What do you do with your treasures?

During a visit with my grandparents, my grandma and I went though some old letters and recipes. I loved every minute of it. I felt like I got a glimpse of my grandma's life before she was a grandma. It was a sweet time and a memory I will treasure forever. Before we left she gave me a few recipes. Her recipes included: some she had written down, some her mother-in-law had written and one in my mom's handwriting (I thought that was funny).

These recipes are a GREAT treasure to me. I guess I am sentimental like that. I like having something that my great-grandmother made. So what did I do with my treasures....I buried them in our filling cabnit, granted I thought it was a good idea to keep them safe, hidden away. I knew exactly where they were, but then I realized what good are they doing buried away. So I got them out and put them on my counter...risky I know, because I am sure they have gotten a few more stains on them and could get lost, BUT having them out is worth the risk. When they are out they get used! When they get used they bless others. Blessing others is the whole purpose of a recipe written down isn't it!?!

Even though I am tempted to try to eat a whole batch of cookies myself it is impossible. So I share them with my family, friends, neighbors. A cookie says: I'm thinking about you and I care about you and usually helps fuel a good conversation. What do you do with a batch of cookies?

So here is the recipe for you to try. It makes a large batch so be thinking about who you can bless with some cookies and an encouraging note.

Refrigerator Nut Cookies (from my Great Grandma)
These are my Grandpa's favorite

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup soft butter or Oleo*

3/4 cup crisco or spry* (vegetable shorting)

1/4 # (pound) chopped nuts

3 eggs mixed into above one at a time

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon soda (baking)

After mixing divide into rolls and chill. Slice (1/4 inch thick) and bake about 10 -12 min in 350 oven. Should be light brown when done.

*I confess I had no clue what Oleo and spry were. At first I thought the recipe said spray crisco and I was dumbfounded. But after a little research and a call to my amazing grandma (who found my questions very funny) I learned that they were name brands from when my grandma was younger.

Even though these are slice and bake cookies they still allow for creativity so have fun! Be creative so they fit your holiday or theme. These I made for Valentines Day.

Here is one more funny story about this recipe. On the top right corner it says (over frosting) so I made the Quick Butterscotch Frosting on the back. I ate a few cookies with the icing...mmmmm they were yummy. Then I decided to call Grandma to ask exactly how Grandpa's mom used to ice the cookies. After explaining my situation to Grandma, she just laughed and said those cookies don't have icing that is just another recipe on the back, they don't go together.

Happy Birthday to Jesus

What does your family do to celebrate the birth of Christ? Now that we have a family (well, we have always been family, but now more than husband and wife) we wanted to start some Christmas traditions that would help our children (child for now) understand what Christmas is all about. So one tradition we started this year was to make a birthday cake for Jesus (excluding candles of course). My husband asked for Chocolate Stout Cake. Once we decided it was OK to make a cake for Jesus that had stout in it, I went shopping for the ingredients. Actually, I only needed to shop for 1 ingredient the stout, because I had all the rest on hand.

This is a dense, rich, chocolate cake covered with a smooth ganache. You will be tempted to go out and buy another cake pan for this 3 layer cake, but you don't have to, you can just bake the layers in batches. You do need cake pans that have straight edges. It says that it makes 12 servings, but in my experience it will serve WAY more. I am a chocolate lover and I can only eat a sliver of this cake. So plan on sharing this cake unless you want cake every night for 2 weeks.

Chocolate Stout Cake

from bon appetit Desserts

Cake:

2 cups stout (I use Guinness)

2 cups unsalted butter, diced

1 1/2 cups of unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

4 cups all purpose flour

4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Icing:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (about 1 1/2 packages)

Cake: Preheat oven to 350. Butter your 8-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper; butter paper. Bring stout and butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat, whisking to melt butter. Whisk in cocoa until smooth. Cool to lukewarm.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend. Beat eggs and sour cream in a stand mixer. Add stout-chocolate mixture and beat to combine. Add flour mixture and beat 10-15 seconds at low speed. Using a spatula, gently fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. (Check at 25 and 30 min b/c for me 35 is too long) Cool cakes in pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Cut around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto rack, peel off parchment, and cool completely.

Icing: Bring cream to a simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing thickens to spreadable consistency, stirring frequently, about 2 hours. (2 hours has never been long enough for me. Sometimes I refrigerate the icing over night and place on the counter top to warm up enough to spread about 2 hrs)

Place 1st layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with 2nd layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with 3rd layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides.

**If you are going to put your icing in the refrigerator

over night make sure to hide it or threaten your family to keep out or it will all be devoured before you can ice the cake. Especially if my father-in-law is around. The good news people will be fighting over who gets to lick to bowl uhh I mean wash the dishes.

What are some of your family traditions that help you focus on the birth of Christ?