Makes 6 servings
Prep: 5 mins - Ready In: 17 mins
BRING syrup and butter just to boil in large skillet on medium heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer about 2 minutes.
ADD sweet potatoes. Cook on low heat 10 minutes, gently turning sweet potatoes frequently to glaze. Garnish with pecan halves, if desired.
Makes 6 servings
Variations:
The holiday ham is the traditional centerpiece for Easter, Christmas, and other holiday gatherings. Almost any special meal warrants a holiday ham. Many options are available in choosing a holiday ham and in the quest to make the choice your holiday ham centerpiece a success. You can not judge the value of your holiday ham by the price per pound; you need to look beyond the price for differences in hams that are available. Nutrition labels are a great place to start your comparisons of the ham. The nutrifacts gives information about the calories, fat, cholesterol, protein, and sodium contents of the ham. Generally, nutrifacts for ham are healthy since ham is a relatively lean cut of meat before anything is added. When comparing hams, be certain that you note the serving size that has been used to establish the nutritional statistics of the ham.
Although nutrition information is very similar from one ham manufacturer to another, there are several factors that will present distinguishable differences in hams. These factors may represent differences in flavor and texture profile from one brand of ham to another. These factors are bone-in ham versus boneless, slow curing of ham versus efficient curing, water levels added to the ham, different methods of smoking the ham, cooking duration, and, of course, the ingredients included the cure or marinade of the ham.
Bone-in hams provide 2-3 servings per pound and tend to highlight the added ingredients. The natural fats of the ham help to enhance the ingredients that are added to the cure (marinade). Although you may want to trim the fat away when consuming the ham, cooking the ham with its natural fat will bring out the unique differences in many spices and sweeteners used to make the ham. Boneless hams provide 4-5 servings per pound. Boneless hams usually have all visible fats removed when preparing the ham for smoking and cooking. Boneless hams are extremely simple, however if you do not mind trimming away a little fat, you will probably enjoy the flavor profile of the bone-in ham more than the boneless ham. If carving is a concern, try a pre-sliced spiral sliced ham with the bone-in.
Another factor that presents definitive differences in hams from one brand to another is the method of curing the ham. Ham is made with a flavorful cure, a marinade of water and brine that gives the ham its typical taste and appearance. Technology advancements have helped the ham curing process (adding ingredients through moisture enhancements) to become a much more efficient process than the early days of ham processing. Equipment has helped the process of getting the ingredients into the ham quickly to get the ham to the store quicker. Although the efficiency factor helps reduce the costs of production of some hams, it is not always effective in maximizing the flavor enhancement factor. Whether using new technology or traditional methods, slowing the curing process will bring out the unique differences from the added ingredients. Getting the ingredients into the meat is only half of the process, giving them a chance to work before cooking is the second half.
Water is the medium in which ham makers use to get different ingredients into the meat. Over the years, some ham makers have improved their methods to get more and more moisture into the meat. Labels will read ham, ham with natural juices, water-added ham, and ham with X% added water. Obviously, ham and ham with natural juices will have the least amount of water diluting the natural taste of ham and its added spices. Adding more and more water will help drive down the cost of the ham, but generally does little to enhance the flavor and texture of the ham itself.
The method of smoking the ham will be yet another factor that creates differences from one brand of ham to another. The traditional method of smoking ham was to use specially selected logs of hard woods that would enhance the sweeteners and spices that the ham maker chose. Soon, processors found that their ham tasted better with hickory wood, applewood, or even dried corn cobs. One of the newest technologies is a processed natural smoke that is converted to a liquid form and is applied to the hams during the cooking process. This process has helped to shorten the processing cycle of the ham. Many specialty processors still choose to stay with the natural wood of their choice to enhance the special blend of spices that gives their ham its unique flavor properties.
Much like the lengthened curing process of the ham, many ham processors feel that slow cooking ham at a lower temperature maintains the natural meat texture and cooks the spice flavors into the ham. Again, technology has been introduced to shorten the cooking cycles and reach the safe internal temperatures quicker. Some argue that the quick process changes the ham texture too much, and doe not allow the flavors of the ham and ingredients to blend during the cooking process.
Probably the one area that each ham maker will argue that his is the best is in the ingredients he chooses for the cure or marinade of the ham. Each cure has one or two prominent ingredients that help to give unique taste and aroma properties to a ham. Maple syrup, honey, and brown sugar are three primary ingredients that specialty ham processors may choose to build their cure recipe. In addition to the base ingredient, many other spices may be added to further enhance a unique recipe preference to cure a ham.
As you can see, a good centerpiece holiday ham for your Easter, Christmas, or special celebration meal goes well beyond the price per pound or an attractive package. There are many ways to make a ham less expensive, but like any good recipe, if you short cut the cycle and ingredients it may not taste as good and bring pleasure to you and your guests that you may expect. Choose your ham wisely, and enjoy one of the best tasting meal traditions.
Cookies with a date filling were my dad’s favorite kind. Here is the recipe.
Jam: blackberry, black raspberry, strawberry, red raspberry, plum conserve, apple conserve, or date filling (recipes for plum and apple conserve and date filling are included below.)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, margarine, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. If the dough is too dry, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk. If the dough seems too wet, add 1/4 or 1/2 cup of flour.
Roll out dough. Use either a small round cookie cutter or one large round cutter. Place cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Put one teaspoon of jam (or other filling) in the middle of the smaller rounds or off to one side of the larger rounds. Place another small round on top of the small rounds; fold the larger rounds in half. Use a fork to crimp the edges together and to poke holes in the top. Bake for 15 minutes, or until light brown.
This recipe makes about six dozen filled cookies.
The recipe can also be used to make cut-out Christmas cookies frosted with colored icing.
~ Plum Conserve ~
If plum conserve is made specifically for filling cookies, store any that remains in the refrigerator and use on toast or biscuits. The conserve can also be sealed in pint jars. (This recipe makes about three pints.)
Pit the plums and chop into small pieces. Place in a large saucepan and add the sugar and water. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the lemon juice, raisins and walnuts and cook for 10 minutes longer, stirring constantly. (Note: Recipe can also be made using 3 cups of chopped apples instead of plums. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.)
~ Date Filling ~
Put all ingredients into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (10 or 15 minutes).
Candy canes are everyone´s favorite holiday treat. Just think about how versatile they are. Not only do candy canes look great hanging from Christmas trees, but their versatility makes them perfect for all kinds of decorative uses.
Candy canes can be crushed or used whole in holiday arts and crafts projects. How about adding candy canes to your homemade holiday gift baskets?
Peppermint candy canes are usually red and white, but they can also be found in fun colors like red, green and white, and also flavors like orange, cherry, and even chocolate!
You can find candy canes sprinkled inside of cookies and other delicious Christmas recipes.
Candy canes make great ornaments. You can buy real ones and hang them around the house or the plastic version works fine too.
To create a festive mood on the holiday dinner table you can put out a couple of candy cane candles.
Got a wreath? Stick a few candy canes inside and watch your guests smile. Candy canes always seem to make people happy.
Mini candy canes can be crafted into a candy cane tree and used as a centerpiece. Another fun idea is to make your own candy cane pins and hand them out as gifts or stocking stuffers.
Some people even put large candy cane decorations outside of their houses. Some of these giant candy cane replicas even light up inside!
No matter how you enjoy candy canes, they are sure to make your holiday celebrations much more delightful.
Traditional Scottish produce and ideal in a box or tin for a christmas gift.
Christmas recipe makes: 2 to 3 dozen
Calories per biscuit: 180-270
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Not suitable for freezing
Christmas recipe ingredients:
butter, 450 g (1 lb)
sugar, caster 225 g (8 oz)
flour, plain white 450 g (1 lb)
rice, ground or flour 225 g (8 oz)
salt, pinch
sugar, colored granulated or golden
sugar, caster for sprinkling
All these recipe ingredients must be at room temperature.
Christmas recipe instructions:
1. Mix the sugar and butter until a creamy and fluffy consistency. Mix together the salt, rice flour and flour. Now blend with the creamy mixture and mix until it is breadcrumb like.
2. Take some mixture in your hand and form a ball shape that can be rolled into a 2-3 inch (5-7.5 cm) tube shape. Enclose in cling film and cool till hard.
3. Cut the tube of dough into half inch slices (10 mm) and coat the edges with the golden or granulated sugar. Bake until slightly golden at 190 degrees centigrade(gas mark 5, 375 F) for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with caster sugar after removing from the oven.
4. After 10 minutes transfer to a wire rack for complete cooling.
Changes you can make to the recipe:
Add a spice such as ‘mixed spice’ to the flours to make a Spiced Shortbread.
To make a Ginger Shortbread add ground ginger to the flours and crystallized ginger to the dough from step 1.
For Chocolate Chip Shortbread blend chocolate pieces into the dough.
For Lavender Shortbread, add half a dozen lavender flower tops into the dough. This time roll the dough into thin pieces, cut intobiscuit shape and bake for about quarter of an hour.
For Rosemary Shortbread, just replace the lavender with fresh chopped rosemary and carry on as above.
Christmas recipe makes 8 slices calories per serving: 720 cals
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Not suitable for freezing
Christmas recipe ingredients
oil for greasing
caster sugar, 125 g (4 oz)
flour, plain 75 g (3 oz)
eggs, 3
cocoa powder, 30 ml (2 tbsp)
chestnut paste, can of sweetened 440 g (15.5 oz)
icing sugar
decoration, holly sprigs
Christmas recipe instructions
1. Prepare a swissroll cake tin, about 13 x 9 inch, inserting greaseproof paper into the greased tin and then greasing the paper itself. Shake a small amount of caster sugar around the tin, then do the same with some flour, finally shaking out the extra.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl placed over steam from water at just at boiling point. Be careful not to over heat the mixture. It should be just thick enough to make strands as you lift the whisk out of the ingredients.
3. Take thr mixture away from the heat and continue whisking as it cools, (about 5 minutes). Blend in the cocoa powder and flour followed by hot water (15 ml, 1 tbsp).
4. Take the tin from step one and pour in the mixture. Bake at gas mark 6 (200 degrees centigrade, 400 F) until the cake has come away from the sides of the tin a bit (about 10 minutes).
5. Remove the cake from the tin and place on greaseproof paper, previously coated then shaken with caster sugar. Trim the hard edges off the cake, then bake the rolled up cake (with paper inside) for an additional 20 minutes.
6. Melt the chocolate with water (15 ml, 1 tbsp) in a bowl placed over water just at boiling point. Mix icing sugar into some softened butter and then add the melted chocolate.
7. Take the cold swiss roll, unroll it and add the chestnut paste, spreading over the complete surface. Remove the paper, roll up again and put on a plate.
8. Attach a slice of the roll to the side of the log with butter cream. Preferably a diagonal slice.
9. Complete the presentation by using a piping bag with star shaped nozzle to run lines of butter cream along the swiss roll log. Finally, sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with sprigs of holly.
These zesty pita chips are a wonderful change from the same old chips and dip everyone usually serves. Your friends and guests will love this appetizer them and make them want the recipe immediately!
You can make the chips ahead of time, or make them and serve warm. Either way, the flavor is unforgettable. Try lemon thyme pita chips with Provencal Artichoke Dip or Peppercorn Ranch Dip. You can find those recipes on my web site. See the information below.
I know that using fresh ingredients doesn’t always save you time, but… when you do take the extra time to raid your herb garden (or someone else’s!) or squeeze that fresh lemon instead of using packaged lemon juice, the difference in taste is really noticeable. And for the better, too.
Fresh is always better. So you have to decide, what’s more important? Taste or convenience? Not that these chips will taste bad if you use all store bought ingredients - far from it! And I am not suggesting you become Martha Stuart! But if you have a little extra time, invest in freshness. Just a thought for you to chew on…
What you’ll need:
- 4 plain Pita bread rounds<br>
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted) or olive oil<br>
- 1 Tbsp minced lemon zest<br>
- 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice<br>
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves<br>
- 1/4 tsp sea salt<br>
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Next, split the pita rounds in half to make 2 full rounds. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Brush the mixture on the inside of the rounds. Then, cut each round into 8 equal wedges like you are cutting a pizza. Place the wedges in a single layer on the baking sheets.
Bake the wedges for 10 to 15 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool. At this point, you can choose to store them in an airtight container until you use them or serve them a little warm. Deeeelish!
Makes about 64 chips.
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