Happy Friday! I’m enjoying my morning coffee and having fun reading through all of your blog comments yesterday. So many of you are carrying on family legacies in your knitting/quilting/sewing/crocheting. I know future generations will be the lucky recipients of some of your beautiful work. The winner of yesterday’s blog contest is Melanie in Utah who wins this mega bundle of Wonderland Yarns Messenger Hat Kit! (The pattern is on the inside of the label, and this bundles makes two hats. It’s a sport weight yarn and there are 516 yards in the bundle.) Melanie, we’ll get this shipped out to you today, and I hope you enjoy it! Remember, we’re celebrating our Eighth Anniversary with eight blog contests over the next week and a half. See the end of today’s post for the details on Contest #3 and get entered.
Today’s recipe is one that our Office Manager Lynn shared with us. Her family makes this every year at Thanksgiving. We tried it this summer and it was delicious. It has a great caramel/maple taste, and we used maple syrup from the Arnold Family Farm (cousins!). I’ll bet it would be awesome on pecan pie, or with a few pecans sprinkled on top.
Lynn’s Maple Ice Cream
6 large egg yolks
1 cup pure maple syrup (the darker the syrup, the stronger the taste)
2 tsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup half and half
1 1/2 cups light cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Beat the egg yolks with the maple syrup, flour and salt. Set aside.
Bring the half and half to a simmer in a heavy saucepan. Then slowly beat the hot half and half into the eggs and maple syrup. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard begins to thicken slightly. (Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble.)
Remove from heat and pour the hot maple custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow to cool slightly, then stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.
Stir the chilled custard, then pour it into your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. When finished, the ice cream will be soft serve, or transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for 2 hours or more for firmer ice cream.
Today’s Contest Question: Do you have a favorite family recipe that you make at just certain times of the year? (And if so, why not make it more often? Or would it be less special that way?) Leave a comment below and we’ll randomly draw a winner to receive our next great prize. Watch for the prize and winner on Monday’s blog post, along with Contest #4. Thanks for helping us celebrate eight years of fun!
Sheri whoneedstomotorthroughCampLoopyProjectThreethisweekend
We have a homemade ice cream recipe (french vanilla) that we tend to make when we are going to pot lucks. We also have recipes for sweet rolls that get made up at Christmas time.
It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pearl onions in cheese sauce.
Rhubarb pie in the summer–my mom’s recipe. Everyone loves it!
Special family recipe? Beef burritos. Mom made it one year for Christmas eve, and we loved it. When the recipe was lost in a move, we made her go to the library and find it! Traditional Christmas eve is beef burritos and bean soup, and cinnamon rolls Christmas morning.
I make the soup fairly often, when it’s cold. And I’ll do the burritos for special occasions, for friends, because they’re too awesome not to share. They really speak to the heart, for me…. it says “home” and “family”… so if I’ve made you beef burritos, it means you’re close to my heart 🙂
My family always makes sweet-potato casserole around Thanksgiving – but not the boring kind with melted marshmallows – this one has lots of butter, brown sugar, pecans, and vanilla and it’s SO delicious! We don’t make it often because we’d all gain 10 pounds!!
My grandmother’s candied yams, made only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are more special when they are made only at certain times of the year, but the main reason I only make them on those two holidays is because they are so very time consuming.
I am just about to make cappuccino brownies for my birthday. My mom always made them for me, and now I make them for myself. Why not more often? Let’s just say the calorie count is a bit indulgent!
Green chile.Usually only make in summer/fall when garden produces the best chiles.tomatos and peppers.Big batches and freeze.Should make more often.
Every year for my birthday I bake a German Chocolate Cake from scratch. It’s pretty labor intensive, and I seem to be the baker in the family, so even though it’s for my own birthday, I bake it. It’s definitely worth the effort, and having it just once a year makes it that much more special.
Cooking is not one of the skills that runs rampant in our family. We’ve always relied on the kindness of strangers for anything more complicated than a grilled cheese.
We only make fresh apple cake in the fall because, well, it’s FRESH apple cake.
Having gone vegetarian, our family eats very differently than the families we grew up in. So we don’t really have family recipes we eat. However, I still eat tomatoes on toast, which was something I ate a lot growing up in Canada, and it seems to have British roots. But it doesn’t really have a special time, other than it’s strictly a lunch food. Never for dinner.
I bake a whole ham, bone-in, for Christmas and then for New Year’s Day, I make “potpie”. Not the kind of pot “pie” that you buy frozen in the supermarket. No, I’m talking about the Pennsylvania German potpie. I make a ham broth, add some ham, celery, parsley, and season to taste. Then I mix the ingredients for the noodles, roll that out, cut it into squares, and drop them into the boiling broth. That recipe has been handed down in my family for many generations.
The reason why I don’t make it more often is because Christmas is the only holiday that I bake a whole ham and making the broth for potpie requires a ham bone. Any other time, I buy boneless, fully-cooked, spiral-cut ham for conscience sake.
We make a family recipe for Pizzelles at Christmas time. I have often wondered why we don’t do it more frequently – maybe it just seems like a holiday thing.
Sweet potato casserole and deviled eggs! It’s our special treat at Thanksgiving.
I only make pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I only make gingersnaps during the fall and winter. When the temp starts dropping at the end of September until New Years is gingersnap season around here. Other cookies are year round.
Crab salad. Mom made it for family gatherings and everyone loved it. Crab is expensive where I live so I don’t usually make it, but I could eat it everyday. What a way to get your greens!
Pumpkin Cheesecake – I found the recipe about 20 years ago on a cream cheese packet, but never again. It is spectacularly yummy, pretty easy, and no one in my family or circle of friends makes anything like it. I get multiple requests every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Fortunately, I usually get at least two out of each batch!
We make a drink for holiday get-togethers that consists of cranberry juice cocktail, orange sherbet, and lemon-lime soda.
If we made it more often, it would be less special!
Homemade Orange Chiffon Cake was a longtime tradition for my father’s birthday every March.
I always make caramel corn around Christmas time – not sure why I don’t do it other times of the year, because I love it so much!
We always have our traditional Thanksgiving chocolate cake complete with awesome 1980’s style plastic turkey on top. Its the only time of the year that plastic turkey gets the appreciation it deserves.
The dressing and cranberry sauce I make at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I need fresh cranberries for the sauce and can only find them in the stores at the holidays so I’m not able to make it the rest of the year. The dressing is made with gluten-free bread and lots of sage and other herbs I’ve grown myself in the summer. It could be made any time but it’s really so much better with those fresh from my own garden herbs.
Peach cobbler in the summer and apple crisp in the fall. Love fruit desserts especially when it’s good fruit in season.
I only make roast turkey at Thanksgiving or Christmas. It really is easy, but I guess it makes so much food at one time that I only consider it then. We rarely have the whole family together at other times of the year.
We make Easter Egg angel food cake every year at Easter. The batter is divided into bowls and everyone adds food coloring to their bowl. The cake pan is passed around the table and everyone drops a spoonful of their color into the pan. It’s beautiful!
For bonfire night, we have always have sticky maple sausages and baked potatoes. My Dad used to make it when we were little, and I’ve carried on the tradition.
One family favorite is “Run down cheese and tomatoes (tom-aaaa-toes)”. Cheese has become so expensive so it is not as inexpensive as it used to be but my husband loves it and is a celebration or pick-me-up meal.
I make pumpkin rolls at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I make sauerbraten and handmade spaetzle for Xmas Day. Lots-o-work! This was my Mom’s specialty, and I’ve continued it since she’s gone. But when I tried to switch up the menu a couple years, the nephews and brother said NO Way! They can still feel the Love of Grandma sitting at the table!
Ours is Manicotti, an old Italian dish made with crepes not pasta. We have it for Christmas Eve because you make it ahead of time and then just throw it in the oven. My dad was Minister of Music for our church growing up and Christmas Eve was all evening because of all the services. Mom would make manicotti in between Thanksgiving and Christmas so it was ready to go. The leftovers were great after we got home about 1:30 am after the midnight service!!
We have a pudding we make at Christmas but it’s too rich to eat most of the year.
We have a family stuffing recipe and cranberry sauce that we make at Thanksgiving. And I like to make my parents homemade birthday cakes – cocnut for my mom and chocolate for my dad.
My family makes/eats oyster stew every Christmas Eve.
Yumm,, Grandma’s Sweetheart Salad. She was the only one who made it. Now that she’s gone, I make it if the extended family is getting together. It’s a little futzy to make and makes way too much for just me (plus it’s more like dessert than salad but don’t tell anyone) so it’s a special treat when a group of us gets together.
I make my family recipe for Cranberry Jello Mold every Thanksgiving. I ONLY make it for this holiday.
My Mom makes a butter bundt cake that is to die for! She makes it when we pick strawberries and whips up some cream. She’s made it for me on my birthday and to pick up my spirits. I don’t think it would be as special if she made it all the time. I’m wishing I had a slice right now! 😛
Pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving! I sneak one in at Christmas,too.
We have a fruit crisp recipe that always gets made around this time of year. We like the harvest that summer provides and we often make a rhubarb crisp or a peach crisp or sometimes a combination of both.
I have made a Christmas stollen for at least the past 20 years. Used to made five or so to give to family but now it’s just us and one does the trick. Nice to have a warm slice with butter on it for Christmas morning.
Lemon mousse at Christmas. It takes a little time to make, it’s rich yet light, and it cuts through some of the heavier flavors of holiday food.
Gingerbread cake at Christmas, it wouldn’t feel right to eat it if it’s not cold out.
At Christmas we have a cinnamon bread. It is a favorite of everyone. We only make it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s wonderful to have the house smell like cinnamon. I think if we made it all year long that it wouldn’t be as special or as good 🙂
It is just not Thanksgiving without my grandmother’s pumpkin pie and my mother’s peas and Holland-style onions in cheese sauce. They bring back happy memories of my childhood and now are a tradition in our family.
Venison tamales with cranberry chipotle sauce for Christmas Eve dinner…so rich so they are definitely special occasion only!
My mother made sticky buns for Christmas every year. Only on Christmas morning. I continued the tradition with my family. One day my son, in the middle of summer, asked why we didn’t have sticky buns at other times. Well, I was appalled but thought about it and realized he was right. Now, whenever his family visits, I always make sticky buns for him. They represent something special.
We do a tradition Cuban meal Christmas Eve (we also make it on request for birthdays)
My Grandma’s Red Velvet Cake that my mom used to make for my b-day growing up. A cold slice was the best.
I’d say I have seasonal recipes based on the comfort foods I like at certain times of the year. I don’t bake a lot in summer, so always look forward to fall for apple crisps, making muffins, etc. Winter favs are chili or crock pot mac and cheese on Sundays while watching Packer games!
Cheesecake. Usually just for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Most recently, I’ve been making White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. Mmm…