Happy Month of Indulgence!
You know it’s true.
A lot of people try to fight it… but this is the one month of the year when you have to indulge a bit. I’m not saying go overboard with a bean feast, but don’t be trying to deprive yourself. It will only drive you crazy. Treat ‘yo self!
In the spirit of treats, today’s #strangebutgood is dedicated to some of my favorite holiday cookie recipes. Some strange, some just indulgent, and one that’s even healthy.
…
Christmas ends so quickly!
So does the dessert.
I took a nice, long blog break last week to enjoy the time with my family. It was great to take some rest… but I was excited to come back and share, and to read everyone else’s recaps! Is anyone else still full? 😉
Our Christmas Eve was a little different this year – we went out to dinner! That was fun, but the best part was our tradition of sharing dessert and drinks at home with some family friends. I make something different every year. This year was chocolate-hazelnut martinis and an amazing Sweet & Salty Chocolate Guinness Pie topped with marshmallow meringue.
I followed this recipe, with a few adjustments. I halved everything to make just 1 pie. Instead of graham crackers I mixed pretzels with ginger snaps in the crust. I also made a simpler meringue. Rather than doing it over heat, beat the egg whites into a fluff and slowly added sugar to keep it light. Then, I melted the marshmallows in the microwave before adding them in. I skipped the Guinness reduction and in favor of bourbon extract.
That meringue was insanely good… I must say this is one of the best desserts to date!
Christmas morning was a sure sign we are all grown up – after a late night, we slept until 9am and no one touched a present until almost 10:30! This is unheard of in my family.
It gave me time to take some pictures of my favorite ornaments. The one on the bottom right was my great grandmother’s!
French press coffee in hand and fire built, we dug into the bounty. Even Honey (the dog) waited patiently for her turn to explore her stocking.
Mom out did herself, as always. We are lucky girls! I got a ton of clothes, a pizza stone, new towels (my only request – another sure sign of being an adult!), some cool glass bottles, make-up, chocolates… and bacon duct tape. Wouldn’t it be awesome if it was scratch ‘n sniff tape?!
Brunch is the big-deal meal in my family. So is taking pictures of everything we eat.
Mom staged a shot of the sparkling wine and ambrosia:
One of our most-loved traditions is the champagne brunch. I brought a bottle of sparkling from my Napa trip – a Schramsberg Brut Rosé.
It went well with our smorgasbord. We had ambrosia, Italian sausage and cabbage saute, local bacon, toast, scrambled eggs, mâché (greens), and mushrooms (so good sautéed in bacon remnants and fresh rosemary).
Then we lounged. We Skyped my other sister in Portland. I napped. I never nap… bacon and sparkling are to blame! 😉
But we aren’t total lushes couch potatoes. A few hours later we took Honey for a 3 mile walk by the river. It’s pretty close to where my dad is buried, so we made a pit stop to say hi. Honey jumped right up on the bench there to say hi. It was really sweet. And really cold… we hauled it back home for hot tea and to begin dinner.
Dinner was another tradition – my friend Ben and his partner came over. Ben makes the best chocolate-coated toffee I have ever had, and every year he comes over for a meal and to deliver a bag of crack toffee. We snacked on a cheese plate, enjoyed some wine, and prepared dinner.
Mom helped me to roast my first whole chicken. It turned out really well! We ate that with a spaghetti squash and bacon creation and a salad. And more wine. (Read: we slept in again.)
This marvelous Christmas deserves a link up over at Katie’s MIMM!
***
I’m prepping for a NYE pairing dinner I’m co-hosting… and then I must admit I’m excited to get back on the clean eating train.
What is the big holiday meal in your family?
What was the best gift Santa brought you this year?
These 3-Ingredient Coconut Macaroons are the simplest way to satisfy your sweet tooth for the holidays. This delicious, quick and easy recipe is ready in just minutes!
…
Dessert is my favorite part of a fiesta.
Christmas counts as a fiesta, no?
I made this for Thanksgiving, but it would be fantastic for a Christmas dinner, too. Or New Years. Or just for breakfast.
When you read the ingredients in this cake, you’ll see that it actually wouldn’t be so bad to have at breakfast. It’s full of healthy fats and protein, and sugar-free! This brings me to the strange. The healthy fat in this one is avocado. It’s good, I swear.
Between the avocado, eggs, and yogurt, this is one of the lightest, moist cakes you’ll ever have. It’s the perfect end to a heavier dinner. You could eat half of it without blinking an eye. Not that I would know.
The almond, cinnamon, and cayenne are the Mexican part. If you’re concerned about the cayenne, you could leave it out. It’s not overwhelming; it simple gives the smallest hint of “hmmmm” at the end of a bite.
The icing on this cake was yet another healthy fat addition. I whipped coconut cream into a pillow-y spread for the cake. Don’t worry if it doesn’t seem stiff enough at first – it will firm up as it settles.
You can have fun with the flavors here. I added vanilla and cinnamon, but a liqueur like Frangelico or pie spice would be excellent as well.
I know several of you made these Chocolate Avocado Cookies or these (Vegan) Blood Orange Scones… vouch for me! You really can’t taste the avocado.
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a bundt pan.
In a small blender, mix the avocado and eggs until smoother. Stir in xylitol, yogurt, and extracts until combined.
Whisk together dry ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet.
Once combined, add in milk and beat well.
Pour into bundt pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 10-15 minutes in pan and then transfer to wire rack to completely cool.
Eat as-is, or ice the cake with whipped coconut cream frosting. I used this recipe for the coconut cream whip, only I subbed more xylitol for the sugar, and added vanilla and cinnamon.
Note: Like most cakes, the flavors improve after that cake has a day to rest. Do wait to frost it until the day of.
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
***
My mom took home a couple of slices and called the next day (at breakfast) to tell me it had gotten even better! I think day 2 is the perfect storm for this one.
Avocado. Would you bake with it? Have you ever?
What is your favorite dessert for the holiday season?
Portland, it’s a good think you’re tasty.
And sunny. Yes, I said sunny.
A belly full of warm food and a sunny, blue sky is the only way I survived this arctic weekend. My little sister, Alli, moved to Portland a few years ago and I hadn’t had the occasion to visit. Apparently they hit record lows the couple of days I finally decided to pop in. It was so cold my teeth hurt.
This was my view coming in:
The snow did melt, and the sun came out to stay! The first order of business was to eat. Alli collected me from the airport and we went right to Tasty ‘n Sons where we ordered everything #yolkporn we could find….
Christmas Eve traditions are special.
That doesn’t mean the tradition can’t be #strangebutgood!
Every year we have family friends over for desserts and drinks after dinner. And every year I make a different dessert and drink.
In my version of heaven, cookies have the nutritional merits of spinach. My German Chocolate Chip Cookies do not qualify as spinach, but they do have a few redeeming qualities. I’m declaring these #strangebutgood because they are a cake-turned-cookie, and it’s a little strange for a holiday cake-cookie to be sort-of healthy.
The most important lesson I have learned when you are trying to make a dessert a little healthier is not to go too far. You’ll see here that while I made some subs, I still left some “real” flour and sugar in. This is important if you’re going to be sharing with people who aren’t used to eating like a blogger.
The healthier subs were spelt flour and NuNaturals’ new Tagatose sweetener as a sugar alternative for some of the sweet. The most important redeeming quality is that they taste delicious… which they were.
Like the cake, these cookies are a combination of chocolate and coconut. I loved the chewy bits of coconut against the melt-y chocolate chips. That with the crunch from the nuts made the texture in this cookie fantastic. I used macadamia nuts because they are my mom’s favorite, but almonds or cashews would go well here too.
My healthy changes went undetected. In fact, I never told anyone they are healthy-ish. Don’t be afraid to sneak a little #strangebutgood healthiness into your cookies!
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, and coconut extract in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, and baking soda. Stir dry ingredients into the butter mixture, until fully incorporated.
Fold in chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut.
Spoon batter on to parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 mins.
As much as I like to try new things, my favorite cocktail is a classic Manhattan. It’s one of the oldest cocktails. It’s a simple mix of whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Angostura bitters. With a marinated cherry (don’t forget – it’s the best part!). With my favorite drink in mind, this year I created Christmas in Manhattan.
A week before Christmas Eve, I poured a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon into an empty ACV bottle (typical blogger…) and added 2 cinnamon sticks and 2 cups of fresh cranberries, sliced in half. I took another 1/2 C of the cranberries, stabbed a hole in them, and covered them with Gran Marnier. Both mixtures were then stored in a cool place for the week.
What resulted on Christmas Eve was a cinnamon-laced, festive, #strangebutgood interpretation of my favorite classic.
In a cocktail shaker add all ingredients and shake vigorously.
Pour into a martini glass (or short glass). Add a Gran Marnier-soaked cranberry for garnish and serve.
Makes 1 drink.
Note: I like this drink straight up, but you could add a splash of water or serve over ice if you prefer.
All you need to do to join this link up is create a concoction that is Strange But Good, post it with the Strange But Good logo, and link up to your recipe. (See below for code.) In the Strange But Good post each week, you’ll see a link to add your own recipe and picture at the bottom of the page. I’d prefer you use a new strange but good dish, but if you realllly have a good previous one you can add it.
Not a blogger? You can play too! Send me an email with a picture of your food and a brief description by noon on Thursday and I’ll include it in Friday’s post (too late this week, obv… but next week it’s on!).
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instragrams of your creations. 🙂
***
This is the last dessert or drink thing I post for a while. I swear.
Do your families/friends mind if you make a healthier versions of foods?
What are some of your tricks for lightening up recipes?
What didn’t I eat Wednesday may be a more appropriate title.
I may have over-done it on the sweets…
Do you look forward to the holidays being over? After I left my mom’s last night, I was sad to be going home alone, but at the same time a little relieved to get back into a normal routine.
I do hate leaving this beautiful scene though!
Today I was going to take another “break” from blogging. Then I realized a) I don’t really have anything else to do and b) this would be a fun way to shock myself into going cold turkey on the sugar. I didn’t get pictures of it all, and we slept in so it is kind of a random slew of snack rather than meals. You’ve been warned.
We didn’t totally fail at Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday theme this month… but it could have been better less sugar-filled:
Check out my Christmas eats, and then be sure to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons and see what everyone else ate on this most wonderful day of the year!
I didn’t have Fitmixer Aminos at my mom’s, but I did have my ACV and water first thing
Christmas Eve I prepared an overnight baked french toast to be ready to pop in the oven Christmas morning (almost afternoon… we didn’t eat until 11a). We open presents while it baked. Before the toast, we started out with a Christmas tradition: mimosas!
The french toast was served with an easy cranberry sauce. I soaked fresh cranberries in Gran Mariner (orange liqueur), and placed it all in a small sauce pan with some vanilla liquid stevia and cinnamon. I let that simmer on low heat while we opened presents, adding a little water as needed.
The Brandied Baked French Toast recipe is below. It will look like it has a lot of booze in it, but it really isn’t strong once you bake it. Most of the booze cooks out. I tried to keep it a little lighter using unsweetened almond milk rather than a traditional cream or whole milk. Making that simple change save a lot on calories and fat, but you don’t loose any flavor. This resulted in a flavorful, surprisingly light, fluffy French toast… it may have to happen once more on New Years Day.
Also on our breakfast table was French-pressed coffee, ambrosia (my mom and sister’s favorite… I passed), and fresh figs wrapped in prosciutto.
Popcorn. We devoured a bag of Smart Food’s Parmesan & Herb Popcorn while watching Elf.
I grazed some more on almonds, random sweets, an extra bite (or 5) of breakfast… but we really enjoyed sea salt-breadcrumb dark chocolate by Chuao that Santa brought me:
I don’t know if this counts as a meal… but we snacked on more prosciutto with Trader Joes’ Raisin Rosemary Crisps (like the Raincoat crisps sold at WF, but much cheaper), cream cheese with strawberry-champagne jam, hummus, carrots, and celery while dinner cooked. With a pear cider cocktail (pear cider + brandy, ginger liqueur, and lime juice). 
This meal was probably unnecessary after all of that. In my family, Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas brunch are a bigger deal than Christmas night, so we didn’t do anything too fancy.
I kept my plate small, but everything was delicious. We made a quick salad, wild rice with pomegranate and kale, roasted sweet potatoes, and grilled lamb chops. All drizzled with a thick balsamic. There was also an unpictured glass of Alamos Malbec… did I mention the return of Sober January?
Also unnecessary was dessert… which I happily enjoyed. German Chocolate Cookies, coming to you Friday!
Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish (I used Pam).
Place bread in two tightly-packed layers in the pan. If you use the apple or other fillings (any fruit or nut would work), sprinkle them between the layers.
Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, spices, and booze together in a large bowl. Pour mixture over the bread. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The bread will absorb the milk mixture overnight.
Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes, until fluffed and golden brown.
Cut into squares and serve with fruit, syrup, or any other favorite breakfast topping.
Serves 6-8.
Notes: If you don’t like the alcohols, you may use a couple of teaspoons of vanilla or other extract. You could also experiment with other liqueurs like Irish cream, Gran Mariner, Kahlua, rum, etc.
***
The gluttony will stop after this week… I swear. I have one more cookie recipe to share, and it’s slightly lightened up!
How were your holiday meals? What was the winner?
Are you a little relieved when the festivities end?
I don’t do yoga.
I don’t have the patience/attention span.
There is one thing I do like about yoga: the clothes. Like this top I received from Yogi:
I wore this shirt (click here for better pics of shirt on their site) while braving the mall over the weekend. And then I wore it to the gym. I love a versatile outfit! Impossibly soft, breathable, and loose. During the winter months there is NO way I’m going to be rocking teeny tops. It’s a too cold… and I tend to eat a couple of cookies. They also sent yoga pants, but they are SO long – like an extra 6 inches of fabric – I need to get them hemmed before wearing them out.
Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this review (other than the free clothes). Opinions are my own… I could never keep my opinion to myself. 😉
Some people may beat themselves up over these winter indulgences, but I like my friend Lindsay’s perspective. The holiday season only comes once a year. Why not enjoy a few of your favorite things (like warm woolen mittens)? Don’t go nuts, but don’t feel like you have to sit in the corner with a salad while everyone else is having pie. Winter is bulking season, after all!
In one more week, things will be back to normal, nutrition plans will be followed more strictly, and – while I’ll still wear my yoga tops – the thought of those tighter gym shirts won’t made me squirm.
Now that we’ve gotten that established, here is how I photograph are the cookies!
Last week my concierge mentioned that he wanted molasses cookies. I’d never made them before, but I thought it would be nice to make him a Christmas treat.
I don’t know that I’ve ever had a molasses cookie, so I don’t have anything to compare these too. They remind me of a gingerbread cookie; however, these are chewier and have a deeper, more subtle sweetness thanks to the Blackstrap molasses.
I used a bit of almond flour, but you could use all regular flour. Your cookies will just be a little cakier. These are also a good candidate for whole wheat flour (I ran out), and you could replace the oil with applesauce if 1/2 C of butter is enough fat for you. 😉
In a large bowl whisk together flours, baking soda, and spices.
With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add oil, molasses, egg, and vanilla and beat to incorporate. Beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill until firm (at least 2 hours, preferably overnight).
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll chilled dough into ~1 inch balls. Place on baking sheet, leaving ~2 inches of space between. Using the bottom of a glass, flatten the cookies slightly.
Bake for 10-12 mins.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
***
I’m taking tomorrow (and probably Wednesday) “off.” Wishing everyone Happy Holidays!
Do you allow yourself to indulge a little over the holiday season?
What is your favorite Christmas cookie? Who will you be enjoying them with tomorrow?
