Christmas Comes Early

Christmas….Just the word conjures up the warmth of the season –  the smell of a fire in the fireplace, the scent of pine permeating the house, the aroma of baking coming from the kitchen.

And friends and family……..sharing this best of holidays.  It’s not so much the gift giving as the sharing of tradition, especially our “food traditions”.

So, here are a few “traditions” we’ve gathered from friends and family that we’d like to share with you.  Enjoy!!

Now, let’s talk about comfort food here!  We all know how great a house smells when there is bread baking in the oven.  But in today’s world, it’s difficult to find the time to prepare bread “from scratch”.   Well, here is one fabulous recipe for you to try that cheats a little bit.  But, guaranteed your family will love it.   This recipe makes three loaves of bread.  The good thing is that the extra loaves can be frozen for use later.

Mom’s Sausage Bread

3 Pizza Doughs                                                      2 Medium Onions, diced

1 Lb. Hot Italian Sausage                                      1 Lb. Mozzarella Cheese, shredded   

1 Lb. Mild Italian Sausage                                     2 Red Peppers, diced

Our supermarket sells fresh pizza dough in the bakery section.  If you can’t purchase fresh pizza dough from your supermarket, use Pillsbury.  Or, if your market has a bakery section, they may be willing to sell you some of their bread dough.

Allow the dough to rise.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Take the sausage from its casings, and sauté it in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over a low heat, breaking it apart while it’s cooking.  Add the onion and red pepper and cook until the sausage is no longer pink.  Remove from the heat and drain well in a colander and then place on paper towels to soak up additional oil.

Spray three cookie sheets with cooking spray.  Stretch each ball of dough to fit a cookie sheet and put 1/3 of the sausage mixture over the dough, followed by 1/3 of the mozzarella.  Roll each one up, jelly roll fashion, along the long side of the dough and pinch the ends closed. 

Lay each roll seam side down in the pan, and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes or until lightly brown.  Cool on a wire rack.  Once cooled can be wrapped well in heavy-duty tinfoil.  Freeze or store in the refrigerator for a day or two.

If you're not using it right away, it is best to bring it to room temperature before reheating in a 325degree oven.  If you plan to freeze them for any length of time, be sure to put the tinfoil wrapped loaves in a plastic freezer bag for extra protection.

Something this good should not be this easy!  These are a Christmas staple in our house, but one batch is never enough. 

Sugar and Spice Nuts

1/4 Cup butter                                                      3 Tbsp sugar

3 Cups pecan halves                                          1 Tbsp cinnamon  

1/2 Cup sugar                                                     1/2 Tbsp ginger

                                                                              1/2 Tbsp nutmeg

Melt butter in a skillet and stir in nuts and 1/2 cup sugar.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts and the nuts turn brown (about 8 - 12 minutes).

Meanwhile, combine the spices in a large bowl.  Stir in the carmelized nuts.  Spread out on either waxed paper or on a large cutting board and allow to cool completely.  Break the clusters into individual nuts and store in a tightly covered container.

This should yield about 3 cups of delicious nuts.

This is a recipe that, for me, completely embodies Holiday Tradition!  My grandmother has made these Italian cookies every Christmas, without exception for as long as I can remember.  Of course Grandma didn't need a  recipe to make these cookies, so it took quite some doing to get this recipe written down from her!  Here's the catch...We all know how to say the name of these wonderfully special cookies, but we're not really sure how to spell it! 

Tadalles? Tarralles? Tarales? (Ta-Doll-e - with an italian accent!)

Cookies                                                                                   Glaze

1 Cup suger                                                                              2 Cups confectioners sugar

4 Heaping Tbsp Crisco                                                           1/2 Tsp vanilla extract

1 Cup milk                                                                                 Milk

7 Eggs                                                   

1 Tbsp coconut extract                                                           

4 Cups flour

7 Tsp baking powder                                                                Sprinkles              

Mix all of the cookie ingredients together.  It will be a sticky mess.  Make sure that your hands are well floured.  Roll the dough into balls, using a well rounded teaspoons as your measure. [Note:  Be quick and gentle with the dough.  If you over handle the dough, the cookies will come out flat...delicious but flat!]

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350º oven for about 5 minutes.  Watch them carefully, as only the bottoms should get lightly brown. 

Let cool.

Meanwhile, combine the confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract.  Add milk 1 Tbsp at a time until the glaze is thick but spreadable.

Once the cookies have cooled, glaze and add sprinkles.