Lime Spiced Nuts

Add these lime spiced nuts to any charcuterie board, give your salad a nutty topping or just snack on them with your favourite cocktail.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup light olive oil

2 tbsps lime juice

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsps sea salt

1/2 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes

6 cups assorted nuts

 

Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a large bowl combine the olive oil, lime juice, maple syrup, salt and red pepper flakes. Add the nuts and stir to coat. I used almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and cashews this time around.  Use what you like or what's on sale.

Spread them out on 2 lined baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes until lightly toasted. Then spread them out on a long piece of foil on the counter and let cool for 2 hours. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 weeks. Ideal for gift giving.

Makes 6 cups or 8 - 3/4 cup servings

Adapted from bhg.com

 

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Italian Roasted Shrimp

If you're tired of turkey leftovers, these quick and delish crustaceans will really hit the spot. And they're baked in the oven on a foil lined pan for easy clean up! Serve with your favourite pasta or rice.

Ingredients:

 300g (o.66 lb) 16-20 size shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tbsps olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp dry oregano

1/4 tsp dry basil

salt and pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with foil. Spray with cooking oil. Combine olive oil, garlic, oregano and basil and toss with shrimp to coat. Place the shrimp on the prepared baking sheet and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Bake at 400°F for approximately 8-12 minutes or until opaque and pink.

Depending on the size shrimp you use the cooking time will vary. Here is a guideline:

medium - 7-9 minutes

large/extra large - 8-10 minutes

jumbo - 10-12 minutes

Serve with lemon wedges and they're awesome over spaghetti with tomato sauce!

Serves 2-3

Recipe from: sumofyum.com

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Cannoli Yule Log

Tender cake rolled with a cannoli type ricotta filling with chocolate chips and candied peel all covered in decadent chocolate ganache!

Another beautiful recipe courtesy of @sugarlovespices and slightly adapted by me.

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

3/4 cup (100g) flour

1 1/2 tsps baking powder

zest of one lemon

 

Cannoli Filling:

2 cups (500g) smooth ricotta

2/3 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

3 tbsps candied peel

 

Chocolate Ganache:

6 oz (150g) semi sweet chocolate squares

1/2 cup (130g) whipping cream

 

Garnish:

Maraschino cherries

Fresh rosemary sprigs

Icing sugar to dust 

 

First steps:

If your ricotta is watery use a fine sieve or coffee filter lined colander to drain the ricotta for about 1 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 10 X 15" baking pan with parchment.

Dust a clean dishtowel with icing sugar.

Once the ricotta is drained add 2/3 cup icing sugar and mix well. Then toss in the chocolate chips and candied peel. Stir together and refrigerate until needed.

Now, on to the cake. In a mixer bowl, add the eggs and sugar. Combine then beat on high for 10 minutes until foamy. Sift the flour and baking powder together and mix into the eggs along with the lemon zest. Pour into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 10-13 minutes. Once bake (hold your breath!) turn the cake out onto the dusted dish towel. Immediately and carefully peel off the parchment.

 

Take the short end and roll away from you, rolling the towel up in the cake. Let it sit with the seam side down for 20 minutes. Gently unroll (don't worry if there's a little crack) and spread the ricotta filling to 1/2" from the edges.

Now re-roll the cake with filling and sit seam side down. Set on your platter. Trim the cake ends with a nice clean cut. You could leave it as one log or cut a short piece on the diagonal and place it like a branch on the side of the log.

To make the ganache, put the chocolate, chopped into large chunks, in a bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan on medium heat to scalding then pour over the chocolate. Let sit 1 minute then beat until smooth. Cool at room temperature then beat on high 1-2 minutes. If you find your ganache still too liquidy add small amounts of finely grated chocolate to the mix until it thickens. Cover the cake ends with foil to keep them free of frosting and spread the ganache all over the log making it look like bark.

Finally, decorate with maraschino cherries and rosemary sprigs. Keep the foil on the ends until ready to serve to keep the ends from drying out. When ready to serve remove the foil then dust the whole thing with icing sugar for a nice snowy finish!

Serves 10

Last Christmas' showstopper from sugarlovespices.com was Stella di Pandoro. Here's the link to the recipe:

https://www.hotandcoldrunningmom.ca/2022/12/stella-di-pandoro.html

 

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Everything Bagel Savory Cookies

If you need a break from holiday sweets (I don't, but if you do!) try this savory shortbread recipe. Perhaps with a glass of red wine or as part of a charcuterie board. It's a perfect little appetizer!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2/3 cup cold, cubed butter

2 eggs, whisked

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 tsps Everything Bagel seasoning

 

Egg wash:

1 egg yolk

1 tsp water

 

Combine flour, salt, sugar, smoked paprika and onion powder. Add the cold butter and cut in with a pastry cutter to make a crumb consistency. Add eggs and gently bring the dough together, first with a spoon then with fingertips but handle as little as possible. Divide the dough into 2 balls, wrap in plastic and flatten a little. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Flour the working surface and start rolling out the dough. You may want to keep a piece of plastic over it to roll. Roll to less than 1/4" thick and cut with cookie cutter.

Place on lined baking sheets and prick the center with a fork.

Combine the egg yolk and water and brush cookie tops with egg wash then sprinkle the Everything Bagel seasoning.

Bake at 350°F for 10-11 minutes.

Now for that glass of wine 🍷

Makes 56 - 2" savory cookies

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Pistachio Chocolate Chip Shortbread

No chilling required for these delicately sweet and a little bit salty shortbread cookies. Just roll the dough in balls, flatten and bake.

Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter, cold cubed

3/4 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped salted pistachios

 

Preheat oven to 325°F and line cookie sheets with parchment.

Place the cubed butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Start slowly so the sugar doesn't fly all over the counter and start to mix together. Once combined beat for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, then the flour in 3-4 additions and mix until it forms a dough that can be held together when rolled in your hand. Fold in the chocolate chips and pistachios.

Take heaping teaspoonfuls of dough and roll them in balls. Place on lined baking sheets and flatten slightly with a flat bottom glass or measuring cup.

Bake at 325°F for 18-22 minutes.

Store in an airtight container.

Nutcracker approved!

Makes 38 cookies

Adapted from: abakingwonderland.com

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Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

Looking for a pop of colour on your plate? This sweet and sour red cabbage is that pop you need. Serve it hot, at room temperature or cold alongside sausages, pork or as a starter with mini tourtière. Check out the mini meat pie tourtière recipe at the end of this post.

Ingredients:

3 cups thinly sliced red cabbage

1/2 cup sliced onion

1/2 cup diced apple

1/4 cup water

2 tbsps apple cider vinegar

3 tsps brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

pinch of pepper

Combine everything in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender crisp, about 15 minutes.

Serves 6

 Mini meat pie recipe right here:

https://www.hotandcoldrunningmom.ca/2021/12/meat-pies-and-minis-tourtiere.html

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Clementine Sweet Mincemeat Loaf

This cake is fruity and moist and is a lovely substitute to traditional heavy Christmas fruitcake. Candied clementines give it an extra sweet decadence. Added bonus is it uses up the leftover sweet mincemeat from making mincemeat tarts!

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 tsps baking powder

1 1/2 cups sweet mincemeat (if short on mincemeat add a few raisins)

1 cup mixed peel

2 clementines, zest and juice

 

Candied clementines:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 clementines

Start with making the candied clementines because they take a bit of time to make. Slice the clementines as thinly as possible. Mix the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the clementine slices and reduce heat. Simmer for 2 hours. The clementines will appear translucent.

Carefully lift the slices out of the saucepan and onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a 200°F oven for 45-60 minutes until just tacky to the touch. Once out of the oven turn each slice over onto a clean spot on the paper and let cool completely. Reserve the remaining syrup in the pot.

For the cake, cream the butter and brown sugar together, then add the eggs one at a time. Mix the sweet mincemeat, mixed peel, clementine zest and juice together and add to the butter mixture. I was short on leftover mincemeat so I added 1/4 cup of raisins. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the wet ingredients. Grease and line an 8 X 4" loaf pan and turn the batter into the pan. Bake at 325°F for 1 1/4 hours or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Leave it upside down.

Using a silicone brush, glaze the entire loaf with the reserved clementine syrup. Place the clementine slices in a (more decoratively placed than I) pattern on the loaf and glaze over the slices and loaf.

Love that shine!

Cool completely before slicing.

Adapted from: patisseriemakesitperfect.co.uk

Link to my Two Bite Sweet Mincemeat Tarts:

https://www.hotandcoldrunningmom.ca/2021/12/two-bite-sweet-mincemeat-tarts.html 

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Newfoundland Coconut Snowballs

These no bake little nuggets are a Newfoundland Christmas treat. Since my great grandmother was a Newfoundlander I felt I should give these a look see! Keep them in the freezer or fridge. And if you are the type that wants your treat like now then these are for you because you can eat them straight from the freezer!

These are similar to but not the same as Hairy Moose Farts. You'll find the link to that recipe at the end of this post!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup oats

1 cup + 1 1/2 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla, coconut or almond extract

1 package large marshmallows

Mix the graham crumbs, oats, 1 cup coconut, cocoa powder and salt together in a large bowl. In another bowl combine the melted butter, condensed milk and extract of your choice, then pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Have a small bowl of water ready. You will need to wet your hands to handle the dough. Place 1 1/2 cups of coconut into another shallow bowl. Take a heaping tablespoon of dough and flatten it in the palm of your hand. Now take a marshmallow and wrap it in the dough. Roll into a ball then into the coconut to coat.

Place the snowballs on a lined cookie sheet and freeze for 2 hours. After 2 hours take a sharp knife and slice the snowballs in half.

This recipe makes 13 snowballs/26 halves.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer and if you're not into eating them frozen just defrost for about 20 minutes.

Here's that other Newfoundland sweet:

https://www.hotandcoldrunningmom.ca/2018/12/hairy-moose-farts.html

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Glazed Hasselback Sausages

Plain old Italian sausages get a makeover, glazed with a sweet and tangy sauce and baked in the oven! So easy! You can change up the mild sausages for hot and spicy, use a different jelly or mustard ... you can even use frozen sausages if you're in a hurry. Just up the cooking time a little.  

Ingredients:

4 mild Italian sausages

2 tbsps jelly (like apple, root beer, or even jalapeño)

2 tsps old fashioned grainy Dijon mustard

1 tsp ketchup

1 tbsp brown sugar

 

First heat the jelly, mustard, ketchup and brown sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar is melted then set aside to cool.

Lay the sausages side by side on a cutting board with chopsticks on either side, like you would do for cutting hasselback potatoes. Then make 1/2" slices almost all the way through, stopping at the chopsticks. Tip: semi-frozen sausages are easier to slice then completely defrosted.

Next, spoon some cooled sauce onto each sausage in a baking dish. Try to get some glaze in between the slices too. You can marinate them in the fridge for several hours if you have the time or go straight to the oven. 

Then spoon a little more sauce on the sausages (if they've been marinating) and bake in a 400°F oven for 25 minutes, basting every 10 minutes. Lastly, give them a little broil for 2-3 minutes and serve with your favourite rice.

Makes 2 servings

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