Christmas Cooking Recap #weekendcooking

Weekend Cooking hosted by The Intrepid Reader includes badge which is a collage of four cooking related photos

And it’s 2022 already!

We masked up extra carefully everywhere we went in the weeks leading up to the holidays so that we could have at least small family visits over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We did a LOT of cooking before and after Christmas, and made LOTS of charcuterie and other party food – even though we didn’t have any real parties!

My Christmas bookish gift haul included some foodie books. More cocktails than cooking this year!

Some of our food and drink highlights:

This was our Christmas Eve “dinner” after getting home late from visiting and church.

Charcuterie: the easiest way to eat a lot while thinking you’re only having a little snack

Maple Butter Twists are our must-have Christmas-morning breakfast. The gluten-free version I make now are from a recipe from the author of Nosh on This. Here they are fresh out of the oven, but I forgot to take a picture after they were cooled and glazed.

Raspberry, Spice & Everything Nice – I made this mildly decadent holiday cocktail suggested by a local big-box liquor store ahead of time and my husband and I liked it, but I messed up the proportions when making them for five people instead of two.

“Raspberry, Spice & Everything Nice”– supposed to be served in glasses rimmed with white chocolate shavings

I used the new jigger that I bought myself after reading one of Beth Fish’s recent Weekend Cooking posts. It’s a great addition to my craft cocktail tools, but it has two sets of measurements (teaspoons and ounces) and I accidentally used both sides at the same time, which doesn’t work well.

I had better luck making Winter Sangria for a crowd. I even had the homemade sour mix ready way ahead of time. I used a recipe from Winter Cocktails by Maria del Mar Sacasa.

Winter Sangria with Granny Smith apples, green grapes, and orange slices — Pitcher from King Arthur Flour!

We managed to fit in our annual tradition of sugar cookie decorating despite having to do a lot of stuff at the last minute and not remembering to restock our decorator icing supplies! Perhaps not our prettiest platter ever, but tasty just the same.

I made the cookies from King Arthur Flour’s Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies recipe. (I added nutmeg and had to leave out the xanthan gum because I couldn’t find it.)

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