I wish you a merry Christmas

I forgot to mention on yesterday's blog that after playing the canned goods game, they are taken to the food shelf (which is the whole point of the game).

Today I went to put a bag of used clothes (gathered from his room by one of my kids) in the charity box when I noticed what seemed to be 6 perfectly good (but thoroughly filthy) sweat socks in the bag. This was suspicious on a couple of levels. They only have white sweat socks, all the same size, so as to make laundry easy for the momma. Therefore, there cannot be any that are too small. If the socks are ratty, they are discarded, not given to charities all stinky! When I asked the kid what was up, he said it must have been an accident that his laundry ended up in the bag. I think somebody cleaned their room in a hurry! (Also in the bag - 6 shirts suitable for rags and 1 (brand-new) shirt he meant to keep.

Here is my favorite Christmas morning coffee cake. It is like a "Butter Braid" with cranberries and cream cheese. The recipe makes 2.


Cranberry Cream Coffee Cake

1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 envelopes dry yeast
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
Cream cheese filling (recipe follows)
Cranberry filling (recipe follows)
Glaze (recipe follows)

(I dump all the ingredients in the bread machine, but I'm lazy) Pour water into bowl, sprinkle yeast on top, stir and let rehydrate for 5 minutes. Add powdered sugar, salt, sour cream, butter, eggs and 2 cups of flour. Mix at low speed until blended then on medium speed for 2 minutes. Mix in 2 more cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time.
Dump onto lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes, adding up to 1/2 cup of flour until smooth and elastic. Put into large oiled bowl, turn to coat with oil. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about an hour.
Punch dough down, knead briefly. Divide dough in half. Roll one half into 12X10 inch rectangle. Spread half the cream cheese filling in a 3 inch wide strip lengthwise down center. Spread 1/2 cranberry filling over cheese filling.
Cut 3 inch long strips towards center at 1 inch intervals on each of the long sides. Twist strip twice; bring strips over filling, alternately from one side to the other; seal tightly. (now it looks like a mummy). Place on greased cookie sheet. Repeat with rest of dough and fillings.(Do ahead and freeze or refrigerate. Thaw from frozen overnight or take out of refrigerator 1 1/2 hours before baking) Cover and let rise in warm area until doubled (45 minutes?).
Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. cool slightly, then glaze. 2 coffee cakes, 12 slices each.

Cream Cheese filling
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar

mix until blended


Cranberry Filling

1 (16 oz) can whole berry cranberry sauce
2 tbls cornstarch
1/4 tsp almond extract
Combine cranberry sauce and cornstarch in small saucepan. Cook and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and stir in extract. Cool to room temp.


Powdered Sugar Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp soft butter
1/4 tsp Almond extract
1-2 Tbsp milk

Combine sugar, butter and extract until blended, stir in enough milk to make good glazing consistency.


Merry Christmas!