Your favorite holiday treat?

[Sentry18]

Right this very minute my wife is making her most requested and beloved (carb laden) annual holiday treat: caramel, pecan & chocolate turtles. Turtles are her and her mother's all time favorite confection. Year after year they would go to Fannie May or Fanny Farmer and buy them for Christmas. But in 2002 or 2003 when those two companies were one, they started having financial troubles and the quality of their turtles went w-a-y down. My wife decided to take matters into her own hands and began testing out and tweaking recipes until she devised one that put the Fannie May version to shame. In the process she also created quite a demand for her turtles and now she ends up spending half of December standing over a bubbling pot of made from scratch caramel closely watching a candy thermometer. Everything in her recipe is made from scratch sans the pecans of course. Then she boxes them up 8 at a time, half dark chocolate and half milk chocolate, wraps them up and gives them out. Everyone from school teachers, coaches, advisors, youth group leaders, pastors, the mail carrier, supervisors, instructors, secretaries and even the UPS and FedEx delivery people receive a box of turtles. Family and close friends get them in Tupperware containers with a bow, but they receive more than 8 and theirs also include some fancier decorations. By Thanksgiving people are already asking when her turtles will be ready.

Needless to say these sugary delights temp me every single year. A temptation I intend to give in to, at least a couple times.

What is your favorite holiday treat?

 

[joel]

Fruit cake, love all the home made candy, but fruit cake is the best.
No it is not store bought, it home made, the recipe is over 100 years old.
Sadly my wife is the only child who still makes it.

 

[phideaux]

I will break my no sugar , no carb diet for one box of these...

Jim

 

[robin416]

For some reason mine is Russian Teacakes. Don't know why since there is no chocolate in them.

 

[bargeahead]

Mincemeat pie.

 

[Meerkat]

I will break my no sugar , no carb diet for one box of these...

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Jim

Mine too.

 

[NannyPatty]

Chocolate covered toffee!! Yumm!

 

[Amish Heart]

Carmals. Dark chocolate salted ones.
And pie. Not too picky about what kind.
Homemade german chocolate ice cream. The best.

 

[*Andi]

My mom used to make all the kids pin wheels and peanut butter balls... I miss those days.

 

[SheepDog]

If I bake my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I am defenseless to resist them. They are a true "feel good" food. If I could resist them at all I would keep some around for the days that my pain gets out of hand. They don't take the pain away but they reduce the suffering that accommodates the pain. I guess dark chocolate could do the same thing but it is either too sweet or too bitter. That is why I like the cookies, they are a sweetness balanced treat. The other thing I have made and liked was caramelized pecans. The combination of sugar and pecans can be balanced so these are neither too sweet nor too bitter. Just tasty and not a true "feel good" treat.

 

[snappy1]

Guiness Stout. LOL The only time I let myself have it is when I am making the mass quantities of banana bread.

 

[UncleJoe]

Chocolate Chip in the can, Molasses in the foil pan and Buttermilk Sugar in the plastic pan. The molasses and sugar are my great grandmothers recipes that have worked their way through the generations.

 

[Sentry18]

I do not partake in it anymore because of the sugar, but one of my favorite holiday treats growing up and into my adult life was a cup of Tom & Jerry. It was a sweet batter put into a cup of hot water and then sprinkled with nutmeg. Adults who consume would add rum and brandy to it as well. I would probably have 10 cups of the delicious mixture every December growing up and my parents would jokingly act like it was the most difficult recipe in the world to create.

 

[CrackbottomLouis]

English trifle. I make it every year. Mmmmmm. Oh and leftover goose sandwhich with lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, and cranberry sauce!!! Awesome. Here is my trifle.....

 

[Sentry18]

English trifle.

I had to do on internet search on that one. Looks delicious!

 

[CrackbottomLouis]

I had to do on internet search on that one. Looks delicious!

I make everything from scratch. The pound cake, custard, whipcream, etc. I do bananna strawberry with toasted almonds and coconut on top.

Come to think of it, if you left out the poundcake, went light on the fruit and used sucrolose making a keto friendly version would be pretty easy. The custard is just egg yolk, milk (cream for keto), vanilla, and cornstarch (or a thickener of choice).

Custard recipe.....

5 cup milk
11 egg yolk (2yolk per cup of milk and an extra)
Cup of sugar or equivalent sweetner of choice
1.5-2 tbsp cornstarch

Put in double boiler and cook slowly on low heat stirring constantly. Dont let it cook quickly or scald on bottom. If you dont have a double boiler, low heat on pot, keep a wet cloth next to stove to put pot on occassionally to keep bottom of pot from getting too hot and burning custard. Remember to stir contantly.
Add some whipcream and strawberries if you want and youre in business.

 

[Sentry18]

I might just have to see if the Mrs. can work up a keto version from your suggestions.