Christmas Baking/Cooking Inspiration: What are you making this year?

Hmmm.. maybe I'll make a roulade for New Years eve.  My mom used to make it every year - it was her thing.  I've only done it once and it turned out very well.  All those years of watching her paid off!

Hmmm.. maybe I'll make a roulade for New Years eve.  My mom used to make it every year - it was her thing.  I've only done it once and it turned out very well.  All those years of watching her paid off!

There was a cool recipe in the January issue of Delicious for a retro '80s Black Forest chocolate roulade. Sadly, I've been asked just to make a plain chocolate one. I might cheat and make two because I really do fancy making one a little more interesting!

-Moors and Christians (rice and black beans cooked together)
-Fried Plantains
-Flan (Cuban style creme caramel like dessert)

Three of my very favourite things! 

My boyfriend, in an effort to impress my mum, is making a chocolate and chestnut cake...I'm not sure you can get more christmassy than chestnuts!

I am in charge of the mince pies, and mum has already put the fruit into soak for her Christmas cake.

I can spot a group of people who are all going to be too fat for their jeans come January....

 

Vicky

I'm going with a traditional Cuban meal for Christmas Eve:

-Roast Pork Shoulder
-Moors and Christians (rice and black beans cooked together)
-Malanga (taro root) fritters
-Fried Plantains
-Flan (Cuban style creme caramel like dessert)
-Drunken Sponge Cake (yup, sponge cake with booze )

That sounds wonderful!  I miss Cuban food.

That sounds wonderful!  I miss Cuban food.

Me too!  I have to make do with I can find at African shops though.  I'm HOPING I find taro root but we'll see.  Dang, I wish I could get on a plane and go have some of my mom's home cooking right now! 

June

I can spot a group of people who are all going to be too fat for their jeans come January....

That'd be me, then.     Except I fully expect it to hit before January!

 Since I'll be 7 1/2 months pg come Christmas eve I'm only making Sugar cookies and Buckyeyes this year and my MIL has requested greenbean cassarole for Christmas dinner...lol  She couldn't get enough of it at her first Thanksgiving this year

I'm getting ready to start my round of Xmas baking:

Gingerbread men (family)
Sugar cookies
Two-tone cookies (chocolate/vanilla)
Stained-glass cookies
Sticky lime & coconut loaf (not very xmasy, but what the heck!)

And for Xmas day ...

An orange and chocolate cake.  Yum!

Hey Cait,
For your stained-glass cookies, what hard sweet do you use?  I tried to make them and the hard sweet I used (I used Jolly Ranchers as they were the only thing I had in the house) really just absorbed into the cookie and I got no "stained-glass" at all!

Whisper, not using any sweets at all.  Mine comes from a 1970's Betty Crocker cookbook, and they are recommending colouring dough and using that as the ornaments.

i used to make stained-glass cookies and i made them with Life Savers. i'm not sure what the UK equivalent might be....maybe boiled sweets?

I'm going to make Caramelita's this weekend! 

Wish I lived closer to some of you so I could share... 

Wish I lived closer to some of you so I could share... 

Sure you do. We all know you want to keep them for yourself! 

i used to make stained-glass cookies and i made them with Life Savers. i'm not sure what the UK equivalent might be....maybe boiled sweets?

Oh that's a good idea!  The sweet shop next to where I work sells Life Savers!  I might give that a go! Thanks Kerry

Did you guys see Nigella's gingerbread stuffing on her Christmas programme tonight?!

I am **SO** making that!!
I was slaverin just watching it... imagine how good that smelled!!