloth- I put it “somewhere safe” while we were setting up the Christmas decorations and I’m sure will find it again as we put them away. I did have people sign a strip of white fabric though, as I’m going to add a white border and a red border on it to make it fit our table a little better. So when I find it, I’ll add that on for this year.

I didn’t get as many treats made for work this year as I thought. The new staff at work was super excited to be there for this tradition and I got lots of good feedback.

The surprise hit of the year was the gluten free ginger cookies. I got the most compliments on them and am going to send the recipe out to the staff as a whole because I had a bunch of requests for it. It is also nut free and can be made dairy free too, so essentially can be both gluten free and vegan.

The second batch of these were thicker. I think I must have messed up the ratios somewhere. They both had crystallized ginger in them, but the second/party batch also had Chinese 5 Spice in them instead of just ginger. https://smallfarmbiglife.com/gluten-free-ginger-cookies/

I made marshmallow fudge as well and I was told someone hoarded it in the kitchen and was jokingly telling everyone that it was horrible and that she would “save them all from it.” I don’t think anyone believed her because the entire tin of it was eaten up by the time I went home. I was glad I had kept some back for the Husband, who also liked it. https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/perfect-chocolate-fudge/

I made these orange cranberry snowballs too, which I didn’t like- they were too dry, but our Practice Manager loved them. I like trying new combinations of flavors. It’s fun to see what people will respond to and what they don’t like. These weren’t as sweet as most cookies are and people liked that they were a little bit unusual. The orange and cranberry combo was a seasonal hit, of course! https://thegoldlininggirl.com/2016/12/cranberry-orange-snowballs/

The last cookie I made for work was these pistachio thumbprints filled with bittersweet chocolate ganache. They were made using pistachio pudding mix! They were definitely green and apparently made the Husband uncomfortable on a visceral level. He wouldn’t even try them and he likes pistachios! I used mini chips in them. they had a powdered sugar frosting for the top originally, but I had a bunch of melted chocolate already and think they were better this way. These were from A Quilter’s Christmas Cookbook.

Of course, for the party, I made all sorts of things! Knowing it was going to be small, I didn’t go as big with recipes as I normally would.

One of my favorite party experiments were these Finnish Blueberry Buns. They’re like Nissu, but have blueberries on the top! https://www.womanscribbles.net/finnish-blueberry-buns/

They were yummy! I would definitely make them again.

Next up is the pickle tray and relish tray, of course. I made homemade dilly beans and squash pickles for the table. Both recipes were from my Small Jars. Big Flavor Canning book.

I didn’t get many pickles this year, although I did have a bunch of cucumbers because I had two jars of pickles burst in the canner. I was pleased with both of these pickles though!

We had Rulle. My favorite years are when I get to eat it twice at Christmas! This batch did not hold the shape as much as I would like, but it was super tasty. And I had just enough to not waste any.

I wasn’t going to make a cake, but I had leftover sparkling wine jelly and mascarpone whipped cream (side note, who is this fancy person with this in their fridge… I feel like this isn’t actually me,) and it’s traditional to have a filled cake on the Scandinavian Christmas Table. Plus, I said something about it to one of my friends from work and she got super excited because I was going to make a white cake. So here’s my fancy Christmas Cake. I opted to leave it undecorated to celebrate the snow (Hahahaha! You know I just didn’t have time or ideas for decorating, right?) It was delicious!

Here’s the whole table with the things I didn’t get individual pictures of: Peanut Butter Balls, clementines, Caramel Chocolate chips, crab dip, sandbakkels, the second batch of ginger cookies, and the blackberry almond cookie cups. The sandbakkels and the cookie cups were from my Modern Scandinavian Baking book by Daytona Strong. The cake is from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. We also had fruit soup, but it was on the stove and I think I did not get a picture. (The elbow in the corner belongs to another K named friend I think she’d be K5? Too many Ks.) the truck in the upper corner is actually a cookie jar! A friend gave it to me a couple of years ago and I was finally able to have room to use it.

The Husband and I knew we’d probably be wanting actual dinner, since we didn’t think people would be coming all day, so I made this yummy Swedish Meatball Pasta Bake. You make the gravy and cook it like a casserole. It was actually something I think we’ll make for our Christmas years by ourselves. I didn’t have the make the Husband gravy this way and it reheated very nicely and kept the meatballs moist, even though I over broiled them slightly. Not the prettiest, but tasty! https://thebeachhousekitchen.com/swedish-meatball-pasta-bake/

I didn’t quite make it to 25 Treats this year, but I’ve definitely been feeling the urge to keep baking, so I think I might be in a better mindset than before. Hopefully that spirit will continue to be uplifting all year. I hope your year is filled with little comforts and joys, just like our party!