Grove Holiday Recipes

These are our favorite traditional recipes for Christmas and New Years. May you also enjoy them!

Nutmeg Logs

Dough ingredients:

  • 3 C flour
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 C butter
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp rum flavoring
  • 3/4 C sugar
  • 1 egg

Sift together flour & nutmeg. Set aside.

Cream together butter, vanilla & rum flavoring. •••

We tried substituting dark rum for rum flavoring, but it did not work well. The dark rum doesn't have as much flavor as the rum flavoring. If the quantity of rum was increased, there was too much moisture and dough wasn't stiff enough. If more flour was added, then other proportions became wrong.

The moisture content is very precise for good success, so take care with the non-dry ingredients.

Gradually add sugar to creamed mixture. Blend in unbeaten egg. Gradually add dry ingredients, mixing well. (Will form very stiff dough.)

Shape small handfuls of dough on lightly floured surface into long 1/2" diameter rolls. Cut into 3" lengths.

Bake at 350deg F for 12-15 min. Do not over-bake! (The dough does not rise, so the pieces can be placed close together.)

When completely cool, frost, then dust with nutmeg. (I recommend a cake decorating bag and a #30 star tip. Experiment with patterns of frosting.)

Frosting ingredients:

  • 3 T butter
  • 2 1/2 C powdered sugar
  • 3 T cream
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp rum flavoring (alternatively 1 T dark rum)

Frosting must be firm to hold shape. If dark rum is used, it may be necessary to add more powered sugar.

 

Substitutions

Substitutions may be made for allergies:

  • Cup4cup or Red Mill 1 to 1 for the flour
  • Stick margarine for butter
  • Applesauce (1/8th cup) for the egg
  • Coconut milk (higher fat) for the cream

Cranberry Salad

Note, this is an overnight process.

Ingredients:

  • 1 20oz. can crushed pineapple
  • 1 16oz. package mini marshmallows
  • 1 12oz. package fresh cranberries (frozen)
  • 1 - 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

The night before:

  1. Mix the pineapple with the marshmallows in a flat-bottomed bowl. Stir well and place in refrigerator overnight. (Marshmallows will absorb the juice.)
  2. Grind cranberries. (Freezing the cranberries prevents a mess when they are ground.) Add sugar to taste. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Place in fridge overnight.

The next day:

  1. Whip cream until somewhat stiff. Add sugar and vanilla to taste. (I usually taste the cranberries and if they are tart, I will make the cream sweeter.)
  2. Gently stir cranberries into marshmallows.
  3. Fold in whipped cream. (Depending on how juicy the cranberries are, you may not use all of the whipped cream.)