Mmmmmm, Christmas!

[Evangeline]

It's that time of year again, and my thoughts are turning to all the smells and tastes of the season...cinnamon and ginger, butter and vanilla, nuts, chocolate, turkey-roasting, cookies-baking...house elves bustling merrily around the kitchen...or if you're short on house elves, yourself in there, up to the elbows in chocolate truffles and gingerbread dough, humming "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs" as you whip up a little batch of comfort and joy. Yay Christmas!

Yesterday was chilly, and felt even more so because we just got back from California, so thinking of my poor little Nerdfighters trudging home across the snowbound schoolyard, their usually toughened Canadian-kid hides shivering cruelly after a week in the sun and surf, I decided to make them something warm and Christmas-y for after school.
This is what I made:

Cranberry Tea Loaf

* 2 cups hot brewed cranberry tea
* 1 cup craisins (dried sweetened cranberries)
* 2 1/2 cups flour
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp cloves
* 1/2 cup chilled butter (or non dairy butter substitute for a vegan version)

Put craisins into the hot tea and set aside, allowing mixture to cool to room temperature. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter, until thoroughly blended. Add room temperature tea and craisins, mix until just combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake @ 350F for 50-60 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean).

(adapted from this Anna Olson recipe)

It is very tasty. You can slather it in butter if you're feeling really decadent, but we like it plain.

I served this up for after school snack with mugs of strong, hot cocoa. The kitchen was warm and smelled of cinnamon and cloves, and we listened to the Vince Guaraldi Trio play Charlie Brown Christmas, and talked about our plans for Christmas...one of those times where you look around and think, it just doesn't get much better than this...

Stay tuned for more recipes between now and the big day (as you may have noticed, I loves me some Christmas baking!).

[kdot (keeley)]

damn piper, must he always be paid?

[Evangeline]

Mmmmmmm, cheesy aigs! The one thing I can't have (the egg part). *drools*

And yes, how can you not love cheese? Love the cheese! But alas, the New Year finds me thinking necessarily of leaner foods...must now pay the piper for all those coooooooookies... :)

[kdot (keeley)]

me too! and i've discussed this with so many people as of late, as we hover around at parties all saying how we love bread and cheese... lol... carbs be damned!

[serenity]

hmmm, i think cheese has become my comfort food of late. and yes cholesterol be darned!

[Deb S]

Once again, I'm reading through this cozy blog and comments before breakfast. I know. I'm going to go make a pot of coffee (I don't drink coffee everyday like I used to) and that will make the apartment smell cozy and breakfasty and make meself some more cheezy aigs!!! Yeah. Be back. I've got to check on everybody's pages and photos and....I'm so behind. I miss everybody!

[kdot (keeley)]

i almost went nuts when i saw that they make cream of wheat in individual serving packages like oatmeal. cream of wheat was what my mom made me in the winter as a kid. Made with water, then a little milk pored over the top. Yummy. i had to get some! instant oatmeal packs have been a life saver for me at work so many time - i remember eating 2 at a time out of a coffee mug while peering at many a proposal during the busy rush. bust cream of wheat - that's comfort food for sure. nice one! thanks for the reminder!

[Deb S]

Oh this was the coziest thing to read. But how come you guys aren't FAT FAT FAt?! Even a bowl of cream of wheat would put 2 pounds on me. I LOVE cream of wheat. Loved it as a kid (even more than oatmeal) and love it still. But I never liked stuff in it. A purist. But a butter PIGGY, like Mel. God, that sounds good right now. I'd better go make some cheesy scrambled aigs right this minute. Cholesterol ftw!

[serenity]

i wish i coudl try your yummy cozy making recipes. unfortuately i have celiacs and not all recipes work with alternative flours.however just reading about their yummie goodness has a) caused me to put on 20 pounds :P and b) made me feel all cozy. thanks!

now i'm off to try and finish reading the 'virginia' thread. 'it's;the most wonderful time of the year.

[kdot (keeley)]

perhaps printing out that quote and show it to them while adding it to a journal would suffice! They're smart boys, they know how lucky they are. And the love in their smiles and eyes is undeniable in the pics, so the reward is apparent to us too. Appreciative husbands are the best! I know when/if we have kids I will get back into kitchen mode, but as of late I have had no desire to cook. Like I said, just reading your blog posts and your links makes me want to jump back in! But for now, I have some updates and other IRL to get to... sigh... gingerbread for sure though - your recipe :)

[Evangeline]

Thanks Keeley. I'd have to show the boys the comment...they just take it beautifully for granted. "Well of course my mom is making 70 cupcakes to take in to school. Isn't that just what moms are supposed to do?!" lol But I get tonnes of sticky-fingered, haphazard, knock you over and spill your tea, little boy love, which makes it all worthwhile. And the DH is very appreciative, his mum was not so much a kitchen type and he relishes the fact that I love to cook and bake.

I am just loving being in the kitchen these days. It is coooooooooooooooooold outside. -40C outside right now with the wind chill, but inside we're all cozy with twinkle lights and cinnamon and fuzzy blankies, and I am just so in the mood for the Christmas baking this year!