Hi there! This is just a little website I made in hopes of spreading some holiday cheer to my friends and the people I admire in the design community. I'm sharing some cheery holiday recipes here and hope you will try them out (if you have time, of course!). I'd love to hear back from you, so if you'd like, please send me a message letting me know how your holiday baking/cooking adventures went, or even just to say hello. I really appreciate you stopping by. I hope you enjoy these recipes... Happy Holidays!
random facts about me
- I lived in New York for 10 years, but I'm originally from Barrington, Illinois (I currently live in Chicago).
- My 13th (golden) birthday was on Friday the 13th! But I swear I'm not cursed or anything.
- I participated in a 7 kilometer swimming competition in the Bermuda sound and lived to tell about it.
- I actually cringe when I see Papyrus, Comic Sans, Courier, Hobo, Zapfino... but at the same time I'm so amused when I spot them in use.
- I'm a huge animal lover and I kinda have a Corgi obsession. And an ampersand obsession, which adds some extra randomness to this fact, since the ampersand thing is completely unrelated to Corgis.
- I currently have over 3,000 fonts installed on my personal computer (and sometimes it's still hard to find the perfect font).
about me
- Happy pixel pusher
- HTML/CSS nerd
- Typography fiend
- Kerning queen
- Advocate of the correct usage of hyphens, en and em dashes
- Hater of orphans and widows
- And last, but not least...
Pantone geek
direction
- Soak dried fruit in 1/4 cup rum (or fruit juice) for at least 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter a 6x3 inch round pan, and line with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and add into the creamed butter and sugar mix. molasses and milk. Stir in soaked fruit and chopped nuts. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons rum or fruit juice.
- Once completely cool, sprinkle top and sides of cake with remaining rum or fruit juice. Wrap with cheesecloth or plastic wrap closely to the surface of the cake, then wrap with parchment paper. Place in an airtight container, and age for at least 10 days. YIELD: 8 servings
ingredients
- 1 cup chopped dried fruit (such as dates, pineapple and cherries)
- 1/2 cup dark rum or fruit juice
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
direction
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (several hours to overnight is best).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with your favorite cookie cutter.
- Mix egg yolk and water. Paint mixture on cut-out cookie dough and sprinkle with the course colored sugars.
- Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. YIELD: 2 dozen cookies
ingredients
- 3/4 cups butter, softened
- 1 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp water
- Assorted course colored sugars
direction
- In a large bowl, blend the milk, cream, egg yolks, vanilla and bourbon (or coffee) using a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar while continuing to whip until stiff.
- Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, and pour into a punch bowl or large pitcher.
- Serve in mugs or cups garnished with a sprinkle of nutmeg. NOTE: Be sure to use only fresh eggs for this recipe as it contains raw eggs. Or pasteurize the yolks and whites by heating them in separate bowls over a pan of simmering water. Stir constantly until the egg yolks or whites reach a temperature of 160 degree F. Adding a little sugar to each one can help prevent them from scrambling. Then proceed as directed with the above recipe. YIELD: 10 servings
ingredients
- 1 quart milk
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 12 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pint bourbon (or substitute cooled, brewed coffee for a java twist)
- 12 egg whites
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
direction
- In a saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, and salt and heat over medium-low heat.
- When the cream mixture just begins to steam, reduce heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until melted.
- Remove from heat and stir in the peppermint extract.
- Divide the hot chocolate among mugs and top with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and add a candy cane for garnish.
YIELD: 4 servings
ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 3 drops peppermint extract
- Sweetened whipped cream, for garnish
- Chocolate shavings, for garnish
- Candy canes, for garnish
direction
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the shortening, molasses, brown sugar, water, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, until they are completely absorbed.
- Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into gingerbreadmen shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. When the cookies are done, they will look dry, but still be soft to the touch.
- Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks. When cool, frost with the icing if you choose. YIELD: 3 dozen cookies
ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup teaspoon molasses
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 tablespoons
- 1/2 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Thanks for your interest! I should get your message
shortly and I'll write you back as soon as possible.
In the meantime, please feel free to download all the
holiday wallpapers and swatcheshere
Hope you have a happy holiday!